tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Aug 08 14:03:04 1998

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Re: KLBC chom jIH (And a long explanation of PTB)


---Matthew Peperell <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Here is some practice of aspects I know that I need.

This may be painful.  'oy' yISIQ.  This is a general explanation of a
concept that confuses a lot of people.

Are you using "aspects" in the general sense, or the grammatical
sense? There's only one verb aspect used below and it's not the one I
would have selected.  And it's definitely not the main problem with
the sentences.  Rather than correcting them, I'm going to explain the
pronoun as-to-be (PTB) construction and let you use your sentences
(which aren't easy) as problems.

PTB (section 6.3) is for sentences of the form "<pronoun> is/are a/the
<noun>" or "The/a <noun1> is/are the/a <noun2>."  In other words, when
you are saying that some number of things or persons "is/are" another
thing or person.  You can also use it to state something's location.
You *don't* use it to say that someone or something "is boring" "is
blue" "is tired" or "is going to France."  (You didn't make that
mistake, but some people do).  The "nouns" don't need to be simple
nouns, they can be noun-noun constructions or noun phrases of other
sorts.

The simplest way to use PTB is just "<noun> <pronoun>".  When the
subject of the sentence is a pronoun (jIH, SoH, 'oH, ghaH, maH, tlhIH,
bIH, chaH and sometimes nuq or 'Iv), just write the object and then
the pronoun.

Examples:

tlhIngan jIH - I am a Klingon
yaSpu' maH - We are officers.
yIH QIp 'oH neH - It is merely a stupid tribble.
SoSwI' loDnI' ghaH - He is my uncle (mother's brother).
Doy'yuSDaq toy'wI''a' chaH - They are slaves on Troyius.
Dochvetlh nuq jay'? - What the heck is that thing?

Note that locatives go at the beginning and things like /jay'/ and
/neH/ go in their proper place at the end.

When you want verbal suffixes, treat the pronoun as the verb.  This is
explained at the top of page 68. 

quSDaq bIHtaH - They were on the chair
'utlh ghaHlaw' - She appears to be a retired officer.
Duy SoH'a'? - Are you the emissary?
qama' tlhIHbe'qu'bej - You are definitely NOT prisoners.

Now, when the sentence gets more complicated, so the subject is a noun
or noun phrase, and not a pronoun, start out exactly the same way:
"<object> <pronoun>".  The pronoun is not used in the equivalent
English sentence, except for emphasis.  You have to look at the
subject, choose a pronoun that represents it, write the object, write
the pronoun, and THEN add the subject, with the mandatory noun suffix
/-'e'/.

Start with, "My vessel is a cargo carrier."  The subject is "my
vessel" so that's /'oH/.  The object is "cargo carrier," so I start
with 

/tepqengwI' 'oH/
now I add the explicit subject, "my vessel," /DujwIj/:
/tepqengwI' 'oH DujwIj'e'/

More examples:
pop 'oH ghob'e' - Virtue is the reward.
'aj chaH be'nI'wI''e' - My sisters are admirals.
'ampaSDaq mangHom maH jIH'e' jupwI''e' je - My friend and I are cadets
at the academy.
loghDaq Suvrupbogh SuvwI'pu' chaH Hoch SuvwI'pu''e'
In space all warrior are cold warriors.

And the verb suffixes still go on the pronoun:

ghaytan SuvwI'pu' chaHbe' vulqanganpu'vetlh'e' - Those Vulcans are
probably not warriors.

Before you go taking this lovely hammer and using it to hit everything
that looks vaguely like a nail, do note that in many cases a sentence
that uses to be in English doen't use PTB in its best Klingon
translation:

Hem tlhIngan Segh - Klingons are a proud race.
Suvlu'taHvIS yapbe' HoS neH - Brute strenth is not the most important
asset in a fight.
tIqDaq HoSna' tu'lu' - Real power is in the heart.

> tachDaq loDnI'HomwIj chom'a' ghaH.
> cha' jaj ropmo' ghaH thluchmo' ghaH DachlI' loDnI'Daj.
> wa'Hu' je DaHjaj chom jIH.  
> 
> My step brother is head barman at a pub.
> He has been Ill for 2 days because he is exhausted because his
> is brother away. Yesterday and today I was the barman.

A few notes on this specifically: 
/loDnI'Hom/ is good for step brother.  It might not be what a Klingon
thinks when he hears it, but it's the right understanding of /-Hom/.
/je/ goes AFTER the nouns it joins.  Didn't I beat you with a stick
for this last week?  
If you say that something takes place *at* a time, you just state the
time.  If something takes place over a duration of time, you say
/qaStaHvIS <time>/ (see the proverb about the running man in the TKD
appendix) and usually use a continuou aspect suffix on the verb for
the action that took place over that time. 
Look up /tlhuch/ again for its exact meaning.

Now rewrite these with what you've learned about PTB.  Try to contruct
each sentence to be a clear as possible.

> One question that arose when compoising this is how do you cope with
> verbs suffixes when using the pronoun contstruction for 'to be' as I
have
> above.  For example using the V7 -pu' makes sence is the last
sentence 
> I wrote but since there is no verb I don't know how to include it.

1. As explained above, verb uffixes go on the pronoun in PTB sentences.
2. The perfective doesn't make sense in the last sentence.  Yesterday
and today you were the barman.  Not a perfective concept.  

> Thanks for your continued assistance.  choQaHtaH 'e' vIparHa'. 
> (Have I mastered the SAO construction yet?) 

Can't say if you've mastered it from one sentence. This is fine for "I
like the fact that you keep helping me." or "I'm glad you're helping
me."  You could also say something like /choQaHtaHmo' jIbel/ "I'm
pleased you're helping me," or "choQaHtaHmo' qatlho'."  "I'm grateful
to you for helping me."  Lots of options.  

==

Qov - Beginners' Grammarian

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