tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Jul 31 18:19:59 1998

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

Re: FW: KLBC - RE: qep'a' QonoSHom

I'd leave this for ghunchu'wI' to address but I know he's about to go
off on vacation so I'll mention a couple of points.  

- a few people have already done this challenge.  Have a look at
earlier posts in the thread to see ghunchu'wI''s comments on what he
intended.
d my son's friend accompanied me.

> reH *burp* chaH jay'
> they always burp intensly.

Read section 5.4 in the addendum.  /jay'/ does not mean "intensely." 
It's an intensifier.  Adding it to a sentence is very much like adding
a profane participle to an English sentence.  The meaning is something
like "They're always ****ing burping." or "They're always burping,
doggone it!"  

> >Dunqa' <pegh mu'>.  Qujvetlh vIbej 'e' vItIv.  rut tlhaQbej mu'mey.
> ><nIbpoH> 'oH wa' mu''e'.  DelmeH, jatlhlu' <qaSqa'law'>.  yajbe' 
> <at the same time> was one word.  

Look up the word /nIbpoH/.  It doesn't mean what you think.

> >SIbDoH wov wIbej 'e' wInID.  nIS 'engmey.  wInIDqa'DI' maQap 'ej 
> >quvwIj vItoDlaw'.
> 
> We tried to watch the satelite lights. 

Look up /wov/ again.  It's a verb, acting adjectivally here.

> >DISvam maH puS HoS wa'ben maH puS puj.  chaq mapuS, 'ach mapo'bej!
> >jIyay'.  motlh mayajchuqlaHmeH ngeD.  pIj maba' 'ej majaw neH. 
> >wanI'vammo' jIQuchqu'.  roD jIja'nISchugh tlhIngan Hol vIlo'. 
> >chongbej Holmaj!
> 
> This year we few were strong, last year we few were weak. 

Read section 6.6 in TKD, and p 178-180 in KGT, if you have it.  The
law'/puS construction is a special one you need to learn to recognize.

The construction is /A X law' B X puS/ where A and B are nouns, noun
phrases or pronouns and X is a verb expressing a state or quality. 
Instead of /law'/ and /puS/ you are permitted to substitute another
pair of opposites, with the preferable one in the position of /law'/. 
You can introduce the law/puS with other constructions, but we have no
idea how to use it with /-bogh/ or /-chugh/ to say something like "If
the targ is bigger than a kroge."  The meaning of the whole
construction is "A is more X than B," a translation that may need
correcting for English grammar.  For example:

tI SuD law' lam SuD puS

"Vegetation is more green/blue/yellow than dirt."  
more elegantly:
"Vegetation is greener than dirt."

qaghwIj QaQ law' SoSlI' qagh QaQ puS
"My gakh is more good than your mother's qagh,"  correcting for
grammar becomes "My gakh is better than your mother's."

rut jIH chuS law' targhlIj chuS puS

"I am sometimes noisier than your targh."

Get it?  Practice with these, translate into Klingon or English as
appropriate:

The vegetation is always bluer on a neighbour's planet.
The nentay is more important than lunch.
ya rop law' matHa' rop puS
maDuvtaHvIS HoS 'ut chIS Dup 'ut qIj

> Good language is certainly vertical(??)  

/maj/ meaning good is NOT a suffix.  Look up the suffix /-maj/.  As a
very good rule of thumb find only one vocabulary list word in each
Klingon word, and find everything else as a prefix or suffix.  /chong/
does mean vertical, but it's also slang for "excellent, good."

> 'ach mu' paS QaQ law' pagh mu' QaQ puS, qar'a'?
>  But a late word helps many, no word(s) helps few - right?

Now you can fix this.

> How did I do?

Not too badly.  You certainly got the general idea.  Compare carefully
to one of ghunchu'wI''s corrected version to see the little errors and
misinterpretations I didn't point out. 

==

Qov - Beginners' Grammarian

_________________________________________________________
DO YOU YAHOO!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com

Back to archive top level