Khmer grammar
This article describes the grammar of the Khmer language, focusing on the standard dialect.
Word formation
Khmer is primarily an analytic language, with no inflection. There is some derivation by means of prefixes and infixes, but it is no longer always productive, as those elements are often crystallized in words inherited from Old Khmer. Even in Old Khmer, the same affix could have multiple functions.A common infix has the form or , inserted after an initial consonant, especially to convert adjectives or verbs into nouns.
Compounding is common; in a compound of two nouns, the head generally comes first, often the reverse of the English order: "duck egg" is ពងទា, literally "egg-duck".
Word order
Since Khmer is an analytic language, word order is relatively fixed, as changes in word order often affect meaning. Khmer is generally a subject–verb–object language. Topicalization is common: the topic of the sentence is often placed at the start, with the rest of the sentence a comment on that topic.Like in English, prepositions are used rather than postpositions. The language is generally head-initial so modifiers come after the words modified.
[|Nouns]
Khmer nouns have no grammatical gender or singular/plural inflections. There are no articles, but indefiniteness is often expressed by the word for "one" following the noun. Plurality can be marked by postnominal particles, numerals, or reduplication of a following adjective, which, although it is similar to intensification, is usually differentiated by context:ឆ្កែធំ = large dog
ឆ្កែធំៗ = large dogs or a very large dog
ឆ្កែបី = three dogs
ឆ្កែខ្លះ = some dogs
Possessives are formed by placing the noun or pronoun representing the possessor after the main noun, often with the word របស់ between them.
Numbers and classifiers
In Khmer, a number that indicates quantity follows the noun.សៀវភៅបួន = four books
Exceptions include nouns indicating passage of time such as hours or days, units of measurements and currencies, all of which function as noun classifiers without the explicit mention of what is being classified. Reversal of the order can change the meaning:
បីម៉ោង = three hours
ម៉ោងបី = three o'clock
Classifying particles for use with numerals and nouns exist but are optional, unlike Thai, except in introductory clauses. They are used for clarity or formality, and number precedes classifiers.
សត្វក្របីពីរ = two buffaloes
សត្វក្របីពីរក្បាល = two buffaloes
The following example illustrates the superfluous mention of what is being classified:
បីរៀល = three riels
លុយបីរៀល = three riels of money or simply three riels
Counting in Khmer is based on a biquinary system However, the words for multiples of ten from 30 to 90 are not related to the basic Khmer numbers but are probably borrowed from Thai. The Khmer script has its own versions of the Arabic numerals.
The principal number words are listed in the following table, which gives Western and Khmer digits, Khmer spelling and IPA transcription:
| 0 | ០ | សូន្យ | |||||
| 1 | ១ | មួយ | |||||
| 2 | ២ | ពីរ | 20 | ២០ | ម្ភៃ | ||
| 3 | ៣ | បី | 30 | ៣០ | សាមសិប | ||
| 4 | ៤ | បួន | 40 | ៤០ | សែសិប | ||
| 5 | ៥ | ប្រាំ | 50 | ៥០ | ហាសិប | ||
| 6 | ៦ | ប្រាំមូយ | 60 | ៦០ | ហុកសិប | ||
| 7 | ៧ | ប្រាំពីរ | , | 70 | ៧០ | ចិតសិប | |
| 8 | ៨ | ប្រាំបី | 80 | ៨០ | ប៉ែតសិប | ||
| 9 | ៩ | ប្រាំបួន | 90 | ៩០ | កៅសិប | ||
| 10 | ១០ | ដប់ | 100 | ១០០ | មួយរយ |
Intermediate numbers are formed by compounding the above elements. Powers of ten are denoted by រយ , ពាន់ , ម៉ឺន , សែន , លាន and កោដិ . For more information, see Khmer numerals.
Ordinal numbers are formed by placing the particle ទី before the corresponding cardinal number.
Demonstratives
In Khmer, demonstratives follow the nouns that they modify. In standard literary Khmer, there are two degrees of distance, but there are other distinctions in colloquial language. Demonstratives can also function as articles only after introductory clauses.| Demonstrative | Alternative Forms | Meaning |
| នេះ | ហ្នឹង | This |
| នោះ | ហ្នុង | That |
Pronouns
The pronominal system is complex and is full of honorific variations. There is generally no single pronoun appropriate for all situations, with the choice of pronoun based on age, gender, and relationship. Nouns referring to a specific person, like brother or uncle, can be used as pronouns when even when one directly addresses the person.For some examples of typical pronoun forms, see Khmer language – Social registers. Below is a table of the most common kinship terms that are also used as personal pronouns.
| Kinship term | Reciprocal | Translation | Non-kinship usage | Note |
| ឪពុក | កូន | father; child | none | formally refers to one's own father, other terms for "father/dad" include:,,, |
| ម្តាយ | កូន | mother; child | Many other terms are used commonly:, | |
| បង | ប្អូន, អូន , | older sibling | an older man or woman of the same generation; the man in a romantic relationship | ចែ is a Chinese-derived term used to refer to a woman around the same age in Cambodia and is more often said among Chinese Cambodians and sometimes in urban settings |
| ប្អូន, អូន | បង | younger sibling | a younger person of the same generation; a child; the woman in a romantic relationship | Other colloquial terms are used to refer to younger generations using as a diminutive:,, |
| កូន | ប៉ា, មែ , | biological child or grandchild | a young child; a person at least one generation younger | |
| ចៅ | តា, យាយ , | grandchild, cousin of junior generations | a young child; a person at least one generation younger | |
| តា | ចៅ or កូន | grandfather | any man of grandparents' generation | other terms can be used depending on family structure and dialect |
| យាយ | ចៅ or កូន | grandmother | a middle-aged woman | other terms may be used depending on family structure and dialect |
| មីង | ក្មួយ | a parent's younger sister/sister-in-law | any woman of parents' generation, but younger than parents, a young woman | អ៊ី is the equivalent Chinese term and, similar to, is sometimes used in urban areas and among Chinese Cambodians |
| ពូ | ក្មួយ | a parent's younger brother/brother-in-law | any man of parents' generation, but younger than parents; also a man slightly older than the speaker | an equivalent, but more colloquial, term is |
| អ៊ុំ | ក្មួយ | a parent's older sibling; his/her spouse | any person of parents' generation but older than parents | |
| អ្នក | ប្អូន | "you" | third person equivalent is បងថ្លៃ |
Adjectives
in Khmer follow the noun; doubling the adjective can indicate plurality or intensify the meaning. Adjectives follow verbs when they function as adverbs. Adjectives are actually stative verbs and are used without a copula and can be negated, like other verbs.Comparatives are expressed using the word ជាង /ciəŋ/: "A X /ciəŋ/ ". The most common way to express superlatives is with ជាងគេ /ciəŋ keː/: "A X /ciəŋ keː/".
Reduplication
In Khmer, nouns and adjectives can be reduplicated. Reduplication can occur as perfect reduplicates or by altering the rhyme of words. Khmer also uses compound reduplication in which two phonologically unrelated words with similar or identical meanings are compounded.The Khmer script includes the symbol ៗ, which indicates that the preceding word or phrase is to be repeated.
Verbs
As is typical of most East Asian languages, Khmer verbs do not inflect at all; tense and aspect can be expressed using particles and adverbs, or may be understood from context. Serial verb construction is quite common.Questions
s can be formed by placing the particle ទេ /teː/ at the end of a sentence. This particle can also serve as an emphatic particle, and so intonation may be required to indicate that a question is being asked.In wh-questions, the question word generally remains in its usual grammatical position in the sentence, rather than being brought to the start as in English.
Negation
Verbs can be negated in three primary fashions, all of which convey a slightly different connotation or formality. The most common method of negation is a discontinuous construction placing មិន "" before the verb and ending the verb phrase with ទេ "", which, as a stand-alone word can be either "no" or a particle contradicting a previous statement. Colloquially, the final "ទេ" may be omitted.ខ្ញុំជឿ - I believe
ខ្ញុំមិនជឿទេ - I don't believe
Another fairly common way of indicating negation uses អត់ "" instead of មិន. "អត់", as an independent word, means "without" or "lacking" and expresses a similar connotation when used to negate a verb.
ខ្ញុំអត់ឃ្លានទេ - "I am not hungry" or literally, "I without hunger".
A third method is basically identical to the first method except ពុំ "" is used instead of "". This is used only in literary or very formal contexts.