tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Oct 08 01:45:43 1997

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Re: KLBC: practise



At 14:12 97-10-07 -0700, edy wrote:
> I though an interesting phrase but I'm not sure if it works well:
>
> nI' lang je tlhomDaj 'ej baSmey yuvHa' 'oH'e' 'e' lujatlh 
> jupDu'qoqDaj 'ach teHbe' 'oH.
>
> (His "friends" said that his nose is long and thin and it draws the
> metals, but it's not true).

This is one of the reasons I am glad that non-native English speakers 
are learning Klingon.  "draws the metals" isn't a phrase I have ever 
heard before but I can guess it means "acts like a magnet."  Is the 
whole expression about his nose an idiom in Portugeuse?  Or is it 
just a very strange thing you thought of?  It does work pretty well, 
{yuvHa'} is clearer in than "draws" and it's certainly an intersting 
picture.  A few problems to fix up:

{nI'} and {lang} are verbs, so to connect them you ned to use {'ej} 
the conjunction for verbs not {je} as for nouns.  The word for "nose" 
is {ghIch}, perhaps you're confused with {tlhon}, nostril.  Friends 
are not body parts, so the plural is {juppu'qoqDaj}.

The {'oH} after {baSmey yuvHa'} is optional, and the {-'e'} suffix 
definitely unnecessary emphasis.  Same at the end, {teHbe'} would be 
sufficient.  You don't need to say "... and *IT* draws metals but IT 
is not true."

Remember that verbs of saying do not take {'e'} and that the thing 
said is not the object of the verb of saying ({jatlh}).

With my suggestions: 

nI' 'ej lang ghIchDaj 'ej baSmey yuvHa' 'oH jatlh juppu'qoqDaj 'ach 
teHbe'.

baSmey yuvHa'be'chugh ghIchDaj vaj chay' Huch chIlpu'bogh SamlaH 
ghaH? :)

Qov     [email protected]
Beginners' Grammarian                 



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