Mongolian uses Cyrillic, not the traditional vertical script
Mongolia officially uses a Cyrillic alphabet — with two extra letters beyond standard Russian — for everyday writing, even though the historic vertical Mongolian script is still used ceremonially and remains the primary script in Inner Mongolia, part of China.
"Baina uu" turns a statement into an everyday question
The "уу" ending common in Mongolian greetings functions similarly to a yes/no question tag, so "Сайн байна уу" is literally closer to "are you well?" than a fixed, non-question word like English "hello."
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Mongolian related to Chinese or Russian?
No. Despite borrowing its current script from Russian and having a long shared history with China, Mongolian belongs to its own Mongolic language family, unrelated to either Sino-Tibetan or Slavic languages.
Do these phrases work the same way in Inner Mongolia (China)?
The spoken language is closely related, but Inner Mongolia primarily uses the traditional vertical script rather than Cyrillic, so the written form looks quite different even when the spoken phrase itself is similar.