The Instrumental Preposition 'ដោយ' — Khmer Grammar

(daoy) marks the means or the manner of an action — "by" or "with". It introduces the instrument used, or the way in which something is done.

Means: 'By / With'

ខ្ញុំសរសេរសំបុត្រដោយដៃ
khñom sɑsee sɑmbot daoy daykhnom sasee sambot daoy day
I write the letter by hand.

Forming Manner Adverbs

(daoy) + a quality word builds an adverb of manner, e.g. (daoy) + (lʼɑɑlaa) "good" = "well". A frequent one is (daoy) + "self" = "by oneself".

គាត់ធ្វើការដោយល្អ
kŏət thvəə kaa daoy lʼɑɑkoet thvee kaa daoy laa
He works well.
ខ្ញុំធ្វើវាដោយខ្លួនឯង
khñom thvəə viə daoy khluən ʼaengkhnom thvee vie daoy khluen aeng
I do it by myself.

Asking 'How': 'ដោយរបៀបណា'

(daoy) combines with (rɔbiəprobiep) "way; manner" and the question word (naa) "which" to form the fixed phrase (daoy rɔbiəp naadaoy robiep naa), literally "by which way" — this is how Khmer asks "how".

តើរឿងនេះកើតឡើងដោយរបៀបណា?
taə rɨəng nih kaət laəng daoy rɔbiəp naatae rueng nih kaet laeng daoy robiep naa
How did this happen?

This is the same manner sense of (daoy) from the "Means" and "Manner Adverbs" sections above, just turned into a question by swapping in (naa) for a specific manner word.

Extending to Cause: 'ដោយសារ'

With an added element it becomes (daoy saa) ("because of"), introducing a reason rather than an instrument — the means widens into a cause.

ខ្ញុំបាក់ដៃដោយសារលេងបាល់ទាត់
khñom bak day daoy saa leeng bal tŏətkhnom bak day daoy saa leeng bal toet
I broke my arm because of playing soccer.

Marking the Agent of a Passive

A Khmer passive — built with (trəwtrew) before the verb, so that the subject undergoes the action rather than doing it — usually leaves the doer unsaid. When the doer IS named, (daoy) is what introduces it, working just like English "by (someone)".

សិស្សត្រូវបានបង្រៀនដោយគ្រូបង្រៀន
səh trəw baan bɑngriən daoy kruu bɑngriənseh trew baan bangrien daoy kruu bangrien
The student is taught by the teacher.

Here (daoy) attaches the doer (kruu bɑngriənkruu bangrien) "teacher" to the passive verb — the same job "by" does in English.

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