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2.9: Key Vocabulary and Useful Expressions

  • Page ID
    187424

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    Key Vocabulary

    IPA English
    kruu-bɔng-rian teacher
    kruu-bpeet doctor
    jon-jiat nationality
    tvəə-kaa to work
    kɔn-laeng tvəə-kaa workplace
    kaa-gnia occupation/job

    Useful Expressions

    IPA English
    khnhom jia kruu-bɔng-rian I am a teacher.
    joh-neak-venh? how about you?
    lia-sən-haəy! bye!
    khnhom mən-meen jia kruu-bɔng-rian dtee. I am not a teacher.
    som-toh I am sorry.
    ɔt-ey-dtee That is alright.

    Summary of Grammar Points

    Grammar Point Summary
    Yes” in Khmer: Baat (for male speaker) and Jaa (for female speaker) are the terms for the English word “Yes”
    Question sentence with “Dtau” and “Dtee” “Dtau” is the initial particle in a question sentence. However, it is commonly used in written language and in formal situations. Dtee” is another question particle placed at the end of the question sentence.

    · Dtau neak sok-sab-baay dtee? = How are you?

    · Neak sok-sa-baay dtee? = How are you?

     

    Seeking confirmation with question mee- dtee “Is that right? The word“meen-dtee” can be translated as “right?” or “isn’t that so?”, and is placed at the end of a statement to seek confirmation or to confirm that you have made a correct assumption. There are several ways to respond to meen-dtee questions. You can either say meen-haəy or baat ​(​if it is male) and jaa (if it is female).
    Negative formers: ɔt-dtee and men-dtee The negative former ɔt-dtee and mən-dtee are placed before the main verb and dtee at the end of the statement.
    Question word: “Where” The word Naa is the contraction of Ae-naa. However, Naa and Ey can be interchangeable when asking about the country you are from.

    Nouw “at” is placed before Naa when asking about the location. For example:

    saa-laa neak nouw naa? “Where is your school?”


    This page titled 2.9: Key Vocabulary and Useful Expressions is shared under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Vathanak Sok via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.

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