tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Nov 11 10:34:17 1997
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Re: plans
- From: Marc Ruehlaender <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: plans
- Date: Tue, 11 Nov 1997 12:34:08 CST
I said that
> > > {yuch Soppu' puq 'e' vISovbe'}
>
> >I'd translate as "I didn't know that the child ate
> > the chocolate.", because obviuosly, NOW you know, as you have stated it
> > as a fact.
SuStel replied:
>
> Not necessarily. There's nothing in the sentence to indicate tense.
well, not directly; my argument is more indirect:
- there are two possibilities: {yuch Soppu' puq} is either true or false
- you can either know whether it is true or you don't
- if you do know, you can say {yuch Soppu'(be') puq 'e' vISov}
"I know that the child has(n't) eaten the chocolate."
- if you don't know, you can say {yuch Soppu''a' puq 'e' vIjanglaHbe'}
"Has the child eaten the chocolate? I cannot answer that." or
"I don't know whether the child has eaten the chocolate."
- if you didn't know earlier, but know now, you can say
{yuch Soppu'(be') puq 'e' vISovbe'} to indicate you didn't know or
{yuch Soppu'(be') puq DaH 'e' vISov} to indicate you know now
> It could just as easily mean
> "I don't know that the child has eaten the chocolate."
but this statement implies that "the child has eaten the chocolate" is true.
unless you mean that in English it means the same as
"I don't know whether the child has eaten the chocolate."
you're saying that you don't know that something is true.
This is a confusing statement for me. I can accept
{yuch Soppu' puq 'e' Sovbe'.}
"(S)He doesn't know that the child has eaten the chocolate."
if you (the speaker) know that it is true.
> Right now, I don't know. I believe this would be the correct way to express
> this idea in Klingon, instead of with a question as the object.
only if you interpret "that" as "whether" and then how do you translate
the sentence with "(s)he" above?
> In English, we'd usually state it with "if":
> "I don't know if the child ate the chocolate."
>
HomDoq