tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Dec 18 15:00:43 1996
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RE: KLBC: too many verbs!
- From: "David Trimboli" <[email protected]>
- Subject: RE: KLBC: too many verbs!
- Date: Wed, 18 Dec 96 22:09:17 UT
December 18, 1996 3:42 AM, jatlh Mago:
> thlIngan Hol jatlh 'e' ghoj jupwI' 'e' vIpon 'e' vInIDtaH
> ("I am trying to convince a friend of mine to learn to speak Klingon")
> (There MUST be a easier way to say this! Despite my poor knowledge of
thlIngan Hol, the above sentence looks far too long and complex to me!
Yes. I tend to go by the philosophy that if you need more than one {'e'},
your sentence would probably be better broken up.
Also, you can only put {-taH} or any other Type 7 verb suffix on the *first*
verb of an {'e'} sentence.
Literally, I read your sentence as "I am trying to convince that my friend
learns that he speaks Klingon." As you can see, you didn't really mean all of
those {'e'}s!
Since there's no rule which states that one English sentence must become one
Klingon sentence (in fact, this is often impossible), I'd say it more like
this:
tlhIngan Hol ghojchoH jupwI' vIneH.
'ach neHbe'law'.
vIpontaH 'e' vInID.
I want my friend to start to learn Klingon.
However, he doesn't seem to want to.
I'm trying to convince him.
> In fact, I'm unsure whether it's grammatically OK, I would have written:
>
> thlIngan Hol jatlh 'e' ghoj 'e' jupwI' vIpon 'e' vInIDtaH
Actually, this is closer to the correct sentence (if you wanted just one).
You don't want to convince *that* your friend learns Klingon, you want to
convince your friend to learn Klingon. However, in both sentences you've said
that you're trying to convince your friend *that he speaks Klingon*! ("No,
really, I don't!") Just say "he learns Klingon" instead of "he learns that he
speaks Klingon."
> But can I say <'e' jupwI' vIpon>? I mean, can other elements appear in the
object part of the sentence apart from 'e' when 'e' is needed?
No. That's the big problem with the sentence. Good of you to see that.
> I've also thought of
>
> thlIngan Hol ghoj jupwI' 'e' vIpon 'e' vInIDtaH
It's {tlh}, not {thl}. Again, "I convince that my friend learns Klingon"
doesn't really work. Who are you convincing? And if you specify it, there's
nowhere for {'e'} to go!
> Is <*previous phrase* 'e' vInIDtaH> the best way to say "I am trying to
*previous phrase*"?
Except for the illegal {-taH}, yes. The previous phrase must be a complete
sentence!
> And one thing I've always wanted to know - chay' maHvaD tuvlaHtaH SuStel
("How can SuStel keep on being so pacient with us?" ;) )
jISovbe'bej!
> QaHlIj qatlho'. Qapla'
You mean, {QaHlIjmo' qatlho'}.
> P.S. I'm trying to translate a song, bet you know the lyrics...
>
> SISDaq jIbomtaH
> SISDaq jIbomtaH neH
> *???*
> jIQuchqa'
>
> Can anyone help me translate the middle line? I can't work out anything
there!
What's that {neH} doing there (I think I know the lyrics correctly). Also,
{SIS} is a verb, not a noun.
SIStaH 'ej jIbom,
SIStaH 'ej jIbom.
SIStaH 'e' vItIvbej,
jIQuchqa'bejqu'!
(Just getting the syllables a little closer.)
majQa'!
--
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 96966.3