tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Jan 11 15:16:09 1997

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RE: Qapla' jIchu'



January 11, 1997 9:58 AM EST, jatlh loQeH:

> Hello everybody. I'm new to this list.

Hi!  I'm SuStel, the list's Beginners' Grammarian.  If you've got any 
questions of a grammatical nature, or would like to direct your Klingon posts 
at other beginners, please add "KLBC" to the subject line of your messages.  
If the letter is KLBC, pay attention; it is focused on beginner-level stuff.

Also, if you haven't, visit
http://www.kli.org
Be sure to check out the FAQ!

> (please note that "loQeH" is my attempt at making a reasonable Klingon
> spelling for the swedish pronounciation of "Loke" which is my IRC
> handle)

Really?  I don't speak Swedish.  How do you get the {H} sound in there?  And 
is the {Q} really that hard for your "k"?  If I had seen it without the 
pronunciation guide, I'd have thought it rhymed with "Coke."

> 			   loQeH vIpong'egh

When you use {-'egh}, the prefix must indicate "no object," and I don't think 
there can *be* an object.  We have another way to say this, discovered on one 
of the Star Trek SkyBox cards:  {jIHvaD *loQeH* vIpong}.
 
> 			   De'wI'jonwI' jIH

I understand this, although I probably wouldn't combine the nouns {De'wI'} and 
{jonwI'}.  Too many nouns strung together can become confusing, especially 
when the meaning is much clearer when they're separate: {De'wI' jonwI' jIH}.

> 		   tlhIngan Hol vIjatlh 'e' vIchu'

"I am new that I speak Klingon."  {chu'} either means "be new" or "activate."  
Neither one works here.  "Be new" describes a quality, and it can't really 
take an object.  You cannot say {Duj vIchu'} for "I am new the ship," right?  
And "I activate that I speak the Klingon language" doesn't make much sense 
here either.

There's a verb suffix that will do this particular thing for you: {-choH} 
"change."  {tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhchoH}.  "I begin to speak the Klingon 
language."

-- 
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 97031.7


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