tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Aug 10 13:45:12 1998
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Re: KLBC The Simpsons
- From: Robyn Stewart <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: KLBC The Simpsons
- Date: Mon, 10 Aug 1998 13:45:04 -0700 (PDT)
[email protected] wrote:
> Bart's old tag line used to be;
>
> I didn't do it.
> Nobody saw me.
> You can't prove anything.
I don't know the context from the Simpsons, so I can't say the
perfective is wrong, but it isn't necessary for the meaning above.
You know that the perfective is unrelated to tense, right?
> vIta'pu'be'
Grammatically correct utterance, translatable as:
"I haven't done it." "I won't have done it." or "I hadn't done it."
/vIta'be'/ is sufficient for "I didn't do it."
> jIleghlu'pu'be'
With /-lu'/ you need to use the prefix that normally indicates a third
person object, in this case /vI-/. The suffix /-be'/ goes after the
suffix or verb you wish to negate.
/vIleghbe'lu'/ - I wasn't seen/I'm not seen/I won't be seen
> vay' DatoblaHbe'
maj.
Notice how when Bart says it in English he is obviously offering a
disclaimer for past events, but when he says it in Klingon you can't
tell if he is talking about something he did, does, or will do. Works
just as well. English is forced by the verb to give time information.
Klingon has the option of providing that detail or not.
You need these three English sentences:
I'm not going to do it.
I don't do it.
I didn't do it.
... to convey one Klingon meaning: /vIta'be'/.
The only way to translate English tense into Klingon is with
context/timestamps. pItlh.
==
Qov - Beginners' Grammarian
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