tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Mar 09 13:31:56 1997

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Re: more on -moH qororvo'

jatlhpu' ghunchu'wI' 
>ja' qoror:
>   Dubotchugh yIpummoH.
>   If it's in your way, cause it to fall.  (passive)

I obviously don't understand what you mean by "passive" and "active".
"Make it fall" sounds active to me.  So does "fall", for that matter.

>   qaStaHvIS wej puq poHmey vav puqloDpu' puqloDpu'chaj je quvHa'moH vav
>quvHa'ghach.
>   The dishonor of the father causes his sons and their son to be dishonored
>for three generations.  (passive)*

Again, I think "cause them to be dishonored" sounds active.

>	The asterisk is there because that second sentence looks passive, but
>it's actually active  --  "quv" means "be honored."

Now I *know* I don't understand what you mean.  The English "be honored"
sounds like it has a passive meaning to me.

Whether or not the base verb is "active" or not, putting {-moH} on it
always yields a meaning that I interpret as active -- "Make it happen."

-- ghunchu'wI'

<
qoror here.  In your response to my accompanyment to the second sentence, let me
explain.  I know that "be honored" is passive in English, but in Klingon, "quv"
is passive without "-lu'."  It's sort of like the Klingon verb/adjectives.  You
see, the meaning of "quv" in the second sentence hasn't changed from passive to
active or from active to passive, so that's why I called it active.

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