tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Sep 02 13:04:45 1997

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Re: KLBC: Re: Introduction



At 10:03 AM 9/2/97 -0700, jatlh Scott D. Randel:
>Qov jatlh:
As the subject who is doing the speaking, Qov should follow the verb. 
{jatlh Qov} 

> >Every time something new you notice.
> *Yoda* QIchlIj rur
> Couldn't figure out how to make a proper noun possessive. I really
> meant to say "Your speaking sounds like Yoda's."

In Klingon you mustn't take the shortcut of leaving off the noun the 
second time: you must say "Your speech is like Yoda's speech."

A Klingon possessive is formed just like an English one, only without 
the "'s".  "Yoda's speech" translates as {*Yoda* QIch}.  This is 
explained in more detail in section 3.4.

In every Klingon clause the order is Object-Verb-Subject, the 
exact opposite of the typical English sentence.  The object here is 
the thing resembled: {*Yoda QIch}, the verb is the action {rur} and 
the subject is the thing that does the resembling {QIchlIj}

So you should say:

*Yoda* QIch rur QIchlIj

and I answer:

bIlugh. *Yoda* QIch rur tlhIngan QIch.  rut tlhIngan QIch rur 
QIchwIj.  tlhIngan Hol vIbuS vaj bong tlhIngan pab vIlo'.

I recommend you read over section 6.1 on sentence order and then 
practice writing simple sentences with OVS word order. Try:  "the man 
eats the dish"  "the Klingon scares the Ferengi" "the torpedo 
obliterates the ship." Pretty soon OVS word order will seem natural 
-- just be careful not to do it in English. :)  

Qov  ([email protected])
Beginners' Grammarian



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