tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Mar 20 20:06:34 1998

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Re: My First Try



At 22:45 98-03-17 -0800, Tony wrote:
}
}        My girlfriend wants to hear some Klingon poetry.  This is my first
}attempt. After you are done laughing I could use some constructive critisim
}as to how I can improve. Thanks.

Poetry often deliberately defies language rules, but when you must first
learn the rules in order to defy them, so I will mark this up without regard
to any poetic effect or constraints of meter you may be working with.  I
won't comment much on the actual poetry.

Next time you post, please include the English version of what you are
working to say, so that I don't have to guess.

Follow up and ask if anything is not explained here to your understanding.

                               Tony
}Hovmey mInlIj

See section 6.3 for how to say "thing X is thing Y."  To say "your eyes are
the stars" use {Hovmey bIH mInlIj'e'}.

}ghoch tIqwIj

"my heart tracks them down" 

A mixed metaphor, considering they were stars in the last line, but no
grammar problems.
 
}HotlIj mum 'ey'

Something wrong here.  {Hot} is a verb, meaning feel/touch.  It makes no
sense with a noun suffix. {'ey} is a verb 'be delicious'.  There is no
{'ey'} as far as I know.  And {mum} is a verb 'perceive flavour'.  So you
want to say something about being delicious, but you're lacking the
grammatical glue to say what.

}baH munatlh

I can guess you want "fire consumes me."

{baH} is a verb "fire" as in fire a torpedo.  The noun for the light and
heat emitted on combustion is {qul}.  Read section 6.1 to see that the
subject of the sentence must go after the verb {munatlh qul} "fire consumes
me."  Good prefix.

}chochargh

"you conquer me"  maj.  

}jupwI 'e' bang

Perhaps you want to say "my friend and lover"?  The noun conjunction "and"
is {je} and it goes after all the nouns joined.  {jupwI' bangwI' je}

}chonarghpa' choghospa'

{S} not "s"

"before you me escape, before you approach me"

I translated that "me escape" because I'm not sure that "me" works as the
object of either "escape" or appear".  Say {jIHvo' bInargh}  "You escape
from me" or {jIHvaD bInargh} "You appeared to me."

}jIjech

"I disguise" ?  Maybe you meant to type {jach} or {jegh}?

Qov     [email protected]
Beginners' Grammarian                 



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