tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jun 04 16:54:13 1997
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RE:
- From: "David Trimboli" <[email protected]>
- Subject: RE:
- Date: Wed, 4 Jun 97 23:17:32 UT
jatlh Darren Cubitt:
> I just attempted to translate a few English sentences into Klingon, so could
> someone please translate them back to English and E-mail me their
> interpretation so I can check if I got it right? Thanx.
Hi, I'm SuStel, the list's Beginners' Grammarian. My job is to help out
beginners to the Klingon language. If you post your questions or
conversations to the list with the letters "KLBC" at the beginning of the
line, it'll signal me that it's a message I should pay attention to, and I'll
help you out.
Just in case you haven't looked at it yet, the two most important web sites
for you to visit concerning all of this are as follows:
The Klingon Language Institute
http://www.kli.org
this list's FAQ:
http://www.thomtech.com/~dspeers/klingon/faq.htm
> So'Ha'choHlI Duj
Don't leave off glottal stops! They're just as imporant as any other sound!
You have apparently tried for {So'Ha'choHlI' Duj}. If you mean "The ship is
beginning to uncloak," you might want to remove the {-lI'}. While you've got
the right meaning, having both {-choH} and {-lI'} there tend to make the word
into "proceeding to begin to uncloak," which is a bit repetitive (and
redundant).
So'Ha'choH Duj
The ship begins to uncloak
So'Ha'lI' Duj
The ship is uncloaking.
> may' ghoghuH
Literally, this means "be alert us the battle." The problem here is that
{ghuH} means "be alerted to," not "alert." For that, you need {ghuHmoH},
which is {ghuH} plus {-moH}. Look the suffix up. {ghuHmoH} means "cause to
be alerted to," or "alert."
{ghoghuHmoH} means "cause us to be alerted to (something)." Now, there's some
evidence to suggest that although you already have an implicit object ("us,"
from the imperative prefix {gho-}), you are allowed to add another, explicit
object. That would make this
may' ghoghuHmoH
Alert us to the battle.
Exactly when this is allowable is rather sketchy. I usually opt to recast the
sentence to fit better into known Klingon rules:
taghDI' may' ghoghuHmoH
When the battle begins, alert us.
> tIHIv qara'DI'
maj.
> nISwI' yIbaH
maj.
> Duj yIjon vIneH 'ej pIvghor yIQotlh
You do not want an imperative sentence. If you want something, you state it
as an ordinary, indicative sentence. {Duj Dajon vIneH} "I want you to capture
a ship."
The rest is good (though I might not use the {'ej} there. Using conjuctions
with imperatives is something I don't think we've ever seen Okrand use.)
--
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 97426.3