tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Mar 02 09:25:44 1998
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Re: tlhIngan nID teH wa'DIch
- From: Qov <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: tlhIngan nID teH wa'DIch
- Date: Mon, 02 Mar 1998 09:24:00 -0800
At 14:30 98-02-28 -0800, B'Elanna wrote:
}Can someone show me how to fix this up? This is my first try without
}help.
majQa'. batlh bInID.
}poH nI' naDev jIDan.
Dan is "occupy" in the military sense, i.e. station troops, subjugate
inhabitants, maintain supply lines, surpress insurrections ...
To say "I have been here a long time" I would say:
qaStaHvIS poH nI' naDev jISaH
or
nI'taHvIS poH naDev jISaH
The suffix {-vIS}, which must alwasy be used with {-taH} indicates "while,"
so "while the time is long" or "while a long time occurs."
}ghItlh laHbe' jIH 'ach.
Are you looking for "I can't write"? {ghItlh} means manuscript and it also
means write, as in make marks. If you are including the intellectual
process of thinking of what to say and saying it with the correct words, use
{qon}. Marc Okrand explained this to us in an article in HolQeD.
The word {laH} is a noun, meaning "ability." It's not a verb. The suffix
{-laH}, however is what you need. You need one more piece of this puzzle to
know how to put it all together ...
Read over the beginning of chapter 4 again, up to the end of section 4.1.2.
Those verb prefixes must be considered on *every single Klingon verb* that
you write. Scary, eh? Don't worry, you do it automatically after a time,
but at first you are going to be wearing out page 33. Copy the table out.
And memorize it. Here's an example of how to use it for your sentence:
The verb you want is {qon}. The subject of the verb is "I" so you're in the
first row. There is no object, you're not saying "I can't write it." (At
least I don't think you are). You're just saying "I can't write." So use
the prefix in the first column, the no-object column. That's {jI-}.
Adding in the suffix {-laH} for "be able" and the suffic {-be'} for
negation, you get:
{jIqonlaHbe'} - "I can't write"
Note that the pronoun {jIH} is not necessary to express "I." If you say
{jIqonlaHbe' jIH} you are emphasizing "*I* can't write."
}tlhIngan ghoj jIH.
In English we can just say "French" or "Klingon" and have it understood that
we mean the language. In Klingon you have to say {tlhIngan Hol}, "Klingon
language." Again you have used the optional pronoun but neglected the
required prefix, in this case {vI-} because there is a third person object.
tlhIngan Hol vIghoj
}laD laH jIH, majQa' ghItlh laHbe' 'ach.
You are saying something about your ability to read and your inability to
write, but I can't make out what. Use what I've taught you above to rewrite
this, and include an English translation.
Twice here you've put the word {'ach} "but" at the end of a sentence. The
first time I just left it, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but. (Just
trying it out: I can see it as a possible writing style.) Do you really
mean to do that? Write "but" and then stop dead? Oh! maybe you're trying
to put "but" after both clauses it joins, like a noun conjunction? Doesn't
work that way in Klingon. Put it between the sentences as you would in English.
Qov [email protected]
Beginners' Grammarian