tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Sep 21 11:31:09 1997
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Re: yIjey'lu'
- From: "Neal Schermerhorn" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: yIjey'lu'
- Date: Sun, 21 Sep 1997 14:33:47 -0400
ghItlh Tad:
>quSDaq ba'lu''a'? {from the Appendix) Is this seat taken?, lit. "Is it sat
>at the chair?"
>But this is a concept that doesn't work in English well, so this sentence
>does seem a little odd.
Remember, though, that the English passive tense is just a
usually-convenient way to translate verbs using -lu'. The subject is simply
unknown. There is no rule in 4.2.5. prohibiting use of intransitive verbs -
the cited example is canonic proof. But ba'lu' is not really a Klingon
passive 'It is seated' - it is really just 'Someone/something sits'. So the
English translation of quSDaq ba'lu''a'? should best be "Does someone sit
in the chair?"
The prefix conventions for -lu' call for 'reversing' the 3rd person
singular subject and given object of the verb for determining the prefix.
However, for a verb with no object, as above, there is no prefix for
no-subject - the canon appears to show we would use no prefix at all, or a
3rd person singular prefix. It's technically different but appears the
same. Daj'a'?
Qermaq