នោះជាអ្វី?
nuh chie avei?
The English phrase "what is that?" is translated into Khmer as នោះជាអ្វី? (nuh chie avei?)
This phrase is a question used to ask for the identity of an object that is far from the speaker.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of នោះ (that), ជា (is/to be) and អ្វី (what).
Which one should you use?
If the object is close to the speaker, you should use នេះជាអ្វី? instead.
How does it change in a sentence?
In Khmer, the word order for this question follows a Subject-Verb-Object structure, similar to English.
How do you pronounce it?
nuh chie avei?
Did you know?
- In highly formal or royal contexts, the word អ្វី is replaced by a completely different term to show respect to the listener or the object.
- If you are pointing at something far away with one hand, it is culturally more polite to use both hands or a subtle gesture rather than a single finger, which can sometimes appear blunt or rude in formal settings.
- While you might use 'is' in English, the Khmer word ជា is often reserved for formal definitions or identification. In casual conversation, Cambodians often omit the verb 'to be' entirely and simply say 'that what?' to ask the same question.
Example conversation
Chinda and Sok are walking in a park and see a strange object in the distance.
- ចិន្តា Chindaសុខ មើលនោះ! នោះជាអ្វី?Sok muel noh! noh chea avei?Sok, look there! What is that?
- សុខ Sokខ្ញុំមិនប្រាកដទេ ចិន្តា។khnom min prakot te, Chinda.I'm not sure, Chinda.
- ចិន្តា Chindaវាដូចជាបក្សីចម្លែក។vea doch chea boksei chomlaek.It looks like a strange bird.
- សុខ Sokអូ! វាគឺជាសត្វក្ង្រាប។oh! vea keu chea sat kngrop.Oh! It is a heron.
