tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed May 14 15:28:40 1997
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Re: KLBC
- From: "David Trimboli" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: KLBC
- Date: Tue, 13 May 97 22:33:59 UT
I've made the topic of this message "KLBC," because I think I can be of some
assistance here. If you need some help, be sure to label the beginning of
your subject line with these letters.
[email protected] on behalf of Thomas K. O'Brien wrote:
> nuqjatlh?
> vIjathllaHchu'be' tlhIngan Hol jIqos.
{qoS} with a capital {S} means "birthday." And since it's a noun, it can't
have a verb prefix. You probably meant {QoS} "be sorry." Are you trying to
apologize? There's the word {tlhIj} "apologize," which is probably a bit
better for this. As someone else suggested, {QoS} might refer to the emotion
of sorrow, which isn't really the point. This is uncertain, of course.
Remember your Klingon sentence order. If you want to say "I speak Klingon
imperfectly," "Klingon" or {tlhIngan Hol} is the object of the sentence. As
we know from TKD section 6, the object always comes first.
tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhchu'be'.
I speak Klingon imperfectly.
Notice that I dropped the {-laH}. With it, it means something like "I
imperfectly am able to speak Klingon," which, while not wrong, is a bit too
convoluted for me. As I have written it above is briefer, but no less
accurate.
But what I *think* you're trying to say (and until you get a little more
confident in Klingon, you should write the English translation of your words
below the Klingon) is "I apologize because I speak Klingon imperfectly." The
main idea of this sentence is the apologizing, not the speaking of Klingon.
So, we need to know how to say "I apologize." No problem; just add the
correct verb prefix: {jItlhIj}. But how do we get the subordinate part, the
"because I speak Klingon imperfectly"? That's where we use the {-mo'} verb
suffix, described in TKD's Addendum 4.2.9.
tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhchu'be'mo' jItlhIj.
I apologize because I speak Klingon imperfectly.
> bIyeqneS'a' yIjatlh
> *terran*.
"Do you need to cooperate? speak terran" Don't be afraid to use punctuation.
What do you mean here? What about cooperation? Also, the word for Terran is
{tera'ngan}.
> (i.e. a translation to help me learn.)
nuqjatlh?
--
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 97366.0