tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Feb 13 14:08:11 1998
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Re: KLBC: "to be"
ANDRE PADILLA <[email protected]> wrote:
>The verb for "to be" is "taH - continue".
Not correct!
The verb {taH} "continue, go on, endure" is used in the famous words
from Hamlet: {taH pagh taHbe'} "He endures or he does not endure."
In English, the line is "To be or not to be," but the translation is
not a literal one. {taH} does *not* mean "to be".
1) Andre, please wait for the Beginners' Grammarian to answer notes
that are marked with KLBC.
2) The Klingon Dictionary section 6.3 explains that there is no verb
meaning "to be" in the Klingon language.
3) TKD 6.3 goes on to explain how pronouns can be used in the sense of
"to be" in a couple of limited contexts. One of these is the sort
of "I am a fool" idea that prompted Albert Arendsen's question.
-- ghunchu'wI'