Yes/No Questions with 'តើ' and 'ទេ'

01

The Closing Signal 'ទេ'

The most important marker is the sentence-final ទេ (tei). It invites a yes/no answer, much like rising intonation in English. In everyday casual speech, this is often the only question word used.

• អ្នកមានឡានទេ

  nĕək miən laan teineek mien laan tei

  Do you have a car?

• វាឆ្ងាញ់ទេ

  viə chngañ teivie chngan tei

  Is it delicious?

• A statement needs no marker at all — adding ទេ (tei) to the end is the core difference between telling and asking.

02

The Opening Signal 'តើ' — and Its Other Jobs

តើ (taətae) sits at the start and flags "a question is coming" — but that's true of every kind of question, not just yes/no ones. The same តើ (taətae) also opens question-word (wh-) questions like "what," "where," and "how much" (see Question Words), and those never take a closing ទេ (tei). So តើ (taətae) by itself doesn't tell you which kind of question you're in — what makes it a yes/no question specifically is the closing ទេ (tei) (or one of its alternatives below).

• តើអ្នកឈ្មោះអ្វី

  taə nĕək chmŭəh ʼvəytae neek chmueh vey

  What is your name? (a question word, no ទេ)

• តើអ្នកឈឺទេ

  taə nĕək chɨɨ teitae neek chuu tei

  Are you sick? (yes/no, closes with ទេ)

Watch out: a word that looks like a question word doesn't always ask for specific information. អ្វី (ʼvəy, "what") can also mean "anything" — and a sentence using it that way is still a yes/no question, because it closes with ទេ (tei).

• តើអ្នកត្រូវការអ្វីទេ

  taə nĕək trəw kaa ʼvəy teitae neek trew kaa vey tei

  Do you need anything?

03

Using Both Together

Bracketing the sentence — តើ (taətae) opening, ទេ (tei) closing — is the clearest, most formal question frame. You will see this often in writing and polite inquiries.

• តើអ្នកស្គាល់នាងទេ

  taə nĕək skŏəl niəng teitae neek skoel nieng tei

  Do you know her?

• តើអ្នកចង់ទៅផ្ទះទេ

  taə nĕək cɑng tɨw phtĕəh teitae neek cang tuw phteeh tei

  Do you want to go home?

04

Alternative Closing Tags: 'ឬ', 'ដែរឬទេ', and 'មែនទេ'

ទេ (tei) isn't the only way to close a តើ (taətae)-question. A softer, more open-ended yes/no question can close with ឬ (rɨɨruu) — literally "or?" — leaving the alternative unspoken. A stronger version, ដែរឬទេ (dae rɨɨ teidae ruu tei), tacks on an explicit "...or not?" The single most common closing tag of all, though, is មែនទេ (mɛɛn teimeen tei) — "right? / isn't it?" — built from មែន (mɛɛn, "indeed") plus this same ទេ (tei). These closing tags are covered in full under Tag Questions and Confirmation (which also has ឬនៅ (rɨɨ nɨwruu nuw), "yet?"), but you'll meet them here too, since they still open with តើ (taətae).

• តើអ្នកឈឺឬ

  taə nĕək chɨɨ rɨɨtae neek chuu ruu

  Are you sick (or)?

• តើអ្នកទៅទាន់រថភ្លើងដែរឬទេ

  taə nĕək tɨw tŏən rŭətphləəng dae rɨɨ teitae neek tuw toen ruetphleeng dae ruu tei

  Did you catch the train on time?

• តើអ្នកកំពុងតែគេងមែនទេ

  taə nĕək kɑmpung tae keing mɛɛn teitae neek kampung tae keing meen tei

  You're sleeping, right?

05

Answering

A short "no" is simply ទេ (tei). A simple "yes" uses the polite particles បាទ (baat) for men and ចាស (caah) for women. Otherwise, agreement is shown by echoing the main verb from the question. Khmer does not use a single all-purpose "yes" for everything.

• តើនេះជាពូរបស់អ្នកឬ

  taə nih ciə puu rɔbɑh nĕək rɨɨtae nih cie puu robah neek ruu

  Is this your uncle?

• ទេ គាត់ជាមីងរបស់ខ្ញុំ

  tei kŏət ciə miing rɔbɑh khñomtei koet cie miing robah khnom

  No, she is my aunt.

• តើអ្នកត្រូវការកាបូបថ្មីទេ

  taə nĕək trəw kaa kaaboup thməy teitae neek trew kaa kaaboup thmey tei

  Will you need a new backpack?

• បាទ

  baat

  Yes.

• តើអ្នកសុខសប្បាយជាទេ

  taə nĕək sok sapbaay ciə teitae neek sok sapbaay cie tei

  How are you? (lit. are you well?)

• ខ្ញុំសុខសប្បាយទេ អរគុណ

  khñom sok sapbaay tei ʼɑɑ kunkhnom sok sapbaay tei aa kun

  I'm fine, thank you. (echoes សុខសប្បាយ; see 'One Word, Three Jobs' below for why ទេ stays)

06

One Word, Three Jobs

Be careful: ទេ (tei) is also the word that closes a negative sentence, the second half of the មិន (mɨnmun) … ទេ (tei) frame — and, in a short answer that echoes the question's own verb or adjective, it can even close a positive statement, as with ខ្ញុំសុខសប្បាយទេ (khñom sok sapbaay teikhnom sok sapbaay tei) above. Context sorts out all three: paired with a preceding មិន (mɨnmun), it negates; alone at the end of a question, it asks; alone at the end of an echoed positive answer, it isn't doing either job — it's simply carried over from the question as a fixed, idiomatic closer.

• តើអ្នកចង់ធ្វើជាមិត្តរបស់គាត់ទេ

  taə nĕək cɑng thvəə ciə mɨt rɔbɑh kŏət teitae neek cang thvee cie mut robah koet tei

  Do you want to be his friend? (question ទេ)

• ខ្ញុំមិនមានពងទេ

  khñom mɨn miən pɔɔng teikhnom mun mien poong tei

  I don't have eggs. (negation ទេ)