tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Dec 27 22:28:31 1996

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RE: KLBC Buy me a drink



December 27, 1996 5:30 PM, jatlh HurghwI':

> jatlh SuStel:
> >The solution: either name the drink: {HIqwIj qIj yIDIl!}, or use an {'e'} 
> >sentence: {jItlhutlh 'e' yIDIl!}  There's no reason that there *has* to be 
a 
> >noun for "drink."  Maybe there even is, but it has not been revealed.
> 
> I realize that there was a little discussion about this recently, but I'm
> still not comfortable with <jItlhutlh 'e' yIDIl>. To me this means "Buy that
> I drink." Not buy so that I drink, though. It just doesn't make any sense to
> me. When you use 'e' you refer to the whole previous sentence as a phrase or
> thought. You can "think it," or "disagree with it," or whatever, but you
> can't "buy it." It just doesn't sit right. Anyway, what about <jItlhutlhmeH
> yIDIl>?

{DIl} is "pay for," not "buy."  There's a bit of a difference there.

{'e'} refers to the entire previous sentence as an object.  This makes it act 
like a noun.

{(jItlhutlh) yIDIl} is what we're striving for here; {jItlhutlh} is the object 
of {yIDIl}.  "Pay for --"  The thing that is being paid for is going in the 
blank.  In this case, I don't see why {jItlhutlh} is wrong.  If I said 
{tlhutlhlI'ghachwIj yIDIl} you wouldn't have a problem.

jItlhutlh 'e' yIDIl.
I drink.  Pay for that.

-- 
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 96991.1


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