tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Sep 13 17:25:22 1998
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Re: KLBC - chetvI' yIHuvmoH
On Sun, 13 Sep 1998, William H. Martin wrote:
>Klingon doesn't have an irrealis -- a natural way to speak of
>things that do not actually exist, as in, "I would fly, if I
>had wings." By the Klingon perspective, I don't have wings, so
>what is the point here?
If you really want to make the point, though, you can:
telmey vIghajbe'mo' jIpuvlaHbe'.
"Since I don't have wings, I cannot fly."
even though a Klingon may well respond, "So what?" Using the irrealis might
even be appropriate when rendering this into English -- say, as a line in a
poem. Just because English has a tool which Klingon lacks, doesn't mean you
should avoid using it when translating.
Voragh