tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu May 24 14:00:56 2007
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Re: Some clueless newbie questions
At 12:36 PM Thursday 5/24/2007, Aaron Lewis wrote:
>I'm still foggy about how to translate "to be" into Klingon. Namely, I'm not
>at all sure about negative constructions.
Okrand writes:
[{be'}] is the general suffix of negation, translated as English "not".
It follows the concept being negated. {vIlo'laHbe'} "they are useless
to me, I cannot use them", {jISaHbe'} "I don't care" (which of several
courses of action is followed), {qay'be'} "it's not a problem, no problem
(exclamation)." (TKD 46f)
If you are using a pronoun as a verb to translate "to be", you negate it by
simply putting {-be'} on that pronoun just as if it were any other
verb. Here are some examples:
tlhIngan jIHbe'
I am not a Klingon! CK
loD Quch jIHbe'
I am not a merry man. TKW
pa' jIHpu'be'
I wasn't there. TKD
tajwIj 'oHbe' chorlIj jeqbogh Dochvetlh'e'
That is not my dagger protruding from your midsection. FTG
>Quch jIH "I am happy", Quchbe' "I am not happy"
Not quite. {Quch jIH} means "I am a forehead" ({Quch} is also a completely
unrelated noun.)
Here you need to use the verb prefix {jI-} "I [do something]" with the verb
{Quch} "be happy":
jIQuch
I am happy
jIQuchbe'
I am not happy
And in case you were wondering how to say it:
Quch jIHbe'
I am not a forehead.
>Human SoH "you are a human", what is "you are not a human"?
Human SoHbe'
>Human ghaH loD'e' "the man is a human", what is "the man is not a human"?
Human ghaHbe' loD'e'
>quSDaq jIHtaH "I am on the chair", what is "I'm not on the chair"?
quSDaq jIHtaHbe'
>quSDaq ghaHtaH loD'e' "the man is on the chair", what is "the man is not on
>the chair"?
quSDaq ghaHtaHbe' loD'e'
>What is "on the bed" - QongDaqDaq? (E.g. "I sit on the bed" QongDaqDaq jIba')
As odd as it looks, yes. In fact, we have it in a proverb:
QongDaqDaq Qotbe' tlhInganpu'
Klingons do not lie in bed. TKW
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons