tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jan 18 12:10:19 1995

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Re: KLBC, warriors wear?

According to tsai kat clio-international:
> 
>  
> Well, after surfacing from my first plunge into the public forum,
> I'm ready for more.  QaghmeywIj tIlughmoH.
> 
> 1.  nIvnav lutuQ tlhIngan SuvwI'pu' 'a'?

Almost made it. The {'a'} is supposed to be a suffix on the
main verb. This should be:

1. nIvnav lutuQ'a' tlhIngan SuvwI'pu'?

If you are pretty sure the answer is "yes", you could also have
said:

nIvnavmey tuQ tlhIngan SuvwI'pu' qar'a'?

Basically, that means, "Klingon warriors wear pajamas, don't
they?"

> 2.  nIvnav tuQ malth 'a'?

Same problem. Same solution.

> 3.  HIp tuQHa'moHdI' malth neq tuQ ghaH?

Umm. neq should be nuq, right? And malth should be matlh. And
of course, the "d" should be a "D". Aside from these, this is
not grammatically incorrect. Syntactically, however, well, see
below.

> 4.  QongtaHvIS nuq tuQ malth?

Fine. I personally like the style better if you explicitly
state who is sleeping sooner rather than later:

QongtaHvIS matlh nuq tuQ ghaH?
or
QongtaHvIS matlh nuq tuQ?
or even
QongtaHvIS matlh nuq tuQ matlh?
Yes, that is allowed.

>      (1. "Do Klingon warriors wear pajamas?"--Do they? And may I
> assume that the Klingon equivalent for pajamas is singular and
> therefore the prefix <lu-> is ok to use?

Hmmm. Interesting question. Yes, nIvnav is singular, but
replace the word "hat" and think about it. "Do Klingon warriors
wear a hat?" "Do Klingon warriors wear hats?" Which sounds more
natural? More than likely, this is resolved in different ways
in different languages and we can't be certain which is right
for Klingon. Still, I'd vote for "hats".

>       2.  "Does Maltz wear pajamas?"
>       3.  "After Maltz takes off his uniform, what does he wear?"--Is
> "Maltz" as the subject in the right place or should it go where I have
> put "ghaH"?

Note that you said, "When Maltz takes off his uniform, what
does he wear?" If you want to ask, "After Maltz takes off his
uniform..." then you need:

HIpDaj tuQHa'pu'DI' matlh nuq tuQtaH ghaH?

"After" and "As soon as the act is complete" mean pretty much
the same thing, and {-pu'} and {-DI'} are not the same Type
suffix, so it is fine to combine them in this way.

Note that we don't need {-moH} here. You use that when you are
dressing or undressing someone else.

>       4.  "What does Maltz wear while he is sleeping?"
>       5.  Pajamas?! *giggle, giggle*

Got this thing for Maltz, do you?

> Qapla', rIn {{8-)
> 

charghwI'
-- 

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