Basic Sentence Structure

Subject + Verb + Object/Location

This is the most basic sentence structure in Khmer. We begin with our subject, follow that with a verb, and then finish up with our object. The order of object and location can be changed without affecting the meaning of the sentence. See the simple examples below.

To know (people) - skoal ស្គាល់
To work - twer gaa ធ្វើការ
In (place)/at - nau នៅ
With - jeaa muy nung/jeea muy/muy ជាមួយនឹង/ជាមួយ/មួយ

I know him - knyom skoal go-ad ខ្ញុំ ស្គាល់ គាត់

She knows me - go-ad skoal knyom គាត់ ស្គាល់ ខ្ញុំ

She knows them - go-ad skoal boouk gay គាត់ ស្គាល់ ពួក គេ

I am well - knyom sok sabay ខ្ញុំ សុខ សប្បាយ

They work in Phnom Penh - boouk gay twer gaa nau Phnom Penh ពួក គេ ធ្វើការ នៅ ភ្នំពេញ

In the following sentence, notice that the structure is:

Subject + Verb + Object + Location

She works with me in Siem Reap - go-ad twer gaa jeea muy knyom nau Siem Reap គាត់ ធ្វើការ ជាមួយ ខ្ញុំ នៅ សៀមរាប

However, in the next example we have altered this to:

Subject + Verb + Location + Object

And the sentence is still correct. The position of the location and the object can be switched.

I work in Battambang with Dara - knyom twer gaa nau Battambang jeea muy nung Dara ខ្ញុំ ធ្វើការ នៅ បាត់ដំបង ជាមួយនឹង ដារ៉ា