Using Nau នៅ To Make a 'Yet' Question

Notice in the dialgoue we saw the question – reeun Khmer yoo nau? រៀន ខ្មែរ យូរ នៅ?

This question was translated into English as – ‘have you been studying Khmer for a long time?’ The word nau នៅ can hold the meaning ‘still’ or ‘yet’, and so in effect this question is the statement ‘study Khmer long time’, followed by the question marker ‘yet’. This then produces the question ‘have you been studying Khmer for a long time (yet)?’ This is very commonly used in Khmer to produce a question related to time, and whether or not something has been done yet. We can also use the phrase ‘hary nau’ ហើយ នៅ, or ‘hary reu nau’ ហើយឬនៅ. Listen to the following examples:
Have you eaten yet? – bong nyam baai hary nau? បង ញ៉ាំ បាយ ហើយ នៅ?

Has he been to the market yet? - go-ad dauh psaa hary reu nau? គាត់ ទៅ ផ្សា ហើយ ឬ នៅ?

Do you know how to read Khmer yet? - bong jeh aan uksor Khmer hary nau? បង ចេះ អាន អក្សរ ខ្មែរ ហើយ នៅ?

To give a positive response to a yet question in Khmer, you simply repeat the word ‘already’, usually twice:

Hary hary ហើយៗ

When responding in the negative, we reply using the word nau នៅ or នៅទេ. We saw this word previously to mean ‘located at’, but it can also mean ‘still’ when used in this situation. If we look at the phrase ‘hary reu nau’ ហើយឬនៅ then, it could be translated as ‘already or still’? When used in a sentence to mean still, it is often accompanied by the word dai តែ. Lets look at some examples:

Responding ‘not yet’:
Have you eaten yet? - bong nyam baai hary nau? បង ញុាំ បាយ ហើយ នៅ?
Not yet – nau នៅ