tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Dec 07 15:20:06 1996

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RE: KLBC: "Sarek" translation

December 07, 1996 11:43 AM, jatlh mIqIraH:

> qa'ma'ragh: Sopta''a' 'ej tlhutlhta''a'?

I haven't read the book, so I cannot be sure of the situation.  You say the 
original was "He ate and drank?"  This would be {Sop'a'?  tlhutlh'a'?}.  There 
are no aspect markers necessary to indicate past tense.  Also, I don't think 
you should use the {'ej} conjunction with question words as you have.  There's 
no rule against it, but the grammar doesn't seem to hold its own very well.  
It seems like you're simply trying to emulate the structure of the original in 
English.  {Sop'a'?  tlhutlh'a'?} "Did he eat?  Did he drink?"

> valdIr: (nods)
> qa'ma'ragh: maj.  qawuvtaH, loDnI'wI' puqbe'.  bIlujbe'.
> 
> Kamarag: He ate and drank?
> Valdyr: (nods)
> Kamarag: Good.  I am depending on you, neice.  Do not fail me.

{bIlujbe'} is a statement: "You do not fail."  What you want is a command: 
{yIlujQo'.} "Do not fail."

> I am very unsure of the use of {wuv} "depend on."  I'm not sure if it=20
> means what I used it to mean.

This is exactly what it means, and you have used it well.  Is there some other 
meaning that you know of?

> Next, I ran into trouble.  The sentance is =93Make your prisoner strong a=
> nd=20
> healthy.=94  I=92ve been trying every variation on this I can think of, a=
> nd=20
> no matter what I do, I cannot figure out a way to say it within Klingon=20
> grammer and vocabulary!  At first, I was trying something like {qama'lI'=20
> HoSchoHmoH pIvchoHmoH SoH}, but that makes absolutely *no* sense, unless=20
> I=92m mistaken!  Adjectival verbs can=92t take those suffixes, right?  He=
> lp!

You're not too far off.  You need to use imperative prefixes.  Read TKD 
section 4.1.2.  You also need to make this more than one sentence.

qama'lI' yIHoSchoHmoH.  yIpIvchoHmoH.
Make your prisoner strong.  Make him healthy.

-- 
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 96936.2

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