3.8 Possessive Adjective and Apostrophe + “s” (‘s)

Possessive Adjectives

The word for “possessive adjectives” is Roo-bɔh.​​​​ The possessive adjective is frequently omitted in spoken language.

Examples: 

  • Roo-bɔh Khnhom “my”
  • Roo-bɔh koat “his”
  • Roo-bɔh yəəng “our”
Table 1
Possessive Adjective with Singular Pronouns Possessive Adjective with Plural Pronouns
Transliteration English Khmer Transliteration English Khmer
roo-bɔh khnhom My របស់ខ្ញុំ roo-bɔh neak Your[1] រ​បស់អ្នក
roo-bɔh neak Your របស់អ្នក roo-bɔh yəəng Our របស់យើង
roo-bɔh koat His របស់គាត់ roo-bɔh bpuak-koat/bpuak-kee Their របស់ពួកគាត់/របស់ពួកគេ
roo-bɔh niang Her របស់នាង

Apostrophe +”s” (‘s)

The word for “of” is roo-bɔh and possession can be expressed using the pattern:  noun+roo-bɔh+ possessor. The word roo-bɔh is frequently omitted in spoken language.

Examples: 

  • Laan roo-bɔh Thida= Thida’s car
  • M’daay roo-bɔh Thida= Sokha’s mother

 

1. Listening

  • Listen to the following passage about Thida’s family. Use the chart below to compare and spot mistakes in the passage.


 

"Chi-dtaa neng chi-doon" is written in a box at the top of the family tree. Sokha and Kunthia are a couple in a single box below; they are Thida's parents.. There are 5 boxes on the line for their children and their spouses. From left to right, Dara and Chenda are in one box, Suan is in one box, Vichia and Pisey are in one box, Thida is in one box, and Sonaa is in the last box. Dara and Chenda have one box below them that says "Koon-srey bpii neak" and Vichia and Pisey have one box below them that says "Koon-bproh m'neak"

2. Writing

After listening, rewrite the correct description of Thida’s family and compare with the description below.

The correct description of Thida’s family

Ouw-bpok roo-bɔh Thida chmuah Sitha haəy koat aa-yu 45 chnam. M’daay roo-bɔh Thida chmuah Kunthia haəy koat aa-yu 42 chnam. Jii-dtaa roo-bɔh Thida aa-yu 75 chnam haəy jii-doon roo-bɔh Thida aa-yu 70 chnam. Thida mian bɔɔng-p’oon buan neak. Bpuak koat chmuah: Dara, Piseth, Vichia, Sonaa. Bprɔɔ-bpon roo-bɔh Dara chmuah Chenda haəy bpuak-koat mian koon-srey bpii neak. Vichia riab-kaa jia-mauy Pisey haəy bpuak-koat mian koon-bproh m’neak.

3. Reading

Read the correct description of Thida’s family again and then the answer the true-false questions.

 

  1. The possessive adjective for second-person plural pronoun is Roo-bɔh neak-taeng-bpii "your". However, when referring to more than two people the second-person plural pronoun is "Roo-bɔh neak-taeng-ah-kina". ↵

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