PRONOUNCE KHMER EASY – MekongEasy & KhmerEasy

this dictionary has good audio files for Khmer use with mekongeasy to get transliterations
also FORVO has for all languages khmer lao thai myanmar vietnamese
eg.ឆ្នាំង znaḿg (pot)

k/q __G in Gold
x/ᶍ __K in Kick
t/ţ __T in Tick
ŧ/ṯ __T with soft h after
f/p __P in Pig
s __S in Sit

c/j __J in John
z/ç __CH in CHop
d/ᶁ __D in Dog
đ/ḏ __D with soft h after
ń/n __N in Nit
ł/l __L in Lit

g __NG in riNG
y __Y in Yep
ᵽ __P with soft h after
ṉ __NYA in Tanya
m __M in Mit
r __R in Rip
v __VW

Difficult words, including Missing Vowels

Black OR ɑɑ consonants

LONG VOWEL a e ii oo uu OR
ស s sOR white
សក sk skOR sugar
ថម ŧm ŧORm rock
ដប db dORb bottle
សម្ល sml sOmlOR soup
បើកបរ beukbr beukbORr drive
ចរាចរ cracr cORracORr traffic
ដង dg dORg time
បែតង baetg baetORg green
បន្ត bnt bORntOR continue
បងកើត bgkeut bORgkeut create
បងកើន bgkeun bORgkeun increase
ដូង doog coconut
យ៉ាង y:ag makes adverb
ថ្មី ŧmii ŧmEii new

SHORT VOWELS a’ e’ i o o’ u'(also before ḿ)
បត់ b’t bO’t turn
ចំណុច cḿńoc cO’ḿńoc question
ដល់ d’l dO’l come
ដប់ d’b dO’b ten
ចង់ c’g cO’g want
ចំហរ cḿhr cO’ḿhORr open (adj. eg open door)
កាត់ ka’t cut
ថ្នាក់ ŧna’k grade
ស្លាប់ sla’b dead
ញ៉ាំ ṉ:aḿ ṉ:A’ḿ eat
តោះ touħ to’ħ let’s
កិច្ច kicc kE’cc affair/matter
ចិត្ត citt cE’tt mind/heart
បិទ bit bE’t close(V), closed

IPA ə
ផឹក fuk fək drink

DOUBLE SOUND
ម៉ោង m:oug hour
ក្រោយ krouy
ហើយ heuy hAeuy
ថោក ŧouk cheap

PALI/SANSKRIT
កសិករ ksikr kA·si·kORr farmer
កម្មករ kmmkr kAmmAkORr worker
វិស្វករ visvkr vIIsvA·kORr engineer
សព្វថ្ងៃនេះ spv so’p ŧgei neħ nowadays
សរីរាង្គ sriiragq IPA: /saʔrəyrieŋ/ organic

Blue dangling OH ɔɔ consonants

LONG VOWEL a e ii oo uu OH U

ធំ ṯḿ ṯOHḿ large
គាំទ្រ qaḿţr qOA’ḿţrOH support
ប្រឈម brçm brçOHm face to face
គោរព qourp qourOHp respect
គោល qoul qOOl goal
យោង youg yOOg according to
លោក louk lOOk sir
អាស៊ី ·as;ii asia(asie)

SHORT VOWELS a’ e’ i o o’ u’ (also before ḿ)
ជំ រាប សួរ jḿrabsuor jU’ḿ hello
យល់ y’l yU’l understand
យប់ y’b yU’b night
ស៊ុប s;ob s;U’b soup
គ្រប់ qr’b qrU’b every

IPA ɨ
ជិត jit jɨt almost, near
ទឹក ţuk ţɨk water
គិត qit qɨt think
នឹក nuk nɨk miss (someone/thing)

DOUBLE SOUND
ធ្លាប់ ṯla’b ṯlOa’b ever
បន្ទាប់ bnţa’b bnţOa’b then
ព័ត pát pOát information
ពាន់ pa’n pOa’n thousand
មាន់ ma’n mOa’n chicken
នាំ naḿ nOA’ḿ lead, guide
ធ្លាក់ ṯla’k ṯlEa’k fall
នាក់ na’k nEa’k person
ទាំង ţaḿg ţEaḿg both
លក់ l’k lUOk sell
រ្វល់ rv’l rvUOl busy
ឈ្មោះ çmouħ çmUOħ name
ព្រោះ prouħ prUOħ because
ទោះ ţouħ ţUOħ though
**exception nouħ nUħ that

ħ
ផ្ទះ fţħ fţEAħ house
ព្រះ prħ prEAħ god
ឈ្នះ çnħ çnEAħ win

PALI/SANSKRIT
អភិវឌ្ឍ ·ᵽivᶁḏ ·AᵽivOAᶁḏ develop
អនុវត្ត ·novtt AnovOAtt apply
ពលរដ្ឌ plrdđ pUlrOAdđ citizen
ពណ៌ pŕń pOA colour
វប្បធម៌ vbbṯŕm vOAbbṯOA
ព័ន្ត pánṯ pOán involved
ទសវត្សរ៍ ţsvtsr´ ţUOsvOAt decade

2 consonants rule

1st syllable consonant is dominant and determines sound for 2nd syllable

eg. ប៉ុន្មានb:onman, 1st syllable b is OR and 2nd syllable m is OH. As the 1st syllable consonant is dominant (b OR), the 2nd (m OH) also acts as an OR consonant, hence sound is b:onman, not b:onmien

__OU in tour
ue

__UE in suet / also __UI in fluid
ie

__IE in tier
e

__AY in day

Vowels that change after BLUE (OH consonant)
(dangling: q ᶍ g j ç ṉ ᶁḏ ţṯ pᵽ y + l m n r v or with trailing semicolon eg. h; s;)

after BLACK (OR consonant) sounds like written	after BLUE (OH consonant) q ᶍ g j ç ṉ ᶁḏ ţṯ pᵽ y + l m n r v
ka __AR in park ko __O in sOng koo __OH tou __OU in house ផឹកfuk __UR in tURn kae __AE	qa->qIE __IE in tIEr qo->qU’ __U in full qoo->qU __UU in fool ţou->ţOH __ ţuk->ţɨk __EU’ qae->qAIR __AI in AIr fţħ->fţEAħ __EA in mEA culpa naḿ->nOaḿ __OAM

Vowels that change after BLACK (OR consonant) ( k d đ t ŧ b f h ł ń · c s x z )

changes after BLACK (OR consonant) k d đ t ŧ b f h ł ń · c s x z	after BLUE (OH consonant) sounds like written
ចិនcin->cE’n __E in tEn ស្រីsrii->srEii __EY in prey ដៃdei->dAei __Y-i in mY-i តើteu->tAeu __OU in OUr ខ្មៅxmw->xmAw __Aeu+w តោះtouħ->tAħ __AH in bAH	មិនmin __E in shortEn ទីţii __EE in tree qei __ លើleu __UR in tURn ទៅţw __eu*+wţaḿ __UM in rUM

ţoṃ

__OM in frOM
ţṃ

__UM in rUM

tuṃ

__OOM in OOMpa loompa
tṃ

__OOM in OOMpa loompa** ‘ changes vowel

Silent last letters eg ᶍ in prħsgᶍ
c–>IK តូច tooc tooIc
; convert BLACK to BLUE e.g. h;an = hIEn
: convert BLUE to BLACK, b to p eg. b:onman = ponman (how much), b:ooliis = pooliis
´ preceding letter unpronounced eg. ·armmń´= ·armm (feeling), ·oţahrń´ = ·oţahr (example)

Stacked Consonants

When one consonant written above 2nd one, called stacked, subscript or sub-consonant,
the 2nd consonant determines vowel, UNLESS 2nd one is blue lmnrv ṉgy, practically all the non-dangling blue letters. in these cases the 1st consonant determines vowel.
this means in most cases, if the double consonant has a letter which dangles, it’s blue, otherwise it’s black
black doubles br, cr, tr, kr, kl, kn, sv, sm, sl, ŧm,
but also dangling xṉ, sg, ŧg, xy (any with 1st black letter +2nd consonant non-dangling or ṉgy)
blue letter doubles jr, lg, pr, qn, qr, fţ, but also mn

Difficult words, including Missing Vowels

2 consonants rule

Vowels that change after BLUE (OH consonant) (dangling: q ᶍ g j ç ṉ ᶁḏ ţṯ pᵽ y + l m n r v or with trailing semicolon eg. h; s;)

Vowels that change after BLACK (OR consonant) ( k d đ t ŧ b f h ł ń · c s x z )

Stacked Consonants

Vowels that change after BLUE (OH consonant)
(dangling: q ᶍ g j ç ṉ ᶁḏ ţṯ pᵽ y + l m n r v or with trailing semicolon eg. h; s;)