tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Dec 23 17:46:47 1995
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After Doing vs. When Done
- From: "David Wood" <[email protected]>
- Subject: After Doing vs. When Done
- Date: Sat, 23 Dec 1995 20:46:56 -0500
David Barron wrote:
> I need a ruleing on how to say "after".
Well, you're not getting it from me -- I only give suggestions.
jIghItlh wIvoqbe' Hoch jIh je.
> I think, I remember in Power Klingon hearing "After we eat...." represented
> as <maSoppa'be'...> but then it says in TKD that rovers cannot follow
> a type 9 suffix (TKD page 49).
Yes, it says that at the top of p. 46 in the appended edition. And the
reason for this is, I suspect, that most of the type 9 verb suffixes are needed
to make subordinate clauses (or, more precisely, to flag subordinate verbs).
My suggestion uses two other suffixes: perfective (-pu', type 7) and when
(-DI', type 9).
The phrase "After we eat" would be rendered (or is that rent>) into
<maSoppu'DI'>, which translate back as "When we finish eating." It's fairly
close, will still belong at the start of the sentence like most
verbs-used-as-adverbials, and doesn't bend the rule of rovers and type 9
suffixes..
Now the downside: it's unambiguous. Consider the phrase:
mavempu'DI' nIQ maSop
or "After we awaken, we eat breakfast." -DI' also means "as soon as," so
this phrasing implies that the breakfast takes place immediately after they wake
up. You'd need a future tense on the main verb ...but Klingon doesn't have a
future tense, so maybe one so-called design flaw compensates for another.
HIgh jaj QaQ 'oH. (<-- Pending gramattical corrections, natch!)
-- David Wood, Freelance Computer Consultant
("Freelance" is just a cheesy way of saying "Irregularly Employed")