tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Dec 15 12:09:07 1996
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Dr Okrand Speaks -- ben
- From: "Kenneth Traft" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Dr Okrand Speaks -- ben
- Date: Sun, 15 Dec 96 18:03:21 UT
>On the Klingon Language Institutes Klingon mailing list there has been
>quite a bit of discussion on how to say one's age.
>In "Power Klingon" you referred to Two Century Old Wine as <<cha'
>vatlh DIS ben HIq>>.
>By saying 200 years ago wine, can we imply that ben may be used
>in the same sense of "years ago" and then translate that into <<loSmaH
>ben jIH>> I am 40 years old.
>I apologize for taking so long to get back to you on
>this. But, anyway, here are my (grammatical, not
>philosophical) thoughts on age.
*******Reply from Dr. Okrand **********
The word ben can be used to mean "years old," but in
Klingon, one doesn't say "I am x years old."
The phrase loSmaH ben jIH (loSmaH "40," ben "years ago," jIH "I"), if
anything, would mean "40-year-old me" or the like. It would parallel cha'
vatlh ben HIq "Two Century Old Wine" (cha' "two," vatlh "hundred," ben "years
ago," HIq "wine, liquor"). (Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't
think the word DIS "year" is in that phrase on "Power Klingon.")
"I am 40 years old" would be expressed as:
loSmaH ben jIboghpu'
This is "I was born 40 years ago" (loSmaH "40," ben "years
ago," jI- "I," bogh "be born," -pu' "perfective"). As is
normal in Klingon sentences, the time element (in this
case, loSmaH ben "40 years ago") comes first.
Hope this helps.