tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Nov 12 17:18:04 1996

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RE: KLBC: qoH jIH

jatlh Tony Pierce:

>          It's been awhile sense I've had this problem and now I can't find
>  the answer in TKD (The Klingon Dictionary) and now I've forgotten. How do
>  you express tenses like in the sentence
>  "If I had known it was a trap I wouldn't have gone."?

Klingon, of course, doesn't include tense in its verbs.  Tense is indicated by 
other words, such as {puq vIleghDI'} "when I saw the child" and {wa'maH cha' 
vatlh rep} "at noon."  See TKD p. 40. and the FAQ 
<http://www.thomtech.com/~dspeers/faq.html>.

In English, your sentence is in the past tense.  But in Klingon, you have to 
consider the *aspect*, the state of completion or continuity of an action.  In 
your above sentence, relative to the time being spoken about, what had 
happened?  In fact, what *is* the time being spoken about?  This sentence is 
very vague about that.

mutoj 'e' vISovchugh, jIjaHQo'.

This could be translated "If I know that they trick me, I refuse to go."  It 
could also mean "If I know that they *will* trick me, I *will* refuse to go."  
It could also mean "If I *knew* that they *tricked* me, I *refused* to go."  
See why time context is important?

Klingon isn't really very good with hypothetical cases "I *would* have gone," 
so let me demonstrate using some simpler sentences.

wa'Hu' mutoj.
Yesterday they deceived me.

DaHjaj mutoj.
They deceive me today.

wa'Hu' mutojta'.
As of yesterday, they had deceived me (intentionally).

wa'leS mutojta'.
As of tomorrow, they will have deceived me (intentionally).

jIjaHpu'pa', mutoj.
Before I had gone (during the time preceding my going), they deceived me.

(This is also)

Before I will have gone, they will have deceived me.

Sound good to you?

SuStel
Stardate 96867.7

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