Narration: Classroom Review

Unit 5 is a review and narration unit that retells the classroom interactions from Units 1–4 in narrative style. Instead of a dialogue between identified speakers, a single narrator describes what happens in the classroom. This unit introduces procedural verbs, conjunctions, and doubled adjectives.

Basic Dialogue

This unit uses a Narration format rather than a standard dialogue. Each numbered item presents the Cambodian narration with its English translation.

#	Cambodian	English
1	kruu boŋrien aoy koun seh téŋ-oh khnia bet sɨew-phɨw.	The teacher has all the students close their books.
2	haey koun seh thaa taam kruu boŋrien próom khnia: khmaε sruol rien.	And the students repeat after the teacher all together: ‘Khmer is easy to learn.‘
3	ruoc haey, kruu boŋrien aoy koun seh thaa taam mənéɁ mədooŋ.	Then the teacher has the students repeat one at a time.
4	taε mian koun seh mənéɁ suo thaa: look kruu coŋ aoy thaa khlia dodael?	But there is one student who asks: ‘Do you want (us) to say the same sentence?‘
5	kruu boŋrien chlaey thaa: baat, khlia dodael.	The teacher replies: ‘Yes, the same sentence.‘
6	mian koun seh mənéɁ tiet suo: look kruu coŋ aoy néɁnaa thaa mun?	Another student asks: ‘Who do you want to speak first?‘
7	kruu boŋrien chlaey thaa: khñom coŋ aoy look thaa mun.	The teacher replies: ‘I want you to speak first.‘
8	haey koun seh téŋ-oh khnia thaa taam kruu mənéɁ mədooŋ.	And all the students repeat after the teacher one at a time.
9	koun seh dael thaa taam tec-tec nuh, kruu prap aoy thaa khlaŋ ntec.	A student who repeats softly, the teacher tells to say it a little louder.
10	koun seh dael thaa taam yiit-yiit nuh, kruu prap aoy thaa ñóp ləmóom.	A student who repeats slowly, the teacher tells to say at the right speed.
11	koun seh téŋ-oh khnia khom thaa taam kruu khlaŋ ləmóom, haey ñóp ləmóom.	All the students try to repeat after the teacher loud enough and fast enough.
12	thaa tec nah, kruu sdap min lii tee.	Say it very softly, the teacher can’t hear.
13	thaa ñóp peek, kruu sdap min baan tee.	Say it too fast, the teacher can’t understand.
14	kraoy móoɁ, kruu boŋrien aoy koun seh baək sɨew-phɨw viñ.	Later, the teacher has the students open their books up again.
15	kee niŋ rien sɨew-phɨw lieŋ, tumpóa tii-buon, khlia tii-pii, bontót tii-bey.	They are going to study the yellow book, page four, sentence two, line three.
16	koun seh dael min yúl, suo somnuo tiw kruu.	The students that don’t understand ask questions of the teacher.
17	kee suo thaa: sɨew-phɨw naa, tumpóa tii-pəmaan, khlia tii-pəmaan, bontót tii-pəmaan?	They ask: which book, what page, which sentence, which line?
18	kruu boŋrien chlaey somnuo kee.	The teacher answers their questions.
19	haey koun seh téŋ-oh khnia róoɁ bontót niŋ khəəñ.	And all the students finally find the line.
20	kruu suo: bontót niŋ mael thaa mec?	The teacher asks: ‘How does that line read?‘
21	koun seh mənéɁ chlaey thaa: mael thaa khmaε sruol rien.	A student answers: ‘It reads Khmer is easy to learn.‘
22	haey kruu boŋrien suo somnuo tiet.	And the teacher asks more questions.
23	kee suo thaa: piaɁ kraoy kee boŋ-oh kii piaɁ ɛy? piaɁ mun niŋ kii piaɁ ɛy? piaɁ mun kee boŋ-oh kii piaɁ ɛy?	He asks: ‘What’s the last word of all? What’s the word before that? What’s the first word of all?‘
24	koun seh chlaey somnuo kruu mənéɁ mədooŋ, kee chlaey trəw téŋ-oh khnia.	The students answer the teacher’s questions one at a time; they all answer correctly.
25	kruu boŋrien khəəñ thaa kee yúl khlia niŋ téŋ-oh khnia.	The teacher sees that they all understand the sentence.

Key Vocabulary

Procedural Verbs and Adjectives

Cambodian	English
thaa	to say, speak; as follows
prap	to tell
suo	to ask
somnuo	question
chlaey	to answer
tiw kruu	to the teacher
tiw kót	to him
mənéɁ mədooŋ	one at a time
próom khnia	all together
coŋ	to want
coŋ aoy	to want to have
mian… mənéɁ	there is a… (person)
mian… mənéɁ tiet	there is another… (person)

Procedural Conjunctions and Adverbs

Cambodian	English
haey	and, then
ruoc haey	after that, then
taε	but
haey niŋ	and (in a series)
kraoy móoɁ	later
dael	which, who
viñ	again, back
tiet	more, other

Doubled Adjectives

Doubled adjectives are characteristic of narrative style in statements where they are not the main element of the predicate.

Base	Meaning	Doubled	Meaning	Intensified
ñóp	to be fast	ñóp-ñóp	rapidly	ñóp nah (very fast)
yiit	to be slow	yiit-yiit	slowly	yiit ntec (a little slower)
khlaŋ	to be loud, strong	khlaŋ-khlaŋ	loudly	khlaŋ ləmóom (loud enough)
tec	to be small, few	tec-tec	softly	tec nah (very softly)

Grammar Notes

Narrative Style

The content of the Narration is almost exactly the same as that of the first four Basic Dialogues; only the style is different. Instead of a series of actual conversations with speakers identified only in the book, we now have an account of the conversations as told by a single person.

The narrator must use two kinds of words not found in the original conversations:

1. Procedural verbs, especially those of speaking (thaa, prap, suo, chlaey)
2. Procedural conjunctions, indicating the transitions between successive sentences (haey, ruoc haey, taε, kraoy móoɁ)

The narrator must also identify each person who speaks, indicating when he begins and when he stops.

The Causative /aoy/

Note the use of /aoy/ in sentences 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, etc. The common feature of these sentences is that they correspond to commands or requests in direct discourse; the meaning of /aoy/ is ‘to have someone do something’ (note its other use in direct commands — e.g. /thaa aoy khlaŋ/ ‘Say it loud.’).

Practice Drills

Exercise: Dialogue to Narration

The teacher reads aloud from the Basic Dialogues of Units 1–4, pausing after each sentence. A student gives the same information in narrative style.

Teacher (Dialogue)	Student (Narration)
soum bet sɨew-phɨw.	kruu boŋrien aoy koun seh téŋ-oh khnia bet sɨew-phɨw.
(Please close your books.)	(The teacher has all the students close their books.)

Progressive Substitution Drill A

Cambodian	English
khlia nih, look téŋ-oh khnia yúl tee?	Do you all understand this sentence?
khlia nih, look téŋ-oh khnia sdap lii tee?	Did you all hear this sentence?
khlia nih, neɁ kruu sdap lii tee?	Did the teacher (F) hear this sentence?
somnuo khñom, neɁ kruu sdap lii tee?	Did the teacher (F) hear my question?
somnuo khñom, neɁ kruu sdap baan tee?	Did the teacher (F) understand my question?
somnuo khñom, look srεy sdap baan tee?	Did you (F) understand my question?