tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Apr 27 10:16:27 1996

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Re: KLBC: Re: Nouns as Verbs

Daniel writes:
>I actually wanted to say  "I'm willing to smoke ganja with you", I realize
>now that Ganja was the Object of the sentence, but would I add "with" as
>{tay'}, meaning "be together". Would somthing like {HollanDaq bIghoSDI'.}
>meaning "As soon as you come to Holland", {*Ganja* vay' ej' tlhIch wItlhuH.}
>litteral translation "Ganja together and smoke we breath."
>Or something like that.

Ugh.  Yes, the literal translation indeed is something like that -- which
is very nongrammatical.  The big problem here is that Klingon doesn't have
a word that means "with" the way english does.  Trying to use {tay'} as a
direct translation for "with" doesn't work at all.

There are two common ways "with" is used.  Each can be translated into
Klingon using completely different grammar.  Let's consider them.

One use of "with" is to indicate an instrument:  "I killed him with a knife".
We can rephrase this to use a purpose instead:  "I used a knife to kill him."
The verb suffix {-meH} can translate this phrase:  {vIHoHmeH taj vIlo'}.

Another use of "with" means joint action:  "I drink tea with my friend."
There are several ways to restate this so that the word "with" goes away.
"My friend and I drink tea" is simple: {Dargh wItlhutlh jupwI' jIH je}.
Some phrases are not as easy: "He is ready to drink with me at the bar."
The word "accompany" is useful in this case:  "He is ready to accompany
me while I drink at the bar."  {tachDaq jItlhutlhtaHvIS mutlhejrup}.

>Please comment.

Now that you have seen some appropriate grammatical tools, I'd like to
see how you use them to express what you want to say.

>Daniel (What do you think about {baHwI"av}?)

The double {'} is kinda cute... I might start using it if I find myself
needing to refer to something like charghwI"s cabin. :-)

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

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