tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Sep 04 08:12:56 1998
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RE: KLBC - Practice with questions
- From: "Andeen, Eric" <[email protected]>
- Subject: RE: KLBC - Practice with questions
- Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1998 08:09:34 -0700
lab Datlh HoD:
>
> bISuv'a'
> "Do you fight?"
maj.
> tlhIngan Hol lulaDlaH'a'
> "Can they read Klingon?"
maj.
> Huch 'ar Daghaj
> "How much money do you have?"
maj.
> ghu rur 'Iv
> "Who looks like a baby?"
maj.
> nuq rur ghu
> "What does the baby look like?"
maj.
> 'Iv wIlegh
> "Who do we see?"
maj.
> qatlh jura'laHbe'
> "Why can't he command them?"
Prefix trouble - <ju-> is you-us. He-them is a null prefix.
> Duj Dalegh qar'a'
> "You saw the vessel, right?"
maj.
> qatlh Dabachbe'
> "Why don't you shoot them?"
maj.
> bIpIv'a'
> "How are you?" (physically)
maj.
> ghorpu''a' De'wI'lIj
> "Is your computer broken?"
This doesn't quite work. First, the only example of <ghor> I can
remember is <pIpyuS pach DaSop DaneHchugh, pIpyuS puS DaghornIS>. This
demonstrates that the subject of <ghor> is the thing doing the breaking,
and the object is the thing broken. <ghor> could be one of those funny
ditransitive verbs like <meQ> which goes both ways, but until we see an
example which demonstrates this, we have to assume it only works one
way. You could fix this with a <-lu'>: <De'wI'lIj ghorlu'pu''a'>
However, I don't think <ghor> is the right word here anyway. I tend to
restrict <ghor> to physical damage to something. Fortunately, we have
the perfect word for this situation: <Qap>, which means "work,
funciton". What you want to know is if the computer is malfunctioning,
so you wind up with <QapHa''a' De'wI'lIj> - "Is your comuter
malfunctioning?", or for a smoother translation "Is your computer
broken?"
> qatlh pagh Dapar
> "Why don't you like pagh?"
jIH muparHa' Hoch {{;-)>
> qatlh DaSaHbe'
> "Why don't you care?"
Because you used the <Da-> prefix, you said "Why don't you care about
him/her/it/them". If there is something specific you don't care about,
and your context makes it clear what that thing is, then this is fine.
What you probably want, though, is to use the no object prefix: <qatlh
bISaHbe'> - "Why don't you care."
> A also got a real hoot out of the order of words in the
> dictionary. On one
> page, it says:
>
> (something here)
> touch, feel
> female
> (something here)
>
> I know, I have a sick mind, but hey, I had to point it out.
DaHjaj pablIj neH vIqel jIH...
pagh
Beginners' Grammarian