សួស្តី ខ្ញុំឈ្មោះ
suosdei khnhom chmuoh
The English phrase "hello, my name is" is translated into Khmer as សួស្តី ខ្ញុំឈ្មោះ (suosdei khnhom chmuoh).
This phrase is used to greet someone and introduce yourself by stating your name.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of សួស្តី (hello), ខ្ញុំ (I/me) and ឈ្មោះ (name/to be named).
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
Use ជម្រាបសួរ ខ្ញុំឈ្មោះ to be more polite or formal when introducing yourself.
How do you pronounce it?
suosdei khnhom chmuoh
Did you know?
- In Cambodia, it is common to ask about a person's age shortly after the 'my name is' introduction to determine which polite pronoun to use for the rest of the conversation.
- While you might use this phrase to introduce yourself, in Cambodia, a verbal greeting is often considered incomplete without the 'Sampeah', a gesture of placing your palms together like a prayer.
- In many social settings, instead of using the word 'I' (ខ្ញុំ) from your phrase, Cambodians often substitute it with a kinship term like 'brother' or 'sister' to show closeness or respect.
Examples in context
- សួស្តី ខ្ញុំឈ្មោះ សុខ។suosdei khnhom chmuah sok.Hello, my name is Sok.
- សួស្តី ខ្ញុំឈ្មោះ វិចិត្រ។suosdei khnhom chmuah vichitra.Hello, my name is Vichitra.
Example conversation
A man and a woman meet at a community event.
- ណារ៉ុង Narongសួស្តី ខ្ញុំឈ្មោះ ណារ៉ុង។suosdei khnhom chmuah narong.Hello, my name is Narong.
- ម៉ាលី Malyសួស្តី ខ្ញុំឈ្មោះ ម៉ាលី។suosdei khnhom chmuah mali.Hello, my name is Mali.
- ណារ៉ុង Narongរីករាយដែលបានស្គាល់អ្នក។rikreay del ban skoal neak.Nice to meet you.
- ម៉ាលី Malyរីករាយដែលបានស្គាល់អ្នកដូចគ្នា។rikreay del ban skoal neak doch knia.Nice to meet you too.
