tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Feb 03 07:48:56 2004

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Re: 'immediately'

sangqar ([email protected]) [KLI Member] 

> i am very new at this language and I had a real hard time understanding you!  
> "boqmoHbogh" ?? nuqjatlh? and "(tlha' je mu'mey <je>, <ghap> je)" are you 
> saying i should have used "ghap" ? Also, I do not understand these symbols <> so 
> if you are going to reply to my sentences, in order that I can learn from my 
> mistakes (which i think should be the main goal here, since i am the one who 
> wrote them) then could you please rewrite them the way they should be, so that i 
> can understand? 

Sorry.  Your Klingon is quite good, and I thought you'd be able to understand me if I 
commented in Klingon.  The <> indicate that I am using the word (or entire phrase) inside as 
a noun in the sentence.  I set such words and phrases apart with <> so that people can more 
easily parse the sentence.  (In English, I would use quotes for that purpose, but I don't want 
the quotes to be confused with a Klingon ' (apostrophe/glottal stop), so I use <>.

> > ghItlhDaq mu'  vItu'ta'  'ach DaH vItu'laHbe'.
> 
> pup pab, 'ach Da'tu' 'e' DaHech'a'?  DaSam'a'? DaHechbe'chugh, vaj 
> <vI'tu'pu'> (<vI'tu'> neH 
> ghap) yIlo'.

The suffix {-ta'} indicates that an activity was delibrately undertaken and the object was 
achieved.  If you merely ran across the word, and were not actively looking for it, then {-pu'} is 
more appropriate.  But this is a matter of meaning, not of grammar.  The sentence itself was 
perfectly grammatical.  The only suggestion I have is to replace {-ta'} with {-pu'} (or to drop it 
altogether, as it isn't really necessary).

> > nuqDaq   vlleghta' 'e' jIqaw'be'
> 
> yIlo'Qo'!  ghellaH'a' <'e'> mu'tlhegh DoS?  maSovbe', 'ach tetlhvamDaq, 
> ghelbe'.

This sentence was explained in the English paragraph which followed it.  I would rewrite this 
as

vIlegh 'e vIqaw 'ach De' Daq vIqawbe'.
I remember reading it, but I don't remember the location of the information.

Note: {qaw} does not end with an apostrophe

>> Hoch jaj wa'maH cha' qoj wa'maH loS repmey vIHaDtaH
>
> DIp boqmoHbogh tlha' mu' <qoj>.  (tlha' 
> je mu'mey <je>, <ghap> je)

{boqmoHbogh} = which (it) causes to ally, i.e., which it joins together
{tlha'} = follow

The words <je>, <qoj>, and <ghap> follow the nouns they join.  You have <qoj> in between, 
as in English, but it doesn't work that way in Klingon.  Try

Hoch jaj wa'maH cha', wa'maH loS qoj rep vIHaDtaH.

To be perfectly correct, you may need to say

Hoch jaj wa'maH cha' rep, wa'maH loS rep qoj vIHaDtaH.

since in the first sentence {qoj} is connecting numbers, not nouns.  This may or may not be 
acceptable.  Anyone would understand you, but purists might complain.  I don't know whether 
we have any canon examples of conjunctions used with numbers.

These sentences actually mean "Each day I study 12 and/or 14 hours".  You probably mean 
"between 12 and 14", but I think {qoj} is acceptable here, because I believe {joj}, "area 
between", can only refer to physical "between-ness", not temporal.

-Sangqar

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