tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Apr 12 09:40:36 1998
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Re: KLBC:Re: My first try at tlhIngan Hol KLBC
- From: Qov <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: KLBC:Re: My first try at tlhIngan Hol KLBC
- Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1998 09:38:06 -0700
At 06:14 98-04-12 -0700, QomwI' wrote:
I feel like the censor, intercepting correspondence between Klingons. :)
}*Vlaardingen*Daq jIboghpu'.
Although the idiom for "years old" uses the perfective, there is no reason
to suspect that {bogh} takes the perfective at other times. I believe you
are attempting to use the perfective to denote simple past tense. Let
context indicate your tenses. {V.Daq jIbogh} "I was born in V."
}wejmaH Soch ben jIboghpu'.
maj.
}*Vlaardingen*Daq jIghojta'.
"I have learned in V.?" I wonder if this is a Dutch/English thing. In
English "learned" means that you learned something there, which you do most
places while "studied" is the term used to indicate a course of deliberate
learning, like in a school. I assume that the English translations of
{ghoj} and {HaD} reflect this, and I would say. {V.Daq jIHaD} "I studied in V."
}DuSaQvamvaD *Westland-Zuid* ponglu'pu'.
Did they change the name? Why the perfective? {ponglu'} "was called"
}*Maassluis* jIDabpu'.
{M. vIDab} "I lived in M." The place inhabited is the object of {Dab}. No
perfective.
}wa'maH Soch ben *Amsterdam* jIDabchoHpu'.
{A. vIDabchoH} "I came to live in A." Same as above.
}*Dik Brijs* 'oH tera'ngan pongwIj'e'.
maj.
}maqIH'a'.
Ironically, this is the one place in the whole paragraph where perfective
would makes sense. {maqIH'a'} means "did we meet?" "do we meet?" "will we
meet?" I'm supposing you mean either {maqIHpu''a'} (some would prefer
maqIHchuqpu''a'} "have we met (each other)?" or {maqIH DaneH'a'} "do you
want to meet?"
{maqIH'a'} isn't wrong.
}mach tera' 'ach tIn *Vlaardingen*{{;-)
maj.
The type 7 suffixes {-pu'} and {-ta'} are often abused by people who are
desperately seeking a Klingon past tense. There isn't one. If you are
insecure about your sentences being understood as past, timestamp them all.
wa'maH ben *Waterloo* vIDab. "Ten years ago I lived in Waterloo."
Soch ben *Vancouver* vIDabchoH. "Seven years ago I moved to Vancouver."
chorgh nem juHvam wIDIlpu'. "In eight years we will have paid for this home."
wa' nem juHmaj wInguvmoH. "Next year we will paint our home."
cha' nem juHmaj wInguvmoHta'. "In two years we will have painted our home."
See how the perfective works? When the action is/was/will be completed
*before* the time stamp (present or implied) on the sentence, then the
perfective is used. When the action is/was/will be done *at* the time
stamp, or otherwise implied time of the sentence, no perfective is appropriate.
And why did I use {-pu'} for paid and {-ta'} for painted? (Just noticed it
so I feel obliged to explain it.) Must be something about the way I feel
about them. Painting is a task we're setting out to accomplish. Paying is
just something that happens, as the money is siphoned from our bank account
to the mortgage. Your relationship with your mortgage may be different. :)
Qov [email protected]
Beginners' Grammarian