tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Apr 20 19:01:16 1998
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Re: My first attempt at tlhIngan Hol
- From: Qov <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: My first attempt at tlhIngan Hol
- Date: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 18:58:25 -0700
At 15:30 98-04-20 -0700, Matt wrote:
}nuqneH. *Matt* pongwIj'e'. *English*jIH. pa'DaqwIj jIHtaH. mujatlhqanglu.
}bIyajpu''a'.
}
}To aid someone (probably Qov!) in their reply here is what I wanted to say:
Hee hee. You know the drill. It helps me indeed. I'm currently the chief
answerer and encourager of beginners, but I've got lots of backup for when I
miss. To make sure that I read a post, put the letters "KLBC" in the
subject. Sometimes I skip other posts.
}nuqneH.
}Hello.
Starting a conversation with a greeting isn't required and may be frowned on
by Klingons. See the introduction to TKD and p. 184 of KGT for details.
}*Matt* pongwIj'e'.
I can see you've been following the discussion and seen me yelling about
{-'e'}. You're safe, you got {-'e'}. :) You missed something else, though.
Have a look at section 6.3, especially starting with the words, "In the
above examples." Do you see how you have to include a pronoun, even if in
English you wouldn't use it? Say {*Matt* 'oH pongwIj'e'} "My name is Matt."
}*English*jIH.
Don't run words together: just attach the required suffixes and prefixes.
The structure {X jIH} from the beginning of section 6.3 only means "I am X"
when X is a noun. {*English* jIH} means "I am an English." Try: {*England*
ngan jIH} "I am an inhabitant of England." -- an Englishman, thus "I am
English." You probably may run those two words {*England*ngan} together,
because it seems to be the way Klingons do it with many nationalities.
}pa'DaqwIj jIHtaH.
Careful, watch suffix order. {-Daq} is a type 5 noun suffix (N5) and {-wIj}
is an N4. So {-wIj} always has to come before {-Daq}. Lots to think about, eh?
{pa'wIjDaq jIHtaH} "I'm in my room."
}mujatlhqanglu.
}People find me easy to talk to. (literally People willingly speak to me.)
I like the way you have tried out suffixes and examples from different parts
of the book. I get the idea that you wrote this sentence by looking at
{-qang} and {-lu'} and trying to find a good way to use them. That is a
much better way to start out than just looking for Klingon grammar to match
English ideas. A couple of problems though.
First, it's {-lu'}, not {-lu}. Those {'} letters are very important. If
you've ever had a situation that might be a baby, then you know that the {'}
that turns {ghu} into {ghu'} is MIGHTY important!
Second, have another look at section 4.2.5 and see a very unusual thing that
{-lu'} does to the verb prefix. It completely changes the meaning. When a
verb has the suffix {-lu'}, only the third person object prefixes are used,
and the prefixes that would normally represent a particular subject, instead
represent that object. So {vI-} is the prefix to use, even though {mu-}
*does* normally indicate that something is being done to a first person
singular object.
Finally, the result of this, {vIjatlhqanglu'} is ambiguous. It might mean
"I am willing to be spoken to" (compare with {HeghqangmoHlu'pu'} p. 45 TKD).
It could mean "one is willing to speak to me." I don't think we have a way
of knowing. If that ambiguity is unacceptable, consider:
jIHvaD jatlhqang nuvpu'
or
mujatlhqang nuvpu'
for the same meaning. It doesn't let you use the {-lu'} suffix, though.
}bIyajpu''a'.
}Have you understood me?
You asked "Have you understood?" and the answer is {HIja'. jIyaj 'ej
bIqeqchugh tugh bIpo'choH. tlhIngan Duj Daghajlaw'} If you wanted to say
truly "Do you understand me?" you can use a different prefix: {choyaj'a'?}
Qov [email protected]
Beginners' Grammarian