tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Oct 10 10:44:29 1997

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing



[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

Re: KLBC:Scoltand



At 03:02 97-10-10 -0700, qa'SuvwI' wrote:
} juppu'wI'  (jItul)    my friends (I hope)

While the English implies "I hope you are my friends" the Klingon probably
just says "my friends" and "I hope" but you've correctly assembled the words
and their affixes, and you're not saying it's a complete sentence, so I'm
not complaining.

}qa'SuvwI' pongwIj    my name is qa'SuvwI'

To say "something-#1 *is* something-#2" in Klingon we use a construction you
can read about in section 6.3. If something-#1 is a pronoun (I, you, he,
etcetera), then you can just write them together: <something> <pronoun>.
For example {tlhIngan maH} "We are Klingons."  But when both things are
represented by nouns, you need to use the pronoun *and* the noun, with the
topicalizing suffix {-'e'} on the noun. {qa'SuvwI' 'oH pongwIj'e'}.  {'oH}
means it, see the beginning of chapter 5 for the other pronouns.  It's as if
in English you always had to say "My name, it is qa'SuvwI'."  Difficult
concept for such a simple sentence in English?  Perhaps, but you'll get used
to it.

}wa'maH los ghepwIj  I am 14

Every language seems to have a different way of giving ages.  In English we
say e "are ... years old"  or just "are <number>".  In French you say you
"have ... years".  In Russian you say "to me are ... years."  In Klingon you
say "... years ago I had been born."  "Had been born because if you're 14
then unless you are exactly 14 this minute, 14 years ago you were *already*
born. 

The word for "years ago" is {ben}.  You would say {wa'maH loS ben jIboghpu'.}

I see where you got {ghep} -- out of {nenghep} -- but I caution you not to
try to pull elements out of ords like this.  You can never be sure what they
mean.

}jIyIn ScotlandDab   I live in Scotland

{yIn} means live, as in be alive, not as in specifying where you reside.
The verb for reside in/at is {Dab} which you have picked up, but confused
with a similar-looking suffix.  Normally to say "in <a place>" you put the
name of the place at the beginning of the sentence, with {-Daq} at the end:

{ScotlandDaq jIvum}  "I work in Scotland."

But Dab takes the name of the place as its direct object, like saying "I
occupy Scotland."

{Scotland vIDab} "I live in Scotland." Notice the {vI-} prefix to indicate
first person (I) subject with a 3rd person (Scotland) object.

}As this is my first real try at Klingon be nice to me

Hey, I hardly ever hit people with painstiks, and when I do it's in the
nicest possible way.  Not much to be mean to you about, anyway: your Klingon
is pretty good for first ever.  For everything I picked at you got something
right, as well, proper numbers, suffixes in the right order, and you seem to
understand the idea of prefixes.  

juplI' vImojqang.

Qov     [email protected]
Beginners' Grammarian                 



Back to archive top level