tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Dec 22 07:19:14 1998
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: Ordering food
- From: "William H. Martin" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: Ordering food
- Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 10:19:12 -0500 (Eastern Standard Time)
- In-Reply-To: <[email protected]>
- Priority: NORMAL
On Mon, 21 Dec 1998 22:31:56 -0800 (PST) [email protected]
wrote:
> In a message dated 12/18/1998 10:17:12 PM US Mountain Standard Time,
> [email protected] writes:
>
> << wej nuvpu'vaD qagh vIneHbej
>
> The problem here is that either you've got a noun with a Type 5 suffix
> modifying another noun (prohibited by TKD), or you're saying you're doing
> the wanting for three people. >>
>
> Looks like we'll be discussing the proper use of {-vaD}. As I read TKD, I
> discover
> {-vaD} is the syntactic marker of "indirect object."
>
> I definitely want qagh "intended for" three people.
>
> peHruS
The problem here, rightfully pointed out, is that you want "qagh
intended for three people", as if it were a noun phrase.
Meanwhile, {-vaD} doesn't attach its noun to another noun. It
only attaches it to the main verb as indirect object.
When I say:
SoHvaD taj vInob.
I'm not saying, "I give an intended for your knife." I'm saying,
"For you, I give a knife." The giving has {SoH} as indirect
object.
In your case, you want to say, "I want intended for three people
qagh." That doesn't work. It comes out as "For three people, I
want qagh." That just sounds odd, because it sounds like the
three people are the indirect object of your desire.
I could see two ways to clarify this. The first is concise but
slightly ambiguous:
wej nuvpu' je'meH qagh yap vIneH.
"I want enough in-order-to-feed-three-people qagh."
"In order to feed three people, I want enough qagh."
"I don't yet want enough qagh to feed people."
or a less concise, but more explicitly clear:
qagh neH wej nuv. qaghvam vIDIlqang. HInob.
Now, there's NO ambiguity.
Meanwhile, if you want to say it according to common Klingon
etiquette:
ghungmo' wej tlhInganpu', qagh yap chongevbe'chugh vaj bIHegh!
charghwI'