The Completive Particle 'ហើយ'

01

'Already / Now'

• ខ្ញុំត្រូវទៅហើយ

  khñom trəw tɨw haəykhnom trew tuw haey

  I have to go now.

• ខ្ញុំញ៉ាំហើយ

  khñom ñam haəykhnom nam haey

  I have already eaten.

02

A Change of State

ហើយ (haəyhaey) is natural for announcing that something has come about — a change in the weather, an arrival, a finished task, a person growing older. It also works for a situation that has only just become urgent or imminent — what's newly true is the urgency itself, even if the event it warns about hasn't happened yet.

• ភ្លៀងហើយ

  phliəng haəyphlieng haey

  It's raining now. (it has started)

• គាត់ចាស់ហើយ

  kŏət cah haəykoet cah haey

  He is old now. (has become old)

• សាច់ហៀបនឹងឆេះហើយ។

  sac hiəpnɨng cheh haəysac hiepnung cheh haey

  The meat is about to burn! (the newly-true state is the danger, not the burning itself)

03

In Farewells

It is what makes the everyday goodbye លាហើយ (liə haəylie haey) work. លា (liəlie) is a verb — "to take leave, to depart" — so the phrase says "(I have) taken leave": the parting announced as done rather than wished. The two halves stay separable, and Khmer proves it by pushing a word between them in លាសិនហើយ (liə sən haəylie sen haey), "so long for now".

• លាហើយ! ជួបគ្នាឆាប់!

  liə haəy cuəp kniə chaplie haey cuep knie chap

  Goodbye! See you soon!

04

Strengthened as 'រួចហើយ'

For emphasis it pairs with រួច (ruəcruec), "finished", giving រួចហើយ (ruəc haəyruec haey) — a firmer "already, and done with". Note where it sits here: not at the end, because a ថា (thaa) clause follows to say what she knows.

• នាងដឹងរួចហើយថាខ្ញុំឈឺ។

  niəng dəng ruəc haəy thaa khñom chɨɨnieng deng ruec haey thaa khnom chuu

  She already knows that I'm sick.

05

Pairs with 'ឬនៅ'

To ask whether the change has happened, ហើយ (haəyhaey) teams up with the tag ឬនៅ (rɨɨ nɨwruu nuw) — "… already, or not yet?".

• អ្នកញ៉ាំហើយឬនៅ

  nĕək ñam haəy rɨɨ nɨwneek nam haey ruu nuw

  Have you eaten yet?

06

Not the Same as the Conjunction 'ហើយ'

An identical-looking ហើយ (haəyhaey) has a second, quite separate job: joining two clauses in sequence, "and then". Sitting at the end of the sentence is not the test — the completive can be followed by a relative clause or a tag question, as the examples above show.

What decides it is what comes next. The conjunction is followed by a fresh clause: a new action, usually with its own subject. The completive is followed only by material describing or questioning the state just asserted — or by nothing at all.

• ខ្ញុំបោះបាល់ ហើយអ្នកចាប់វា។

  khñom bɑh bal haəy nĕək cap viəkhnom bah bal haey neek cap vie

  I throw the ball and you catch it. (a new clause follows)

• បន្ទាប់មកអ្នកបត់ឆ្វេងហើយបន្តដើរទៅទៀត។

  bɑntŏəp mɔɔk nĕək bɑt chveeng haəy bɑntɑɑ daə tɨw tiətbantoep mook neek bat chveeng haey bantaa dae tuw tiet

  Then you turn left and keep walking. (a second action)

• នេះជាលើកទីបីហើយដែលខ្ញុំត្រូវរំលឹកអ្នក។

  nih ciə ləək tii bəy haəy dael khñom trəw rumlɨk nĕəknih cie leek tii bey haey dael khnom trew rumluk neek

  This is the third time I've had to remind you. (the ដែល clause only describes)