tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Mar 07 12:01:07 1996
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Re: KLBC: Q about -lu'
- From: [email protected]
- Subject: Re: KLBC: Q about -lu'
- Date: Thu, 7 Mar 1996 15:00:35 -0500
Marc R writes:
>1. can -lu' be used to express general statements as in
[...]
Wenn ich dich richtig verstehe, dann sage ich ja. Aber ich weiss nicht genau,
ob du allgemeinen Sa"tze meinst, oder fragst du, ob -lu' an einigem Verb
folgen ko"nnte, sei es unwichtig ob ein Objekt dazu stehen mu"sste?
Schau mal an den Satz "quSDaq ba'lu''a'?" An allen Verben ko"nnte -lu'
folgen. Lies doch meinen letzten Artikel in HolQeD daru"ber.
I must spare both myself and my audience from lingual fatigue, continuing in
meiner Muttersprache.
If you want to talk about general subjects, you could often use {net}.
{...net Sov} = "man weiss, dass..." As my American comrades sometimes
disagree with me on, -lu' is close in meaning to German "man" or French "on".
Of course, that is not a catch-all translational strategy (and neither is
passive voice, mind you). Stylistically, it is preferable to say something
like {net Sov} instead of {'e' Sovlu'}. I'd even say go so far as to say that
-lu' is primarily useful for expressing generality, in that it allows the
speaker to elide the subject from the sentence altogether. But there are also
circumstances in which one wants to elide a subject because it is
undesireable, inappropriate, impossible, or unnessecary to disclose such
information. Let context be your guide and always trust your instincts, and
you'll almost always be on the right path. Just keep your flashlight on and
watch out for road apples.
Guido