Plurals and Quantifiers — Khmer Grammar

Khmer nouns have no plural ending — a bare noun says nothing about number. Plurality and quantity come from separate words placed around the noun, and the right one depends on whether you mean "some", "all", "every" or a plural group.

Vague Amounts

(khlah) means "some / a few" and (craəncraen) "many / much". They follow the noun like other modifiers. ( (khlah) also attaches to a question word — (ʼvəy khlahvey khlah) "what things" — to ask for an open list of answers; that's a separate construction, covered under Question Words.)

ខ្ញុំមានមិត្តច្រើន
khñom miən mɨt craənkhnom mien mut craen
I have many friends.
ខ្ញុំមានលុយខ្លះ
khñom miən luy khlahkhnom mien luy khlah
I have some money.

'All' and 'Every'

(tĕəng ʼɑhteeng ah) means "all", (krup) "every", and (rŏəlroel) "each". The bare (tĕəngteeng) conveys "all / both, the whole set" and often pairs with a number ( (tĕəng bəyteeng bey) "all three") or a demonstrative ( (tĕəng nuhteeng nuh) "those, all of them").

មនុស្សគ្រប់គ្នា
mɔnuh krup kniəmonuh krup knie
everybody
ខ្ញុំស្រឡាញ់ពួកគេទាំងអស់
khñom srɑlañ puək kei tĕəng ʼɑhkhnom sralan puek kei teeng ah
I love them all.
កូនទាំងបីរបស់ខ្ញុំមានអាយុដំណាលគ្នា។
koun tĕəng bəy rɔbɑh khñom miən ʼaayuʼ dɑmnaalkniəkoun teeng bey robah khnom mien aayu damnaalknie
My three children are the same age.
ទូកទាំងនោះមានតម្លៃថ្លៃណាស់។
tuuk tĕəng nuh miən tɑmlay thlay nahtuuk teeng nuh mien tamlay thlay nah
Those boats are very expensive.
រាល់រសៀលខ្ញុំលេងបាល់បោះ។
rŏəl rɔsiəl khñom leeng bal bɑhroel rosiel khnom leeng bal bah
Every afternoon I play basketball.

'All, Without Exception': សុទ្ធតែ

(sot tae) is an adverb meaning "all / entirely, without exception." Unlike (tĕəng ʼɑhteeng ah), which follows the pronoun or noun it quantifies, (sot tae) sits right before the verb and stresses that every member of the group shares what follows.

កូនរបស់យើង និងកូនរបស់ពួកគេសុទ្ធតែជាសិស្ស។
koun rɔbɑh yəəng nɨng koun rɔbɑh puək kei sot tae ciə səhkoun robah yeeng nung koun robah puek kei sot tae cie seh
Our children and their children are all students.

'ពួក' Pluralises People

The marker (puəkpuek) attaches to a pronoun or person-noun to make it plural: (puək keipuek kei) "they", (puək yəəngpuek yeeng) "we (the group)".

ពួកគេជាសិស្ស
puək kei ciə səhpuek kei cie seh
They are students.

Exact Numbers Need a Classifier

These quantity words handle the inexact "some / all / many". An exact count works differently: it needs a number followed by a counting word matched to the kind of thing being counted, as in (chkae pii kbaal) "two dogs", literally "dog two [animal]". The two systems do different jobs and do not mix.

A noun with none of these words is simply number-neutral, and very often that is all the context requires.

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Khmer course

42 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 6. A few of them, with the words “Plurals and Quantifiers” is about in bold:

ខ្ញុំស្រឡាញ់ពួកគេ ហើយពួកគេស្រឡាញ់ខ្ញុំ។
khñom srɑlañ puək kei haəy puək kei srɑlañ khñom.khnom sralan puek kei haey puek kei sralan khnom.
I love them and they love me.
Lesson 32
គួរឱ្យអស់សំណើចណាស់។ អ្នកខុសទាំងពីរ។
kuə ʼaoy ʼɑh sɑmnaəc nah. nĕək khoh tĕəng pii.kue aoy ah samnaec nah. neek khoh teeng pii.
How ridiculous. You are both wrong.
Lesson 163
ខ្ញុំនៅផ្សារ។ មនុស្សច្រើនណាស់។
khñom nɨw phsaa. mɔnuh craən nah.khnom nuw phsaa. monuh craen nah.
I am at the market. It is very busy.
Lesson 249

Comments

Loading comments…