Editing Khmer language (section)

====Verbs====
As is typical of most East Asian languages,<ref>[http://fds.oup.com/www.oup.co.uk/pdf/0-19-927311-1.pdf East and Southeast Asian Languages: A First Look] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121120111832/http://fds.oup.com/www.oup.co.uk/pdf/0-19-927311-1.pdf |date=2012-11-20 }} at Oxford University Press Online</ref> Khmer verbs do not inflect at all; [[grammatical tense|tense]], [[grammatical aspect|aspect]] and [[Linguistic modality|mood]] can be expressed using auxiliary verbs, particles (such as {{lang|km|កំពុង}} {{IPA|/kəmpuŋ/}}, placed before a verb to express [[continuous aspect]]) and adverbs (such as "yesterday", "earlier", "tomorrow"), or may be understood from context. [[Serial verb construction]] is quite common.<ref name=Haiman />{{rp|253}}

Khmer verbs are a relatively [[open class (linguistics)|open class]] and can be divided into two types, main verbs and auxiliary verbs.<ref name=Haiman />{{rp|254}} Huffman defined a Khmer verb as "any word that can be (negated)",<ref name=ModSpok />{{rp|56}} and further divided main verbs into three classes.

[[Transitive verb]]s are verbs that may be followed by a [[direct object]]:

<blockquote>
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{{interlinear|/kʰɲom ɲam ɓaj/|I eat rice|"I eat rice."}}
{{Col-2}}
{{interlinear|/kʰɲom tɨɲ ɓaːrəj/|I buy cigarettes|"I buy cigarettes."}}
{{Col-end}}
</blockquote>

[[Intransitive verb]]s are verbs that can not be followed by an object:

<blockquote>
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{{Col-2}}
{{interlinear|/kʰɲom ɗaə tɨw pʰsaː/|I walk DIR market|"I walk to the market."}}
{{Col-2}}
{{interlinear|/ʔaɲcəɲ ʔɑŋkuj/|{to invite} {to sit}|"Please sit."}}
{{Col-end}}
</blockquote>

Adjectival verbs are a word class that has no equivalent in English. When modifying a noun or verb, they function as adjectives or adverbs, respectively, but they may also be used as main verbs equivalent to English "be + ''adjective''".

<blockquote>
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; {{smallcaps|Adjective:}}
{{interlinear|/proh <u>sɑŋ.haː</u>/|boy <u>handsome</u>|"handsome boy"}}
{{Col-3}}
; {{smallcaps|Adverb:}}
{{interlinear|/proh nuh {tʰʋəː kaː} <u>lʔɑː</u>/|boy DEM {to work} <u>good</u>|"That boy works well."}}
{{Col-3}}
; {{smallcaps|Verb:}}
{{interlinear|/proh nuh <u>sɑŋ.haː</u>/|boy DEM <u>handsome</u>|"That boy is handsome."<ref name=ModSpok />{{rp|56}}}}
{{Col-end}}
</blockquote>