tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Apr 08 21:16:54 1997

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RE: KLBC: Hello!



On Tuesday, April 08, 1997 7:12 AM, [email protected] on behalf of Mark 
Beal wrote:

> I've just joined the list, and I'd just like to say hello.

You're talkin' like a sissy human.

> HELLO!

THAT'S better!  :-)

> I've been learning Klingon for about a month now, on and off, and I think I 
could 
> do with some practice.

Well, then, you've posted to the right place.  You've got KLBC in the subject 
header, which makes me believe that you know I'm the Beginners' Grammarian, 
and I'm here to help you.  On with the Klingon!

> As I'm new, I'd just like to ask how many people there are on this list, and 
where you're all from (Private message is fine).

If you send a message to [email protected], with "recipients tlhIngan-Hol" in 
the message body, you'll get a list of all of the current subscribers to the 
list.

> Well, to get my ball roling, I thought I'd have a go at translating a little 
sentence, > so that you could all poke fun at me, and tell me I'm stupid :-

Do I get to use a painstick?

> "They were walking to the river when the stopped for lunch"
> 
> I know it isn't exactly amazing, but it was different....

But that's good!  Translating famous quotes can be tough; they tend to be 
compact and witty, which is difficult to translate without experience.  
Simpler thoughts and ideas, like this one, are most definitely the best way to 
get used to Klingon.

> "bIQtIqIqDaq chaH yIttaH 'e' Meghmo' chaH mevpu'Di"

Not bad, actually.  But there are a couple of extremely important things you 
need to know.

First, take a good reread of section 6 of TKD.  Focus especially on the 
beginning of the section.  Klingon sentence order is Obj-Verb-Subj, the 
reverse of English.  I see that you have written {chaH yIttaH}.  Since "they" 
is the subject, it must go last: {yIttaH chaH}.

For now, don't even worry about trying to use the pronoun {'e'} (in 6.2.5 of 
TKD).  You don't need it here, anyway.  You just need to look at it from a 
Klingon point of view, not English.

What's happening here?  They are walking.  We are trying to say that some time 
during this walk of theirs, they stopped so that they could eat lunch.  What 
is the main action here?

mev chaH
They stopped.

Notice that there's no {-pu'} on there.  {-pu'} indicates aspect, not tense.  
It means that the action represented by the verb is complete.

Why did they stop?  "In order to eat lunch."

megh luSopmeH chaH, mev.
They stopped in order to eat lunch.
(You're allowed to omit most pronouns in Klingon, as long as your meaning is 
still clear.)

When did this all happen?  "While" they were walking to the river:

bIQtIqDaq yIttaHvIS chaH, megh luSopmeH, mev.
While they were walking to the river, they stopped to eat lunch.

See?  You just build it up until you've got everything you need!

> just in case that lot looks like rubbish to most of you, this is how I 
stumbed my way to get it....

yIjeQ!  rejmorgh DaDataH!

> Stopped - mevpu'

It actually means that the stopping is already complete.  It also means that 
the stopping probably wasn't done with the intention of stopping, otherwise 
you would've chosen {-ta'}.

> Lunch - Megh         Due to lunch (?) - meghmo'

Don't capitalize {megh}!

{meghmo'} does indeed mean "due to lunch."

> meghmo' chaH mevpu' - stopped for lunch

Well, if we straighten this out, we get {meghmo' mev chaH} "they stopped 
because of lunch."  This is a bit vague, I think, but correct.

> When they stoped for lunch - meghmo' chaH mevpu'Di

Onto {-DI'}.  {-DI'} is used to indicate that the main action occurs as soon 
as something else occurs.  For example,

jIjachDI', baH ghaH.
He fired as soon as I shouted.

"As soon as" or "when" the action {jach} takes place, the main verb {baH} 
happens.

> 'e' - last sentence (is this needed? I guess it should be)

As I said before, {'e'} is a totally different animal, and doesn't belong 
here.  Before you attempt to use it, study TKD section 6.2.5 very closely.

-- 
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 97270.7


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