tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Jun 06 06:49:09 1995
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: Gerundives
>Date: Fri, 2 Jun 1995 19:05:46 -0400
>Originator: [email protected]
>From: [email protected]
>Reading makes me tired.
>How do we get the gerundive "reading" from the verb "reads" in Klingon using
>the root "laD"?
Careful with this.
First: "reading" is not a gerundive. It's a gerund. A gerundive is
something completely different (if you're curious, a gerundive is a passive
future participle that implies necessity, as in "to be X-ed." In
Esperanto, it's the "-end" suffix).
Second: Asking the question this way implies that it can be done. Who ever
said you *could* make gerunds in Klingon (as it happens you can, with
-ghach). A language can do just fine without one. Rather, ask "How would
I express this sentence/concept in Klingon," without trying to tell us how
to word it. I'd say "jIlaDtaHmo' jIDoy'" or "jIlaDDI' jIDoy'", depending
on the shade of meaning. You could probably use "laDtaHghach" for "the act
of reading" if you needed to... but you don't in that sentence. The active
style sounds much better than nominalization.
~mark