tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jan 30 07:30:20 2006
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Re: yopwaH
Lieven:
> >I didn't want to know if {yopwaH} is treated grammatically as singular or
> >plural, or inherently or whatever its origin might be.
> >It was just because in german you say "eine Hose" for "pants", so it's
> >
> > "Meine Hose ist..."
> > for
> > "My pants ARE..."
> >
> > But I think we now agreed that {nuqDaq 'oH yopwaH'e'} is correct.
That seems to be the consensus.
> > BTW, just because you seemed to like this topic, here some more of this
> > kind:
> > 1 Brille (sg) = glasses (pl)
> > 1 Fernglas (sg) = binoculars (pl)
Philip:
>1 Schere (sg) = (pair of) scissors (pl)
>1 Pinzette (sg) = (pair of) tweezers (pl)
Lieven:
> > other way around:
> > information (uncountable)
> > Informationen (pl)
Philip:
>furniture (uncountable) - Möbel (pl)
Russian:
money - den'gi (pl)
Hebrew:
heaven - shamayim (dual)
life - Hayim (dual)
water - mayim (dual)
Jerusalem - Yerushalayim (dual)
G-d - Elohim (pl!)
etc., etc.
One of the interesting aspects to studying languages is how they view
reality differently: singular vs. plural, animate vs. inanimate, the need
for articles (indefinite, definite, none at all), "capable of using
language" vs. "incapable of using language", etc. I imagine these
distinctions are among the hardest things for a non-native speaker to
master instinctively. As in Klingon, not knowing whether {yopwaH} takes
the plural suffix {-mey} or not - an English-speaking alien might use it, a
German-speaking alien probably wouldn't. (And WRT {yopwaH}, the German's
instincts would probably be correct.)
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons