tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Nov 05 15:21:42 1996

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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."

Right, I didn't want to look it up and remempered it (incorrectly) as {-Do'}

>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 like this . . .

>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.

Oops! I just glanced at that page w/out reading the text.

>>  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'?}

Whenever I write a question, I tend to phrase it as a statement first so I
can tack on th {-'a'} correctly. Unfortunately, I often forget.

>SuStel
>Stardate 96845.8
>

-Adrian K (aka HurghwI') {{:-)}

             \|||||/
             ( o o )
|--------oOOo--( )--oOOo----------| "tlhutlhmeH HIq ngeb qaq
| http://www.jwp.bc.ca/peregrine  |  law' bIQ qaq puS."
|[email protected]________|      -Marc Okrand

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