tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun May 12 08:40:38 1996

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Re: qep'a' qay' [KLBC?]



David Wood writes:
>7/11 *Philadelphia*Daq SoS vov je vIDor.

Except for the misspelled {vav}, this is fine.  Just sticking a date
on the front as a "time stamp" for the sentence is okay.  It's pretty
apparent from context that you're talking about *your* parents, though
you didn't say it explicitly.  This is the first time I've noticed the
word {Dor} being used; it seems perfect here.

>*europe*Daq pa'vo' leng chaH.

Also fine.

>leS tagh *DexCon*.

Two problems:  you didn't say *how many* days from now you mean; and
{leS} means "days from now", not "days from the time I am discussing".
For "the next day", you could say {tlha'bogh jaj}.  Or you could try
{qaSpu'DI' wa' jaj tagh *DexCon*}.

>wej jajmey taH 'e'.

This isn't how {'e'} works.  It refers to the previous sentence itself,
not to the events discussed in that sentence; and it is *always* used
as the *object* of a sentence, never the subject.  If you want to use
a pronoun as this sentence's subject, you would use "it", not "that".
Or you could simply leave it off entirely, and let "it" be implied by
the (null) verb prefix on {taH}.

{wej jaj} (the {-mey} is optional since it's explicitly more than one)
isn't really a time stamp, so I'd rather it be used with a verb to tie
it to the rest of the sentence.  I'd say {qaStaHvIS wej jaj taH *DexCon*}.

>wejleS tagh qep'a' wejDIch.

Again, {leS} refers to days from *now*.  If you want to say that three
more days occur before the third great meeting starts, you can try this:
{qaS wej jaj latlh taghpa' qep'a' wejDIch}.

>vagh jajmey taH 'e'

This has the same problems as your other *{...taH 'e'} sentence.

>*Philadelphia*Daq wa'maH jajmey jIratlh'a'?

This is pretty good as is, but I still would prefer that "durations" be
specified using {qaStaHvIS} instead of just stuck on like a time stamp.
You might also consider saying {jIratlhtaH'a'} -- it says something about
the ongoing nature of staying there.

>ghobe' jay'! ("I'd rather not, thank you.")

:-)

>Sajmaj vIQorghnIS.

maj.

>Sajmey pa' ghaj'a' qep'a' *hotel*?

vISovbe'.

>(Translation for those with trouble understanding Mangled Klingon)
[translation snipped]
>(Reasons why I think it's mangled; others may point out more)
>
>I wasn't sure how to specify a particular month and day (like, say, 7th month,
>11th day). I wasn't sure that {jar} would translate correctly.

{jar Soch jaj wa'maH wa'} "day #11 of month #7" would probably work.  Some
people might prefer {tera' jar} since {jar} is given as a "Klingon month."

>I also wasn't sure how to express days from a prespecified date which is not
>today. I hoped the translation {leS} ("days from 'now'") could stretch to
>cover
>days from  when I was talking about.

I don't believe one can stretch {leS} (or {Hu'} or {ben} or {nem}) like this.
I'd use a phrase like "after three days".

>Third, I wasn't sure how to express "three days after DexCon ends, the big
>meeting begins."

You can turn it around to use the verb suffix {-pa'} "before".  Or you can
break it up into "DexCon ends.  Three days happen.  Great Meeting starts."

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




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