tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Jul 26 14:21:09 1997

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Re: nuqneH



Hi!  I'm SuStel, the list's Beginners' Grammarian.  My job here is to help 
beginners get started on learning Klingon.  If you've got any questions, or 
would just like to converse with others in Klingon at a beginner level, just 
put "KLBC" in the subject field.  This will get my attention and I'll answer 
your questions and check out your use of Klingon.

Two important sites to visit, if you haven't already:

The Klingon Language Institute
http://www.kli.org

this list's FAQ
http://www.thomtech.com/~dspeers/klingon/faq.htm

[email protected] on behalf of Matthew Fields wrote:
> rIynegh 'oH pongwIj'e'.

On this list, please mark names not found in the dictionary with asterisks, or 
something.  Otherwise you may send people to the dictionary, trying to figure 
out what rIynegh means.

*rIynegh* 'oH pongwIj'e'

> ghom vImuv wa'Hu'.

In Klingon, any nouns indicating time context come at the beginning of a 
sentence.

wa'Hu' ghom vImuv

> SalIH 'e' vIneH.

{SalIH} means "I introduce all of you."  That'd be fine, if you already knew 
us!

Perhaps you mean to say {jIlIH'egh} "I introduce myself' (though it's a 
terribly human thing to say).

When using {neH} "want" as a Sentence As Object construction, {'e'} and {net} 
are not used.

jIlIH'egh vIneH.

> tlhIngan Hol vIHaD cha' Hoghmey.

If you're talking about a *period* of time, you cannot just state the period.  
We need to know exactly WHAT about the period you're saying.

qaStaHvIS cha' Hoghmey tlhIngan Hol vIHaD
I studied Klingon for two (Klingon) weeks.

> mughojmoH Qov.

maj.

> TrekMUSEDaq wIjatlh weHwI'pu' DISuvtaHvIS.

{wIjatlh} means "We speak it."  If you mean "We speak Klingon," this is fine.  
If you simply meant "We speak," then this would have to be {majatlh}, as there 
is no object.

> vIjatlhchu'chugh Qov yInaD.

"If I speak it fluently, challenge Qov."

Is this what you meant?  Without an English translation, it's tough to tell.

> vIjatlhchu'be'chugh....  ;)
> qeqmeH laHwIj vISey.

{vISey} is "I am excited it."  Normally, the verb {Sey} is only going to take 
no-object prefixes.  Unfortunately, I'm not quite sure what you're trying to 
say here.

> HItuv.

Ugh.  This is one of those messy cases that {qajatlh} has caused.  Normally, 
I'd recommend you just say {petuv} and be done with it (and in fact, I still 
do recommend this).  However, since the command could be {jIHvaD petuv} "be 
patient towards me," this *might* be able to be converted to {HItuv}.  It's 
ugly, and I won't use it, but I can't be absolutely sure it's wrong.

> ghojtaHmeH vIlay'.

"I promise it in order to learn."  You promise what?  If you were trying to 
say "I promise to learn," you're confusing the infinitive of English with the 
{-meH} clause in Klingon.  What you want is a Sentence As Object.

jIghojtaH 'e' vIlay'
I promise that I learn.
I promise to learn.

-- 
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 97568.3


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