tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jul 09 05:01:05 1997

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Re: KLBC: Trainning the begginers

[email protected] on behalf of 'elren HoD wrote:

> >             *              qatlh jor romuluSngan Duj?             *

> 1. The fed's shot it
> romuluSngan Duj lubach DIvI'may'Duj

In TKW, we get {batlh mu'qaDmey tIbach}, so we know that the object of {bach} 
is that which comes out of your gun, not the target.

You can use the suffix {-Daq} "locative" to indicate that they shot AT it 
(and, by implication, hit it):

romuluSngan DujDaq bach DIvI'may'Duj

> 2. A traitor put a bomb on the ship
> romuluSngan DujDaq jorwI'jan lanta' maghwI'

Good one!  Nice use of perfective aspect!

Though it's not wrong, I don't see why you need to construct a compound noun 
for this.  {jorwI'} "explosive" is all you need for "bomb."

> 3. They dropped they warp core
> pIvghor QIHta' romuluSngan jonwI'

This I read as "A Romulan engineer damaged the warp drive."  Not quite the 
same thing.  (And you dump the warp core to *prevent* your ship from 
exploding!)

We don't have a known term for "warp core," though a descriptive one might be 
{Hap rugh je DuDmeH 'ay'} "section for mixing matter and antimatter." (Or is 
that the right way to use {DuD}?)

For this sentence, {pIvghor} or {pIvghor QuQ} seems more than enough.

> 4. The rom commander dropped his tea on the contol panel
> SeHlawDaq Dargh chaghta' romuluSngan la'

Hee hee!

> 5. the romulans are stupid
> romuluSnganpu' QIp

This is just "Stupid Romulans," which would work well enough for a response, I 
suppose, but which wasn't really what you meant.  When you use verbs 
translated as "be <something>," remember that the thing which is that quality 
is the subject, and comes last.

QIp romuluSnganpu'.

> 6. they were all drunk, the commander fell and broke the engine
> Hoch chech 'ej pumta' romuluSngan la' 'ej jonta' ghor ghaH

"They were all drunk."  Remember what the subject is.  {chech Hoch}.

"The commander fell."  Although it's not wrong, I don't see any need to add 
{-ta'} to this sentence.  You're describing a sequence of events, so keep them 
all in the sequence.  {pum romuluSngan la'}.

Finally, the best way to indicate this sequence of events seems to be to have 
all of the sentences simply follow one another, without any conjunctions.

chech Hoch.  pum romuluSngan la'.  jonta' ghor ghaH.

> I didn't have my TKD with me when i did these, and i couldn't remember  
> how to say "such and such did such and such on something.." I hope I got 
> it right {{:-)

Withouth your TKD?!?  majQa'!

-- 
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 97519.8

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