Lesson 3 : Consonant's Leg

 Welcome to the Lesson 3, the consonant's leg!

In English, if you want to spell a word you just simple put it next to each other to produce the word like "trash" T+R+A+S+H. However, in Cambodia we have to use what we call the "consonant's leg". For example:​ T(ថ)​+ R(្រ)+A(ា)+S(ស)+ H​(្ហ) = ថ្រាស្ហ. However, cambodia usually don't have "sh" so we would just say "ថ្រាស".

So let's see what exactly is the "consonant's leg"!

The consonant's leg is usually used to produce another sound of the consonant without having to write the actual consonant. Many words in the dictionary are spelled are spelled using it.

For example the word "Happy" is =  "Sab'bay" if we just write the consonant and the vowel next to each other it would be "សាបបាយ" (*i hope you remember the consonant and the vowel here after the previous lessons).  The (') put between word is to emphasize a tiny pause when you pronounce the word. Sab'bay = sab bay. But make sure it's only just very very small and fast pause.

However, the word សាបបាយ​ is not correct. The correct to spell it would be

consonant ស +  consonant ប (*the vowel ា is omitted) + consonant's leg ប​ which is ្ប to produce another B +​ vowel ា + consonant យ​ = សប្បាយ (Sabbay/Sabbai).

Now let's learn all the consonant's leg:

ក្ក    ខ្ខ    គ្គ    ឃ្ឃ​    ង្ង

ច្ច    ឆ្ឆ    ជ្ជ    ឈ្ឈ    ញ្ញ

ដ្ដ    ឋ្ឋ    ឌ្ឍ    ឍ្ឍ    ណ្ណ

ត្ត    ថ្ថ    ទ្ទ    ធ្ធ    ន្ន

ប្ប    ផ្ផ    ព្ព    ភ្ភ    ម្ម

យ្យ    រ្រ    ល្ល    វ្វ    ស្ស    ហ្ហ    ឡ    អ្អ ។

Hmm...can you recognized the consonant's leg of each consonant?...CORRECT those little character under each consonant is what cambodian call "consonant's leg" i might be wrong on the official term but if you translate "consonant's leg" into Khmer it would be "ជើងព្យញ្ជជៈនៈ" "Jerng-Pjunh-Jeak-Neak" Jerng = Leg, ព្យញ្ជជនៈ = Consonant.

If you are using computer or phone to get the consonant's leg you need to type "first consonant+key "J"+consonant" on your khmer keyboard.

Let's build some word with the consonant's leg together :)

- [k'mum] ឃ្មុំ (ឃ + ្ម+ុំ) = Bee

- [kh'la] ខ្លា (ខ +  ្ល+ា) = Tiger

- [chh'ma] ឆ្មា (ឆ + ្ម+ា) = Cat

Now it's your turn, find the consonant's leg and build a word in below example:

- [sma] ......? = shoulder 

- [k'dar] ......? = plank (wood plank)

- [s'at] .....? = pretty/beautiful

After this lesson, you will get a litte bit better at producing a word in Khmer :) See you in next lesson.