tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Jul 11 17:35:24 2003
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KLBC Re: Kash jIH.
Greetings, and here's my official welcome to the list, Kash!
My Name is Quvar, as you might have noticed, I am the current Beginners' Grammarian, my job
here is to help out newcomers and beginners in learning Klingon. I correct grammar and provide
advice for those trying to learn Klingon. If you put KLBC at the beginning of the subject line of a
message, it marks it as a beginner level topic. This may be a question for me, or just conversation
with other beginners in general. KLBC is not limited onto to participation by beginners, though!
Anyone may contribute. The rule here is that the first person allowed to discuss the grammar of a
KLBC post is the BG (me). Once I've gotten through with it, if there are any corrections or additions
you think of, go ahead and post. This system keeps the beginner's confusion down to a minimum. If
possible, you should also include what you were trying to say, in English. This will make it easier
for me to make sure that you say what you are trying to say.
The three most important web sites to be aware of, if you are not already:
The Klingon Language Institute:
http://www.kli.org
This list's FAQ:
http://www.bigfoot.com/~dspeers/klingon/faq.htm
The recently set up Klingon WikiWikiWeb:
/wiki/
The FAQ will certainly answer many of your first questions, and it provides information about how
you can learn Klingon and use this mailing list, and the KLBC.
The Klingon Wiki is some kind of constantly growing database; it's hard to explain, just go there and
surf around - you'll find some things.
Where are you from? What is your native language?
I'll check your messages now. You wrote:
>Kash tupong.
"You all call me Kash."
maj. This is correct, but it's just a statement. If you like a command telling "Call me Kash", then you
need an imperative prefix, found in TKD section 4.1.2
>tlhIngnan vIchu'
typo in {tlhIngan}
You're new in Klingon, that's what you wanna say, right? Then this doesn't work... Unless you
wanted to say "I activated a Klingon" (some words have several meanings ;-)
You can make a noun using this verb "new" {chu'}; it's described in TKD 3.2.2.
{chu'wI' jIH} "I am a new one"
>'ej Qaghmey law' jIQaghbej.
You do many mistakes, yes that's good! That's the best way to learn.
The verb {Qagh} means "make a mistake"; this includes the "mistake" already, so there is no need to
repeat:
{jIQaghbej}
"I certainly make mistakes"
Besides, if your construction were right, the you would need the appropriate prefix {vI-}, but we'll
come to that later.
>jIvwIj boSIQ.
"you endure my ignorance" ?
I can only guess. Next time please include a translation, so that I can see if you write what you
intended to write. One single mistake could change the meaning of a whole sentence.
{jIv} is a verb, not a noun. {-wIj} is a noun suffix #4, so these two can not be together.
{jIjIv} does work: "I am ignorant"
You can add the verb suffix #9 {-mo'} "because", and then say
"Because I am ignorant, you all endure me."
{jIjIvmo' tuSIQ}
Hinweis for german lurkers:
"be ignorant" means "not know", it doesn't have the same negative aspect as in german.
> jIyajbe'chu'.
maj.
>ja'chuqvamghach vIyaj vInIDpu', 'ach jIchIlchu'ta'.
It is obvious that you have read TKD. Good! But you need to read it over and over again!
{ja'chuqvamghach}
First thing, that you should also see, is the suffix order. Well, actually, it is correct here, but one
must remember that verb suffixes stick to verbs, and noun suffixes to nouns, and only then the
order counts - You've mixed them here.
{ja'chuq} is a verb
{-ghach} verb suffix #9
This is the order the words should have.
Put these together, and {ja'chuqghach} now acts like a noun. So now you add the noun suffix #4 {-
vam} and we get
{ja'chuqghachvam}
"this telling-each-other"
"this conversation"
>vIyaj vInIDpu'
{vIyaj 'e' vInIDpu'}
TKD section 6.2.5. Sentences as objects
>'ach jIchIlchu'ta'.
this verb {chIl} is used to say things like "I lost my keys", you can't use it to say that you lost a
game.
For that, we have {luj} "fail, lose (not win)"
There's a nice proverb in TKW:
{bIlujlaHbe'chugh vaj bIQaplaHbe'}
"If you cannot fail, you cannot succeed."
Now that'll do it. If you want to go a step further, read KGT about slang. There is an expression on
page 165 which can also be used to say "fail utterly".
>how massively incorrect is that sentence? lol
This sentence is pretty good. Yes, there are some mistakes, but you're on the right track!
I can see that you have read TKD and you seem to know how to use it. Now we just need to
practice, and you need to learn, and pretty soon, you'll make even much longer sentences.
Qapla',
hope to read you soon.
Quvar
Beginners' Grammarian
ghojwI'pu'wI' vISaH