tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jun 10 13:42:47 1996
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Re: -Daq and verbs KLBC
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>Date: Sun, 9 Jun 1996 16:17:57 -0700
>From: [email protected]
>What's the rule for <-Daq>? TKD lists <-Daq> as a type 5 noun suffix, yet on
>p. 50 it translates the phrases " in the big city" as <veng tInDaq> and " in
>the very big city" as <veng tInqu'Daq>. <tIn> is a verb. So is <-Daq> able
>to modify both nouns and verbs? Are there rules to its use? Is the
>translation of the sentence "In the great green room there was a
>telephone.",<pa''a' SuDDaq QumwI'>? It just doesn't look right. I couldn't
>translate "In the great green room there was a telephone." into one sentence;
>the closest I came was, <SuD pa''a'> & <QumwI' pa'vamDaq>
>Help!
>Sov bajnISlu'
>tIm
OK, this is a little confusing. Here's the deal:
- -Daq (and other type-5 noun-suffixes) goes on NOUNS. Not verbs. HOWEVER,
there is an exception to this in the case of verbs used adjectivally.
These are "stative" verbs which follow nouns and modify them, and are not
main or subordinate verbs of sentences. So "SuD pa'" meand "The room is
green" (a sentence, with "SuD" as the verb and "pa'" as the subject), while
"pa' SuD" means "the green room" (a noun-phrase, with "pa'" as the noun and
"SuD" as a verb used adjectivally.) (It also means "he gambles there" and
other things, but let's ignore that for now).
In the case of verbs used as adjectives, type-5 noun suffixes (and *only*
type-*5* suffixes, not type 1-4) are attached to the *verb* and not the
noun (and in this situation, the verb may have no verb suffixes except
- -qu', and perhaps -be' and -Ha'). So "In the green room" is "pa' SuDDaq"
with -Daq on the adjective, though it is a noun suffix. The same would
hold true for any type-5 suffix: From the big ship/Duj tInvo'. Due to the
foolish captain/HoD Doghmo'. And so on. Make sense?
So for your sentence, you can say "pa''a' SuDDaq QumwI' tu'lu'." Note that
the -'a' suffix, being type-1, attaches to the noun, as usual. It's only
the type-5 suffix that moves.
~mark
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