Khmer Alphabet - Lesson 1 : Consonant [Group AW] - Part 1

Hello Everyone!

Before you learn any language, the alphabet is always a first thing to learn. Khmer Language is no different.

I’m gonna introduce you to the Cambodian’s Consonant the "ព្យញ្ជៈនៈ" (pjugn-jeak-neak) today.

There are 33 consonants in Khmer Alphabet. Khmer consonants is different from the English consonant.

In English the sounds the word produced is mostly influenced by the vowel, example: B(oo)k. 

However, the in Khmer, the consonant influences the sounds it will make. 

For example, ក(K) and គ(K) have the same “K” sound bur different Phonetics sound ក+ំ (K+O) would be read pronounced as “KO” 

But the same "K"  sound letter "គ"+ំ (K+O) will be pronounced as “Kum” instead. 

Let’s dive into it.

ក ខ គ ឃ ង

ច ឆ ជ ឈ ញ

ដ ឋ ឌ ឍ ណ

ត ថ ទ ធ ន

ប ផ ព ភ ម

យ រ ល វ ស ហ ឡ អ

In the above foreign letters above you’d notice they have two the different color 

• The “blue” is the “Aw” Group
• The “red” is the “Or” Group. 

Now let's go into each letter: unfortunately i can't record how to pronounce each word so for more accuracy i suggest you got this video: https://youtu.be/vzA5wLeInMM

1. The "AW" Group: 

*the letter in the ( ) is what most Cambodian used to Romanized the letter.

*the letter in the " " is the the pronunciation of the letter.

• ក (K) =  "GAW". The "K" here is pronounced like "G". Cambodian usually use "K" to Romanize the the letter ក
• ខ (KH) = "KAW"
• ច (CH/J) = "JAW"
• ឆ (CHH) = "CHAW" *pronounce "China" except you remove the "ina" and replace with "aw"
• ដ  (D) = "DAW"
• ឋ (TH) = "TAW" *as in "touch"
• ត (T) = "TTAW" *just like who you pronounce "tu-tu-tu" rather than "touch". 
• ថ (TH) = "TAW", literally the same as "ឋ" however ថ is more commonly used. 
• ប (B) = "BAW"
• ផ (PH): "PAW"
• ស (S) = "SAW"
• ហ (H) = "HAW"
• ឡ (L) = "LAW"
• អ (O/A) = "AW" 

Part 2 : Niyey Khmer: Khmer Alphabet : Lesson 1 - Consonant [The Phonetic] - Part 2