tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Sep 03 21:11:45 1997
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Re: KLBC:be'nI'HeywIj
>tlhIngan ghaHchugh vIHoH.
>If she was a Klingon I would Kill her.
Here's something that I think doesn't quite translate as it is intended.
It seems to say "If she is a Klingon I will kill her" with no implication
that she either is or is not a Klingon.
The grammatically correct English should be "If she *were* a Klingon...",
using something called the "subjunctive mood", referring to a hypothetical
situation. Klingon doesn't deal with hypotheticals very well, apparently
preferring to deal with what *is* rather than what is not.
My favorite tool for expressing ideas like this is to turn the idea around
in the other direction:
{tlhIngan ghaHbe'mo' vIHoHbe'}
"Because she is not a Klingon I will not kill her."
-- ghunchu'wI'