The Language Saga Continues....

So...ongoing language study. I'm still doing it. And it still wears me out. Lately I've been learning grammar, and trying to figure out the ins and outs of Khmer sentence structure. In a lot of ways the language is very simple. For instance, there are no verb forms. In English, we change the verb "to cook" depending on subject and tense: I cook, I cooked, I am cooking, he cooks, they will cook, etc. In Khmer, the word "to cook" is exactly the same in all of those instances. Nor does it change, like in French or Spanish, based on gender. There is a slight variation for putting a verb into past or future tense. To do so, you simply add the "past word" or the "future word"--like saying "I DID cook" or "I WILL cook." Past and future tense can be expressed in other ways as well, but the word "cook" itself does not change at all--simple.



Until things start to get a little more complex. Sentence word order in Khmer can be similar to English, or it can be very different. There are also differences in how many ideas one word encapsulates. For instance, there are some things in English that we express with only one word; some of these concepts are expressed with more than one word in Khmer. Take the word "know". We use this word in English to express a variety of meanings. In Khmer, however, there are different words depending on what it is you are talking about knowing: "know a fact/information," "know a person/word/location," or "know how to do something." Or take the English word "carry." You will need different Khmer words to say carry on your back, carry slung over your shoulders, carry on the back of an animal, carry on your head, carry in your arms, carry a light object in your hands, or carry a heavy object in your hands. This works the other way too--sometimes English has multiple words where Khmer has only one. In Khmer, "ree-un" covers the concepts of both "study" and "learn."



And then there's the Khmer word "owie." Depending on how it's used, "owie" can be translated into English as: to, from, give, cause, for, let, tell, ask, and probably something else. It can also be added to a phrase to mean "I promise I will do this." Or in some cases, it can be added to an adjective to turn it into an adverb (from "quick" to "quickly"). This is the grammar that I mentioned I have been trying to learn. Needless to say, it is a little confusing! I'm still working on exactly when and where to insert an "owie" into my sentences.