tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Apr 05 20:46:59 1996

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Re: Is it out there?



[regarding an official "TKD supplement"]

qen qriS'ey writes:
>net vIlajbej.  qechlIj majQa'.

As Beginners' Grammarian, I am compelled to point out errors and to
try to correct them where appropriate.

{net} is used in the specific case of a sentence-as-object construction
when the second verb has a null prefix but the intended subject is "one"
(unspecified) instead of "he", "she", "it", or "they".  Your verb has a
definite subject -- "me" -- indicated by the prefix {vI-}, so {net} is
not an appropriate object here.  See TKD 6.2.5 for a complete discussion
of sentences as objects, and the correct use of {'e'} and {net}.

It seems you intended {net} to mean "that", as "I certainly accept that."
Unfortunately, this is probably the wrong kind of "that".  The pronouns
{net} and {'e'} refer to a complete sentence, the last one stated, but I
think you wanted to refer to "that [idea]."  Klingon grammar doesn't let
you leave out the noun here the way English does, because this kind of
"that" is indicated with the noun suffix {-vetlh} (see TKD 3.3.4).

If you indeed meant "I certainly accept that idea", then you should say
{qechvetlh vIlajbej}.

{majQa'} is an exclamation, and stands as a separate "sentence" by itself.
It's not a verb, so you can't use it with a noun as a subject or object.
If you want to say that some specific thing is great, you can use the verb
{Dun}.  If you meant "Your idea is great", you need to say {Dun qechlIj}.

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




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