tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jul 27 12:23:51 1994
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good old "with"
ghItlh James Lyle <[email protected]> :
>What is a good way to express the meaning 'with something/someone'?
>I have tried something like 'retlhwIjDaq' for 'with me', but is there
>some less circuitous way? Apologies if this is an old question.
For "with" in the sense of "accompanying", one can use a phrase
employing /tlhejtaHvIS/ or /tlhejbogh/. For "with" in the sense of
"using", one can use /lo'taHvIS/ or /lo'bogh/. Employing the
appropriate prefixes in either case, of course. It has also been
suggested, for the latter case, that one can recast the sentence so
that /lo'/ is the main verb, and what was the main clause in the
original becomes a /-meH/ clause. So one might say "I killed the
Romulan with my phaser" as any of:
pu'HIchwIj vIlo'taHvIS romuluSngan yIHoHta'.
romuluSngan yIHoHta' pu'HIchwIj vIlo'bogh jIH.
romuluSngan yIHoHta'meH pu'HichwIj vIlo'.
In either case one might also split the original sentence in two,
translating "X Ys Z with W" as either "X accompanies W, and Ys Z" or
"X uses W, and Ys Z".
I personally think the "-bogh" method best conveys the instrumental
sense; the others don't, to me, indicate the direct connection between
X's use of W and the Y-ing of Z, or, in the -meH case, place too much
emphasis on the instrument rather than the action.
-QumpIn 'avrIn (Erich Schneider)
[email protected]
loghDaq bIjach 'e' QoylaH pagh ghot.