Learning verbs is the fastest way to start building sentences in Mongolian.

Once you know the action words, you can easily communicate your basic needs and daily routines.

Mongolian verbs follow highly predictable patterns based on a concept called vowel harmony.

I’ll show you the 100 most common verbs and exactly how to change their endings for different tenses.

Understanding the Mongolian verb root

Every Mongolian verb in its dictionary form ends with the letter -х (-kh).

This is the infinitive form of the verb, which is equivalent to saying “to do” or “to eat” in English.

To conjugate a verb, you must first find its root.

You find the verb root by simply dropping the final -х.

For example, the verb “to go” is явах (yavakh).

When you remove the -х, you get the root: яв- (yav-).

You’ll attach all of your tense suffixes directly to this root.

Basic conjugation rules

Mongolian conjugation doesn’t change based on who is speaking.

The verb ending remains the exact same whether the subject is I, you, he, she, we, or they.

The ending only changes to show the tense of the action.

This makes basic Mongolian conjugation much easier than languages like Spanish or French.

Here are the two most essential tenses you need to know first.

Present/future tense

To say you’re doing something now, or will do it in the near future, you use the non-past tense suffix.

You add -на, -нэ, -но, or -нө to the verb root.

The specific ending you choose depends entirely on the vowels inside the verb root.

Past tense

To talk about completed actions, you use the simple past tense suffix.

You add -сан, -сэн, -сон, or -сөн to the root.

Once again, the vowels inside the root dictate which of these four endings you must use.

Vowel harmony in Mongolian verbs

Vowel harmony is the most important rule in Mongolian grammar.

Mongolian vowels are divided into masculine (hard) and feminine (soft) categories.

Masculine vowels are а, о, у.

Feminine vowels are э, ө, ү.

The vowel и is considered neutral and can pair with either group.

If a verb root contains masculine vowels, the suffix must also contain a masculine vowel.

If the root contains feminine vowels, the suffix requires a feminine vowel.

The 100 most common Mongolian verbs

Here’s a compiled list of the 100 most frequently used verbs in everyday Mongolian.

Memorizing these verbs will drastically improve your daily listening comprehension.

Example sentences using common verbs

Here are a few practical examples showing how these verbs look when conjugated in real sentences.

Pay close attention to how the vowel harmony applies to the endings.