tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Nov 05 10:36:33 1996

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

RE: KLBC: Qochmeychaj tlhInganpu'

jatlh HurghwI':

>  qatlh pImbogh QuchDo' tu'lu' 'e' jIbuSpu'. 
>  "I have wondered why one finds foreheads which are different."
>  I wanted to say "so many different foreheads," and having forgotten that
>  {-qu'} is only for verbs, I had attached it to {-mey (now {-Do'})}.

Well, "many different foreheads" can be rendered as {pImbogh QuchDu' law'}.  
Be aware of the spelling of the plural body parts suffix: {-Du'}, not *{-Do'}. 
 {law'} means, of course, "be many."

Unfortunately, you're trying to say here one of those things which is often 
debated about.  You're using a question, and then trying to refer to it with 
another sentence.  We have no way to know whether this is correct or not.  I, 
for one, am a big advocate of saying things in a way you *know* is correct, 
rather than the easier, and wrong, way.

In this case, how can we reword your statement (it is a statement only, in 
this form) to mean the same thing, but avoid this particular problem?  I can 
think of one way (certainly not the only one): split it into two sentences.  
There's no reason that something expressed with one sentence in English must 
be expressed with one in Klingon!  Try this on for size:

{qatlh pImbogh QuchDu' law' tu'lu'?  meq vInejpu'.}
"Why does one find many different foreheads?  I have looked for the reason."

I'm sure you could come up with other ways to express this.  Remember, it's 
not important to come up with an exact, word-for-word translation.  Just 
convey the idea fully, with whatever means necessary.

>  Quchchajmo' tlhInganpu' luwavlu' 'e' DabuS'a'?
>  "Does one divide Klingons on the basis of foreheads?"
>  I was trying to ask if Klingons have different foreheads due to race. I
>  suppose I could have said something like:
>  pImbogh mutmey bIH tlhInganpu'mo' pImbogh QuchDo' tu'lu'. 

When you have just one stative verb ("be" such-and-such) modifying a noun, you 
don't have to use {-bogh}.  You can just put the verb after the noun.  Thus, 
{mutmey pIm} means "different species."

You came up with a good attempt to say this, although it's only a statement.  
You'd need the {-'a'} interrogative suffix after {tu'lu'} to ask "does one 
find . . ."  Also, Klingons are beings capable of using language, so {bIH} is 
inappropriate.  Talk to some Klingons and refer to them as {bIH} and you're 
asking for trouble!  The correct word is {chaH}.  See TKD 51.

There are some other, semantic, problems with this sentence, the most notable 
of which is that it's not really asking the same thing that your English 
question is.  As you become more familiar with the vocabulary, you'll know of 
the existence of more words which will help you out in spots like these.  In 
this case, the words you're really looking for is {buv}:

QuchDu'chajmo' tlhInganpu' lubuvlu''a'?
Does one classify Klingons because of their foreheads?

You could be even more exact and say

QuchDu'chaj pImmo' tlhInganpu' lubuvlu''a'?
Does one classify Klingons because of their different foreheads?

Again, there are other ways you could recast this idea to make it work in 
Klingon.

>  qechmey lughajlu''a'?
>  "Are there any ideas?" in the sense of "Does anyone have any ideas?" 
>  I could have said:
>  qechmey ghaj vay'

Don't forget the interrogative suffix {-'a'}.  It means you're asking a yes/no 
question.  {qechmey ghaj'a' vay'?}

SuStel
Stardate 96845.8

Back to archive top level