tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Aug 02 15:54:43 1999

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RE: ghel pI'lo / KLBC

ghel pI'lo. jatlh:

> #1)     <ghaHbejbe'> or <ghaHbe'bej> = he/she is 
> certainly not do both work?

Both work, but they have different meanings. <-be'> negates the concept it
follows. <ghaHbe'bej> is easy - "He is certainly not (whatever)".
<ghaHbejbe'> is a little harder - "he is not certainly (whatever)". You are
saying that you are not certain that whatever went before <-bejbe'> is true.

> #2)    <pov 'ej val 'ej yoH jupwI'.> = My friend 
> is excellent, smart & brave. does this work, or do 
> I have to repeat the subject?

You don't have to repeat the subject, but it's considered good Klingon style
to put it after the first verb:

pov jupwI' 'ej val 'ej yoH.

> #3)  I could not find "be tall".   <runbe'> = be not short, does
> <runHa'> mean be tall? or does it mean not be short anymore?
> I am confused as to the difference between -be' and -Ha'. I 
> understand -be' as to mean "not"+verb. I *think* then that -Ha' 
> means the equivalent of using the prefixes, dis- or un- like 
> appear/disappear, dress/undress.

> I've seen people use <muSHa'> to mean something like <love> If 
> muSbe' means "not hate" consequently does muSHa' mean love? Or 
> does it mean "used to hate but not any longer"? Can the -Ha' 
> suffix also mean "opposite of/reverse concept" of the verb? Is 
> -Ha' sometimes a stronger form of -be'?

<-Ha'> is a slippery little suffix, and is one of the more fun things about
Klingon. It can mean any or all of the English things that are normally
assigned to it, including dis-, de-, un-, opposite, undo, do wrongly, etc.
Probably the best way to think about <-Ha'> is to ignore English entirely
and instead think about how it affects Klingon verbs you know about:

chu' - activate / chu'Ha' - deactivate
jatlh - speak   / jatlhHa' - misspeak
yaj - understand/ yajHa' - misunderstand
Sop - eat       / SopHa' - vomit
nob - give      / nobHa' - give back
par - dislike   / parHa' - like
ru' - temporary / ru'Ha' - permanent
tlhorgh - pungent / tlhorghHa' - bland

There are some cases where the meaning could be different based on context.
It is almost always very easy to figure out the right meaning in these
cases.

Saq - land  / SaqHa' - crash -OR- take off again
tIj - board / tIjHa' - get off -OR- fail to board properly

<-Ha'> can indeed be a stronger form of <-be'>. Some verbs describe a
continuum, where some things are in an average or normal state, some more of
whatever the verb describes than average, and some less. <Quch> means a
person is happy. <Quchbe'> means a person is not happy - which could be
anything from neutral and unemotional to really depressed. <QuchHa'> means a
person is actively unhappy. <QuchHa'be'> means a person is not unhappy -
which could again be anything from neutral to ecstatic.

So in answer to your basic question, <runHa'> is perfectly acceptable for
"tall".


>  In a previous post I brought up the question of ecdysiasts at work.
>
> <jechchaj tuQbe' mI'wI'pu'>. the dancers are not wearing their costumes.

maj.

> but if I wanted to mean that the dancers had stripped from their
> costumes would it be <jechchaj tuQHa' mI'wI'pu'>? To be clear on the
> meaning would I have to stick a -egh & -moH in the sentence?
> chay'  mu'tlheghvam  vI'ta'?

Since <tuQ> is more of a continuous action than an event, the "undo" sense
of <-Ha'> doesn't really work. I would expect <tuQHa'> to mean something
like wearing a bikini top in such a way that it does not cover all the body
parts that it was originally intended to. This could probably also apply,
but is not what you were going for.

For actually removing clothing, <tuQHa''eghmoH> works fine. There may be a
bit of controversy over how the object - <jechchaj> - fits into this, but
it's probably safe to ignore.

jechchaj tuQHa''eghmoH mI'wI'pu'.

>    I look forward to any enlightenment. Satlho'.     Pillow

> ps. my Klingon name is pI'lo, a pun on "to be fat". pIl'o' was pointed
> out to me as a pun on "motivated butt" (as an aerobics instructor/person
> with waaay too many hobbies) Is it permissible to change one's name?
>        (what would be a good way of saying, "she who should be doing
> chores, but procrastinates by studying tlhIngan Hol")     }}};-)

jangpu' latlhpu'. vIqelQo'.
Others have answered this one. I am going to stay well clear of it {{:-)


pagh
Beginners' Grammarian

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