tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Oct 07 08:56:05 1997
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Re: KBLC: *proverb* chu'
- From: Qov <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: KBLC: *proverb* chu'
- Date: Tue, 07 Oct 1997 08:55:55 -0700
At 19:57 97-10-03 -0700, QatanI wrote:
}luqvam'a' . . .
Because I speak English, I can figure this out as "Is this ok?" but a
Klingon would never understand it. You've combined a noun suffix and a verb
suffix on a word that is neither a noun nor a verb. Nouns verbs and chuvmey
are in separate sections for a reason. "Is this ok?" I would translate as
{chovnatlhvam Dalaj'a'} "Do you accept this specimen?" or more simply
{lugh'a'} "is it right?"
}*proverb* chu'
The word for proverb is {vIttlhegh}.
}lI'IH moj tlhutlhDI . . .
}
(Drink 'til she's cute . . .)
(literal: she/beautiful become drink /as soon as)
More like "they/he beautiful you all becomes as soon as drinks"
Doesn't make a lot of sense in English or Klingon, I'm afraid. Lets try to
glue it together. Start with simple [Object]-Verb-[Subject] sentences and
combine them.
"She is beautiful." {'IH} (third person singular subject, no object==> no
prefix) This could also mean "he is handsome" "it is lovely" or "they are
beautiful, so you might be better off writing {'IH be'} "the woman is
beautiful." If you put on the verb suffix that indicates change, you get
{'IHchoH be'} "the woman becomes beautiful." You're also implying that her
becoming beautiful is a process, with a definite stopping point, going on
during the action of drinking so I suggest {-lI'} to add this meaning. (I'd
really like to ask a native speaker about the connotation of this).
{'IHchoHlI' be'}
"Drink" (a command) {yItlhutlh}. That's the verb {tlhutlh} - drink, with
the imperative command prefix for no object {yI-} on the front.
Now, how are these two sentences are related by the drinking being said to
cause the "change to be beautiful," so use the {-meH} suffix for causation.
'IHchoHlI'meH be' yItlhutlh "drink so that she's beautiful"
}tlhogh nung mev
}
}(But stop before the wedding)
}(literal: marriage precede stop)
Your Klingon words literally do say what you claim for them, but you
wouldn't understand "marriage precede stop" as "stop before the wedding" in
English, would you? I'm afraid I wouldn't.
Klingon has a suffix {-pa'} to convey the idea of "before" something. I'm
also guessing that marriage refers to the whole time of being married, and
not just the cermeony begining it, so I'm going to use {tlhogh tay}
"marriage ceremony."
"The marriage ceremony occurs" {qaS tlhogh tay}
"stop" (command) {yImev} (see how it is like {yItlhutlh}? {yI} + {mev})
Together with {pa'} (which goes on the verb that the other verb happens before):
qaSpa' tlhogh tay yImev
Although the sentences you chose to translate were short, they turned out to
not be the easiest to translate into Klingon. It's hard to know in advance.
It's like trying to make up easy math problems for yourself: you have to
solve them before you kno they are easy. I hope I didn't confuse you with
all of that explanation. Try translating these:
The Ferengi counts the money
A daughter buys clothing.
The Klingon creates a blade
The son uses the blade.
The scientist reads the book
Her husband drinks the solution.
and two slightly harder ones:
I maintain the engines.
My boss commands me.
Other beginners, feel free to attempt these, but leave these for QatanI to post.
If the person who made up the wonderful list of interesting practice
sentences for me is willing to send out more to other learners, please
follow up to this.
}araqDajIno (Klingon coffee)
}= QuikTrip White Chocolate Cappuccino
I think it's {ra'taj} with the "-ino" added by Standard spaekers to go with
the Itallian coffee terms.
}*after all,*
}yuch parHa' tlhInganpu'
Good word order, but look at the prefix table on page 33. A plural subject
with a singular noun needs the prefix {lu-}. {yuch luparHa' tlhInganpu'}.
(Note to nitpickers: yes, its possible that chocolate refers to the
individual pieces of chocolate, but *I* think it's a quantity noun like {nIn}.
Qov [email protected]
Beginners' Grammarian