Possesive

In order to make something possesive in Khmer, we use the word ‘roboh’ របស់. This simply goes in front of the noun which it alters:

Mine – roboh knyom របស់ ខ្ញុំ
Yours – roboh neak របស់ អ្នក
His/hers – roboh go-ad របស់ គាត់
Ours – roboh yerng របស់ យើង
Theirs – roboh gay របស់ គេ
Whose – roboh naagay របស់ ណា គេ

In English when we want to use the possesive, we put the possesive before the noun. For example we would say ‘his car’. However, in Khmer we put the possesive after the noun, and so it would be ‘car his’. This also applies to adjectives in general, the adjective always follows the noun it is describing. Look at the following examples:
His car – laan roboh go-ad ឡាន របស់ គាត់

My friend – mudpayak roboh knyom មិត្តភ័ក្រ របស់ ខ្ញុំ

Your house – p'deah roboh bong ផ្ទះ របស់ បង

Car – laan ឡាន

Although this is the correct way to produce the possesive form, sometimes in general speech the ‘roboh’ របស់ will be dropped:

His car – laan go-ad ឡាន គាត់

My friend – mudpayak knyom មិត្តភ័ក្រ ខ្ញុំ

Your house – p'deah bong ផ្ទះ បង