Negation with 'មិន ... ទេ'

01

The 'មិន … ទេ' Frame

• ខ្ញុំមិនឈឺទេ

  khñom mɨn chɨɨ teikhnom mun chuu tei

  I am not sick.

• គាត់មិនស្គាល់ខ្ញុំទេ

  kŏət mɨn skŏəl khñom teikoet mun skoel khnom tei

  He does not know me.

• ខ្ញុំមិនចង់ទៅទេ

  khñom mɨn cɑng tɨw teikhnom mun cang tuw tei

  I don't want to go.

The closing ទេ (tei) is the same syllable used to end a yes/no question; here it is the second half of the negation.

02

The Colloquial 'អត់'

In casual speech អត់ (ʼɑtat) often replaces មិន (mɨnmun) before a verb.

• ខ្ញុំអត់ដឹងទេ

  khñom ʼɑt dəng teikhnom at deng tei

  I don't know.

On its own, អត់ (ʼɑtat) + ទេ (tei) is also a relaxed standalone "no / nope".

• អត់ទេ ប៉ុន្តែខ្ញុំស្គាល់ម្ចាស់របស់វា។

  ʼɑt tei pontae khñom skŏəl mcah rɔbɑh viəat tei pontae khnom skoel mcah robah vie

  No, but I know its owner.

03

Negating Existence: 'គ្មាន'

"There isn't / to not have" is the single word គ្មាន (kmiənkmien), the built-in negative of មាន (miənmien).

• ខ្ញុំគ្មានពេលទេ

  khñom kmiən peel teikhnom kmien peel tei

  I have no time.

04

Negating an Identity: 'មិនមែនជា … ទេ'

To deny that something IS a particular noun, use មិនមែន (mɨn mɛɛnmun meen) ("is not") with the linking verb, again closed by ទេ (tei).

• វាមិនមែនជាឆ្កែទេ

  viə mɨn mɛɛn ciə chkae teivie mun meen cie chkae tei

  It is not a dog.

05

The Closing 'ទេ' Can Drop

The closing ទេ (tei) is not always there. It regularly shows up in a plain, standalone statement, but two structural contexts reliably drop it: a wh-question has no yes/no ទេ (tei) to close, and a concessive clause with ក៏ដោយ (kɑɑ daoykaa daoy) "even though" is not itself the assertion being denied. Embedding under ថា (thaa) "that" is looser: ទេ (tei) often drops in short, idiomatic ថា (thaa) clauses, but longer or more deliberate ones frequently keep it, so treat this one as a tendency rather than a fixed rule. មិន (mɨnmun), អត់ (ʼɑtat), and គ្មាន (kmiənkmien) can all carry the negation alone whenever ទេ (tei) drops.

• ហេតុអ្វីបានជាយើងមិនទៅភោជនីយដ្ឋាន?

  haet ʼaʼvəy baan ciə yəəng mɨn tɨw phoocĕəʼniiyĕəʼthaan?haet avey baan cie yeeng mun tuw phooceeniiyeethaan?

  Why don't we go to a restaurant?

• ខ្ញុំបានប្រឡងជាប់ ទោះជាខ្ញុំមិនបានរៀនក៏ដោយ។

  khñom baan prɑlɑɑng cŏəp tŭəhciə khñom mɨn baan riən kɑɑ daoykhnom baan pralaang coep tuehcie khnom mun baan rien kaa daoy

  I passed the exam, even though I hadn't studied at all.

• សង្ឃឹមថាមិនភ្លៀង។

  sɑngkhɨm thaa mɨn phliəngsangkhum thaa mun phlieng

  Hope it doesn't rain.

• ខ្ញុំជឿថាមិនមានអាហារនៅសល់ទៀតទេ។

  khñom cɨə thaa mɨn miən ʼaahaa nɨw sɑl tiət teikhnom cue thaa mun mien aahaa nuw sal tiet tei

  I believe there's no food left.

• Even in a plain statement, ទេ (tei) is sometimes simply dropped in relaxed speech — គ្មានបញ្ហា (kmiən bañhaakmien banhaa) "no problem" is far more natural than the fully-closed គ្មានបញ្ហាទេ (kmiən bañhaa teikmien banhaa tei), and ខ្ញុំស្ទើរតែគ្មានលុយ (khñom stəə tae kmiən luykhnom stee tae kmien luy) "I have almost no money" drops it the same way. The full two-part frame is still the clearest, most standard form to learn first.
• Negative commands ("don't!") do not use this frame at all. They use a dedicated word, កុំ (kom), placed before the verb: កុំភ្លេច (kom phlɨckom phluc) "don't forget".

06

Negating Inside a Noun Phrase

មិន (mɨnmun) can also sit directly before an adjective to modify a noun, e.g. មិនស្អាត (mɨn sʼaatmun saat) "not nice / not pretty" describing a thing. This is not the clause-final frame and never takes a closing ទេ (tei) — there is no clause boundary for it to close, since the negated phrase is only part of a larger sentence.

• រូបថតមិនស្អាតគឺនៅក្នុងប្រអប់មួយនៅក្នុងទូ។

  ruup thɑɑt mɨn sʼaat kɨɨ nɨw knong prɑʼɑp muəy nɨw knong tuuruup thaat mun saat kuu nuw knong praap muey nuw knong tuu

  The not-nice photo is in a box in the cabinet.