tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Dec 18 19:39:55 1995

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing



[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

Re: [What, me worry?] YES!



David Wood writes:
>     jIjegh! jIjegh! ghuy'cha'! mevbe'bej tlhingan Hol qab! ...?

bIyepchugh DumollaH tlhIngan Hol.

>[...]
>'uQvam SoplaHbe' Hoch targhwIj je.
>Suvqang Hoch tera'nganpu' je!
>Dapwij mughlaHbe' Hoch [Okrand] je.

I am happy that you like the translation "all and [whatever]..." :-)
But remember that when the subject is plural and there is a singular
object, you need to use the prefix {lu-}.  Since your middle example
has no object, the null prefix is appropriate, but the first and the
last need to have {...luSoplaHbe'...} and {...lumughlaHbe'...}.  You
should not think of {Hoch targhwIj je} as the same thing as "even my
targ" -- the underlying idea might be similar, but the grammar which
constructs them is different.

>[regarding Adjectives]
>[web] (disgraced), [toj] (deceiving), [magh] (betraying), or [mIgh] (evil)...

Watch out!  TKD 4.4 says "A verb EXPRESSING A STATE OR QUALITY can be used
immediately following a noun to modify that noun." (my emphasis).  Neither
{toj} "deceive, trick" nor {magh} "betray" fit this category.  We call the
verbs that CAN be used in this way "stative."  A stative verb usually will
be listed in the dictionary with a gloss of "be [something]" -- "be evil",
"be disgraced", "be dry", "be green, blue, yellow", etc.  Note: this isn't
the same thing as "intransitive."  {Hagh} "laugh" is intransitive, meaning
it doesn't make sense for it to have an object; but it's not stative.  One
cannot say {*vulqangan Hagh} to mean "laughing Vulcan."  One needs instead
to say {Haghbogh vulqangan}, literally "Vulcan who laughs."

>     And now, another question: would being "ready and willing" to do
>something
>use BOTH the suffixes [-rup] and [-qang]? Or is that more of an English idiom
>best translated somehow using [-bej]?

You can't use both {-rup} and {-qang} on the same verb; they're both type 2
suffixes.  If you really want to use them at the same time, you must repeat
the verb.  I would translate {jISuvrup 'ej jISuvqang 'ej jISuvlaH} as "I am
ready, willing, and able to fight."

{-bej} merely indicates that the speaker is certain of what he is saying.

>Disgusting Thought for the Day: Klingon ...enchefferized!

nuqjatlh?

-- ghunchu'wI'               batlh Suvchugh vaj batlh SovchoH vaj




Back to archive top level