tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jun 19 23:13:47 1996
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Re: new here
- From: [email protected] (Alan Anderson)
- Subject: Re: new here
- Date: Thu, 20 Jun 1996 01:17:34 -0500
Katie (B'Elanna) writes:
>I have the Klingon Dictionary, but I don't understand how to write it so
>that it's understandable. I read through it and understand how to make
>the words and write them. But when it comes to making sentences that
>aren't in the book I have problems with them. Could you e-mail me back
>and tell me how this should have been written.
"Katie is my name. But I notice everyone uses a Klingon name. So I use
the Klingon name B'Elanna."
pongwIj 'oH "Katie"'e'.
'ach tlhIngan pong lo' Hoch 'e' vItu'.
vaj tlhIngan pong <B'Elanna> vIlo'.
Look at this translation and try to see how the words are put together
into sentences. The first sentence uses a pronoun as a verb meaning
"to be" (see TKD section 6.3). The second one is a "sentence-as-object"
construction (see TKD section 6.2.5). The third one involves something
called "apposition", which is simply putting a name after a noun. It's
not mentioned in TKD, but we have examples of its use in other things
written by Marc Okrand (inventor of tlhIngan Hol and author of TKD).
Basic Sketch of Klingon Grammar:
A sentence in tlhIngan Hol is built around a verb, which identifies the
action described by the sentence. Sentences have a subject, which is
the person or object performing the action. Some sentences also have an
object, which is the person or object being acted upon. The combination
of subject and object is identified using a prefix attached to the verb.
If the object is mentioned specifically, it is put before the verb. If
the subject is mentioned explicitly, it comes after the verb.
Let's take as an example the simple sentence "I drop it." The verb is
"drop", the subject is "I", and the object is "it". The Klingon word
for "drop" is {chagh} and the verb prefix for a first-person singular
subject and third-person singular object is {vI-}. The translation of
"I drop it" is simply {vIchagh}.
If "it" is a book, I can say "I drop the book" by putting the Klingon
word for "book" before the verb: {paq vIchagh}. If I want to emphasize
that it was I who dropped the book and not someone else, I can add the
Klingon word for "I, me" after the verb: {paq vIchagh jIH}.
This is all in section 6.1 of The Klingon Dictionary. Read it again,
and really look at the examples. Make sure you can see how the words
given actually translate the way they do. Try to make your own small
one or two-word sentences; post them here with a translation so I/we
can tell you if you're doing it correctly.
Katie, I'll also give a few short sentences for you to try to translate.
Have a try, and tell us what you think they mean.
jIwuQ
mungor
Qup ghu
HIvje' chIl chom
jup vIghaj jIH
-- ghunchu'wI' batlh Suvchugh vaj batlh SovchoH vaj