tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Mar 07 16:33:02 1997

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RE: KLBC : K'Mpec



jatlh Qo'NeS:

> OK gang here's another for you to check out:
> "K'Mpec met his death at the hands of DuraS"
> {K'Mpec HeghDaj ghom ghopDu' DuraSmo'}
> Any good? Can't find the noun death in the dictionary.

It's in the Addendum, and it's {Hegh}.

If you're going to translate this idiom like this, then you've done a good job 
by choosing to use {-mo'}.  But there are some other problems.  If you want 
the simplest translation (which might be a boon among Klingons, it would be 
wise to say simply, {*K'Mpec* HoH *DuraS*} "Duras killed K'Mpec."

The recast English we're going to translate will be, "Because of Duras' hands, 
K'Mpec met his death.  Let's break this up into the main clause, "K'Mpec met 
his death," and the subordinate clause, "Because of Duras' hands."

"K'Mpec met his death."  I think you can do this one.  {HeghDaj ghom 
*K'Mpec*.}

"Because of Duras' hands."  "Duras' hands," or "the hands of Duras," require a 
possessive formation; see TKD 3.4.  The possessor comes first, the possessed 
comes second.  {*DuraS* ghopDu'}.  Now, add the {-mo'} to the entire noun 
phrase: {*DuraS* ghopDu'mo'} "because of Duras' hands."

Now, put the two together.  TKD is quiet about where exactly {-mo'} phrases 
go, but you should endeavor to place them in the front of the sentence, along 
with the other Type 5 noun-suffixed nouns.

*DuraS* ghopDu'mo', HeghDaj ghom *K'Mpec*.

-- 
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian


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