tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Nov 25 15:59:38 1996

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RE: KLBC : nIDwIj wa'DIch

jatlh Jeroen Vantroyen:

>  mu'tlheghwIj wa'DIch, lugh'a'?
>   This should be "This is my first sentence, is it correct?

Klingon suffixes {-vam} "this" and {-vetlh} "that" require a noun to attach 
them to.  English gets away without specifying what "this" is referring to, 
but you can't do that in Klingon.

Also, both your Klingon and your English are run-on sentences.  You should 
make it into two sentences.

mu'tlhegh wa'DIch 'oH mu'tlheghvam'e'.  lugh'a'?
This sentence is my first sentence.  Is it correct?

>  What if I wanted to write "I write my sentence first, then I ..."
>    instead of "I write my first sentence"?

I'm not sure what you mean here.  Are you talking about listing things in 
order, as in, say, a checklist?  "First I read a book, then I brush the dog, 
then I escape the destruction of the Earth . . ."?  You don't really need to 
do this.  I could simply say:

paq vIlaD.
*dog* pob vISay'moH.
tera' Qaw'lu'DI' jInargh.

I read a book.
I clean the dog's hair.
I escape when the Earth is destroyed.

If you must, you can add {Qu'vetlh vIrInmoHDI'} "When I finish that task."  Of 
course, this will sound as silly as its English equivalent:

paq vIlaD.
Qu'vetlh vIrInDI' *dog* pob vISay'moH.
Qu'vetlh vIrInDI' tera' Qaw'lu'DI' jInargh.

I read the book.
As soon as I finished that, I cleaned the dog's hair.
As soon as I finished that, I escaped when the Earth was destroyed.

Still, I don't think you need bother doing all that.

>  I hope this question is understandable, 'cause my Emglish isn't that good. 

Hmmm . . . I never learned Emglish.  I only speak Klingon, a little Spanish, 
and English.  :)

Oh, by the way, you can't say *{nIDwIj wa'DIch}.  {nID} is not a noun.  You 
might say this differently: {jIjatlhchoH}.

SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 96903.3

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