tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Mar 18 00:24:11 1997

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RE: KLBC: DaH jIQuchqa' : lutHom

jatlh QI'HoS:

> lutHom
> small story
> 
> SochHu' be'nalwI' mulonta' jIH
> last week my wife left me.
> (word order of be'nalwI' and jIH ???)

Well, look at the prefix (which you got right).  {mu-}.  (Do Klingons have 
cows?)  This indicates third-person subject (which is be'nalwI') and 
first-person singular object ("me", {jIH}).  Put these words in exactly the 
same place as you would any other subject and object.

Oh, and you're trying to use the aspect suffixes as tense.  Don't do this.  
See the FAQ:
http://www.thomtech.com/~dspeers/klingon/faq.htm#3.1

SochHu' jIH mulon be'nalwI'.
SochHu' mulon be'nalwI'.
My wife left me a week ago.

> targhwIj nge'ta' ghaH
> she took my targ

Since you're still in the time context of last week when your wife left, you 
don't use {-ta'}.  If you did, it'd mean, "She had already taken away my targ 
when she left."

targhwIj nge' ghaH
targhwIj nge'
She took away my targ.

> targhwIj nge'ta'mo' ghaH jIQeHpu' jIH
> her taking my targ made me angry

Good recasting!  Just get rid of the aspect suffixes and you're right!

targhwIj nge'mo' ghaH jIQeH jIH.
targhwIj nge'mo' jIQeH.
Because she took away my targ, I was angry.

> wa'Hu' latlh targh vIjonta' jIH
> yesterday I captured another targ

We're not sure how to say "another something."  It may not be {latlh <noun>}.  
Rather, find another way to say it.

wa'Hu' targh cha'DIch vIjon jIH.
wa'Hu' targh cha'DIch vIjon.
Yesterday I captured a second targ.

> DaH jIQuchqa'
> now I'm happy again.

Did you resume being happy now?  No, you did when you got the new targ.  You 
can either say

jIQuchqa'.
I resumed being happy (at that time we're talking about).

or

DaH jIQuch.
Now I am happy.

I'd even venture to say

DaH jIQuchtaH
Now I am happy (continuous).

> I decided to leave the pronouns in - is this too wrong or should I
> endeavour to sort it out - I still have word order problems and this
> seems to help me sort that kind of thing.

It gets a little cumbersome when you don't really need them.  For example, in 
{wa'Hu' jIH mulon be'nalwI'}, you don't really need to say {jIH}, because 
{mu-} means that it could only be {jIH}.  Many languages, Spanish, for 
example, allow you to leave out the pronouns if the meaning is clear.

I've written my responses in two forms: one which you would have used now, and 
the second, which is with pronouns left out.  They are still easily 
understandable.

-- 
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 97210.6

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