Books and Reading Practice

This unit focuses on reading practice in the classroom. You will learn expressions for starting and stopping reading, reading aloud and silently, and understanding what you read. Key grammar covers the negative particle /min-tón/ ‘not yet’ and the emphatic particle /soh/ ‘not at all.‘

Basic Dialogue

Cambodian (romanized)	English
yeeŋ cap pii troŋ-naa?	Where do we begin?
cap pii bontót tii-pii, haey chup niw bontót tii-buon.	Start from line two, and stop at line four.
yeeŋ mɔel aoy lii baan tee?	Can we read aloud?
tee, mɔel ksɛp-ksɛp.	No, read silently.
kaalnaa look mɔel cop, loek day.	When you have finished reading, raise your hand.
khñom mɔel cop haey.	I’ve finished reading.
look yúl téŋ-oh tee?	Do you understand all of it?
baat. khlia téŋ-oh nih sruol yúl tee.	Yes. All these sentences are easy to understand.
kaalnaa look mɔel cop téŋ-oh khnia, yeeŋ niŋ hat mɔel aoy lii.	When all of you have finished reading, we’ll practice reading aloud.
khñom min-tón cop tee. soum cam mɔphleet.	I haven’t finished yet. Please wait a minute.
min ɛy tee. khñom cam.	That’s all right. I’ll wait.
min sruol mɔel soh.	It’s not at all easy to read.

Key Vocabulary

Cambodian	English
cap pii	to start from
bontót	line (of text)
chup	to stop
mɔel	to read, to look
mɔel aoy lii	to read aloud
ksɛp-ksɛp	silently
cop	to finish
loek day	to raise one’s hand
yúl	to understand
khlia	sentence
sruol	easy
hat	to practice
min-tón	not yet
cam	to wait
mɔphleet	a moment, a minute
soh	at all (emphatic negative particle)
min ɛy tee	it’s all right, never mind
khnia	each other, together
kaalnaa	when
haey	already

Grammar Notes

The Negative /min-tón/ ‘not yet’

min-tón is the near opposite of haey ‘already.’ It means ‘not yet’ and can occur:

• As a complete response: Q: yeeŋ cap rien sosee daɛJ? A: tee, min tón tee. (‘No, not yet.’)
• Before a verb: khñom min-tón cop tee. (‘I haven’t finished yet.’)

When paired verbs occur, min-tón takes the same position as min: róoʔ min-tón kheeñ (‘hasn’t found yet’), sdap min-tón lii (‘can’t hear yet’), mɔel min-tón cop (‘hasn’t finished reading yet’).

The Final Particle /soh/

soh replaces the final particle tee in negative statements only, adding strong emphasis meaning ‘not at all’: min sruol mɔel soh. (‘It’s not at all easy to read.’) It occurs after any kind of prior negative but is most commonly found after the simple negative min.

Practice Drills

Drill A. Inserting Objects

Cambodian	English
tumpóa tii-buon, khñom róoʔ min-tón kheeñ tee. → khñom róoʔ tumpóa tii-buon min-tón kheeñ tee.	Page 4, I haven’t found yet. → I haven’t found page 4 yet.
look niyiey, khñom sdap min-tón baan tee. → khñom sdap look niyiey min-tón baan tee.	What you said, I haven’t understood yet. → I haven’t understood what you said yet.
mee-rien nih, yeeŋ rien min-tón cop tee. → yeeŋ rien mee-rien nih min-tón cop tee.	This lesson, we haven’t finished studying yet. → We haven’t finished studying this lesson yet.

Drill B. Changing /tee/ to /haey/

Cambodian	English
pii mun, khñom sdap min-tón lii tee. → ɛylow, khñom sdap lii haey.	Previously, I hadn’t heard it yet. → Now I have heard it.
pii mun, khñom mɔel min-tón kheeñ tee. → ɛylow, khñom mɔel kheeñ haey.	Previously, I hadn’t seen it yet. → Now, I have seen it.
pii mun, kót sdap min baan tee. → ɛylow, kót sdap baan haey.	Previously, he didn’t understand. → Now, he does understand.