I am a Cambodian-American, and have always wondered the usage of the word "is" or "to be" in Khmer which can either be កឺ or ជា depending on context. I have tried asking my parents to see if they know any grammar rules regarding when to use កឺ or ជា, but they don't really know. They said it either makes sense or not in a given sentence.
I have come to the conclusion that most Cambodians do not analyze their own grammar in a deep manner, so they can't explain it. I was wondering if any of y'all know a concrete rule for these two words.
Thanks in advance.
Difference between កឺ and ជា
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- MerkinMaker
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They can be used interchangeably or together. I'm not sure I'm right, but here's how I use them:
ជា everyday chit chat
កឺ slightly more formal, or at least I'm trying to sound smart
កឺជា is used when I want to add emphasis, or I'm mansplaining to the fairer sex.
And Smelly Fart will be in to disagree with me in, 3... 2... 1...
ជា everyday chit chat
កឺ slightly more formal, or at least I'm trying to sound smart
កឺជា is used when I want to add emphasis, or I'm mansplaining to the fairer sex.
And Smelly Fart will be in to disagree with me in, 3... 2... 1...
- ផោមក្លិនស្អុយ
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For those that speak a little but don't read, what's the phonetic transliteration? And any examples would be great!
It should be គឺ, not កឺ
ជា - IPA: /cie/
គឺ - IPA: /kɨɨ/
គឺជា - IPA: /kɨɨcie/
Google Translate now includes a Khmer machine voice too, and it does a pretty descent job.
Click the links to hear the pronunciation. The recordings are from https://kheng.info/amirite wrote:For those that speak a little but don't read, what's the phonetic transliteration? And any examples would be great!
ជា - IPA: /cie/
គឺ - IPA: /kɨɨ/
គឺជា - IPA: /kɨɨcie/
Google Translate now includes a Khmer machine voice too, and it does a pretty descent job.
- Jamie_Lambo
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as mentioned in another reply its spelt គឺ,LastXdeth wrote:I am a Cambodian-American, and have always wondered the usage of the word "is" or "to be" in Khmer which can either be កឺ or ជា depending on context. I have tried asking my parents to see if they know any grammar rules regarding when to use កឺ or ជា, but they don't really know. They said it either makes sense or not in a given sentence.
I have come to the conclusion that most Cambodians do not analyze their own grammar in a deep manner, so they can't explain it. I was wondering if any of y'all know a concrete rule for these two words.
Thanks in advance.
to my understanding គឺ tends to be used in more formal/polite context, usually in a "as follows, namely" fashion, for example.... "the winner of the competition is...."
where as ជា tends to be used more in common chit chat "to be, is, the same as, equal to" kind of fashion, for example... "this is an internet forum"/"how much is this?"
Mean Dtuk Mean Trey, Mean Loy Mean Srey
Punchy McShortstacks School of Hard Knocks
Punchy McShortstacks School of Hard Knocks
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think of them have same meaning as verb to be in english.
the chosen land.
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