Tricky grammar question
Re: Tricky grammar question
I think the question partly went over your head. While the Cambodian maybe don't use the two comparatives like "The harder you study, the easier it gets" they use the structure with two comparatives a lot. And I mean A LOT.
The official structure is:
kante (កាន់តែ) first comparitive
kante (កាន់តែ) second comparitive
You will hear: "the younger, the more beautiful" a lot, for instance.
is the easy / cut / lazy version where the word kante (កាន់តែ) is dropped. You can do that if there's a verb in the comparative. If you just want to compare two adjectives (The more beautiful, the more expensive for instance) you can not drop the word kante (កាន់តែ).
In that case you have to say the full structure:
kante (កាន់តែ) s'aat
kante (កាន់តែ) tlai
otherwise the statement has no meaning at all. So better to just use the word kante (កាន់តែ) whenever you make a comparative like this all time.
Re: Tricky grammar question
Great post. ThanksKammekor wrote: ↑Fri Jan 25, 2019 7:13 amI think the question partly went over your head. While the Cambodian maybe don't use the two comparatives like "The harder you study, the easier it gets" they use the structure with two comparatives a lot. And I mean A LOT.
The official structure is:
kante (កាន់តែ) first comparitive
kante (កាន់តែ) second comparitive
You will hear: "the younger, the more beautiful" a lot, for instance.
is the easy / cut / lazy version where the word kante (កាន់តែ) is dropped. You can do that if there's a verb in the comparative. If you just want to compare two adjectives (The more beautiful, the more expensive for instance) you can not drop the word kante (កាន់តែ).
In that case you have to say the full structure:
kante (កាន់តែ) s'aat
kante (កាន់តែ) tlai
otherwise the statement has no meaning at all. So better to just use the word kante (កាន់តែ) whenever you make a comparative like this all time.
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Re: Tricky grammar question
Sorry late to the party....bobsboots wrote: ↑Fri Jan 25, 2019 3:27 pmGreat post. ThanksKammekor wrote: ↑Fri Jan 25, 2019 7:13 amI think the question partly went over your head. While the Cambodian maybe don't use the two comparatives like "The harder you study, the easier it gets" they use the structure with two comparatives a lot. And I mean A LOT.
The official structure is:
kante (កាន់តែ) first comparitive
kante (កាន់តែ) second comparitive
You will hear: "the younger, the more beautiful" a lot, for instance.
is the easy / cut / lazy version where the word kante (កាន់តែ) is dropped. You can do that if there's a verb in the comparative. If you just want to compare two adjectives (The more beautiful, the more expensive for instance) you can not drop the word kante (កាន់តែ).
In that case you have to say the full structure:
kante (កាន់តែ) s'aat
kante (កាន់តែ) tlai
otherwise the statement has no meaning at all. So better to just use the word kante (កាន់តែ) whenever you make a comparative like this all time.
yeah Kammekor pretty much nailed it, កាន់តែ "Kan Tae" is often used when making comparisons, it means like "more and more" "increasingly" "Constantly" "the more..." i think the more formal term is "រឹតតែ" Ruk Tae
i think in written form the correct term for comparing 2 things is something like "បើសិនជាបាន ... រឹតតែ ... ទៅទៀត" (Ber Sen Jia Ban.... Ruk Tae...... Tov Tiet) basically... "if it is.... the... furthermore"
eg, this phrase "the sooner the better" បើសិនជាបានឆាប់ រឹតតែល្អជាងទៅទៀត (Ber Sen Jia Ban Chhab, Ruk Tae Laor Jiang Tov Tiet)
but thats all a bit deep or over working it,
i'm much more familiar with the simple "Kan Tae"
heres some lyrics to a Khmer song i like that uses it...
កាន់តែស្អប់កាន់តែនឹកកាន់តែគិតក្នុងចិត្តកាន់តែចង់យំ
Kan Tae Saob, Kan Tae Nuk, Kan Tae Kit Knong Jet, Kan Tae Jong Yom
the more i hate you, the more i miss you, the more i think in my heart, the more i want to cry
Mean Dtuk Mean Trei, Mean Loy Mean Srey
Punchy McShortstacks School of Hard Knocks
Punchy McShortstacks School of Hard Knocks
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Re: Tricky grammar question
Re Google Translate, I think it's useless for grammar purposes. I've heard Cambodians say រៀន ច្រើន ចេះ ច្រើន many times, but Kammakor's and Jamie's analyses are accurate for what the OP directly wants to translate.
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Re: Tricky grammar question
រក does mean 'look for,' and that is the most common situation you will hear it used in.Username Taken wrote: ↑Sun Feb 10, 2019 11:42 amI thought រក means 'to look for'.
Thus, 'To have comes from looking'.
It is also used to mean earn.
'To have comes from looking,' or 'To have comes from looking for,' doesn't really make sense. To have comes from earning.
Many Cambodians will tell you រក means find, because they think find means look for.
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Re: Tricky grammar question
Which dictionary defines រក as meaning to earn? You might be thinking of រកបាន.
"'To have comes from looking,' or 'To have comes from looking for,' doesn't really make sense."
Ever heard of 'seek and you shall find'?
"'To have comes from looking,' or 'To have comes from looking for,' doesn't really make sense."
Ever heard of 'seek and you shall find'?
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Re: Tricky grammar question
My understanding was that "រក" is closer to "find", but quite a broad term, whereas "រកមើល" would be "to look for"? And I use "រកបាន" to mean "found". This works for me in daily language.explorer wrote: ↑Sun Feb 10, 2019 12:02 pmរក does mean 'look for,' and that is the most common situation you will hear it used in.Username Taken wrote: ↑Sun Feb 10, 2019 11:42 amI thought រក means 'to look for'.
Thus, 'To have comes from looking'.
It is also used to mean earn.
'To have comes from looking,' or 'To have comes from looking for,' doesn't really make sense. To have comes from earning.
Many Cambodians will tell you រក means find, because they think find means look for.
Re: Tricky grammar question
"រក" means look for. "បាន" means have.siliconlife wrote: ↑Sun Feb 10, 2019 12:28 pm My understanding was that "រក" is closer to "find", but quite a broad term, whereas "រកមើល" would be "to look for"? And I use "រកបាន" to mean "found". This works for me in daily language.
"រកបាន" means "look for - have," which means find or found. Found is the past tense of find. Same meaning, just different tense.
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Re: Tricky grammar question
បាន also means "get" though, and could even be compared to "achieve". I have never personally heard someone use រកបាន to mean anything else but "found" (past tense), unless you wanted to say "want to find" but that is a different term. Whereas I frequently hear and use either រក or រកមើល for present tense (find/look for). That's just to my experience though.explorer wrote: ↑Sun Feb 10, 2019 1:13 pm"រក" means look for. "បាន" means have.siliconlife wrote: ↑Sun Feb 10, 2019 12:28 pm My understanding was that "រក" is closer to "find", but quite a broad term, whereas "រកមើល" would be "to look for"? And I use "រកបាន" to mean "found". This works for me in daily language.
"រកបាន" means "look for - have," which means find or found. Found is the past tense of find. Same meaning, just different tense.
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