tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Aug 16 13:53:02 1999
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RE: qajatlh
- From: "Andeen, Eric" <[email protected]>
- Subject: RE: qajatlh
- Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 13:53:24 -0700
Welcome to the list, Kathleen. My name is pagh, and I am the current
Beginners' Grammarian for the list. Whenever you have a post you want help
with, mark it for my attention with a KLBC in the subject line.
jatlh Kathleen Bateman:
> Qum tlhIngan wa'DIchwIj
I get what you're trying to say, but the grammar is not quite right. It
looks like you're trying to use the verb <Qum> - "communicate" as a noun,
which doesn't work. Fortunately, we have a noun that fits the idea you are
trying for: <QIn> - "message" (it also means "spearhead", but that's another
story). You won't find this word in The Klingon Dictionary; it's in another
book called Klingon for the Galactic Traveller.
A couple of other little things. When talking about the Klingon language,
you need to call it <tlhIngan Hol>, not just <tlhIngan>. This is different
from most familiar Earth languages. Also, you got the placement of <wa'DIch>
just right, but the posessive suffix <-wIj> goes on the noun, not the
number. What you wind up with is a sentence fragment, not a whole sentence,
but that's OK.
tlhIngan Hol QInwIj wa'DIch - My first Klingon message.
> jIghoj jIneH'a'
Very close. Since you want something, the verb <neH> has an object, so the
prefix should be <vI-> rather than <jI->. Also, the <-'a'> doesn't belong
here. On a verb, the <-'a'> suffix turns a statement like "I want to learn"
into a yes/no question like "Do I want to learn?". If you were trying to use
the noun suffix <-'a'>, use a verb suffix instead:
jIghoj vIneHqu' - I really want to learn.
> boQlIj jInej
maj. The prefix again should be <vI->. You could also say <boQraj> instead
of <boQlIj> because you are talking to a large group, but <boQlIj> is fine.
> tlhIngan HolwIj jIDub jIneH
In English, it makes perfect sense to say "I want to improve my Klingon",
but in Klingon, it doesn't quite work. You don't want to improve "your
Klingon language" - you want to improve you Klingon language ability. Fixing
the prefixes:
tlhIngan Hol laHwIj vIDub vIneH - I want to improve my Klingon.
> chojang jIloS
Once again the prefix should be <vI->. You also need to put the pronoun
<-'e'> in here before the <vIloS>. <'e'> represents the previous sentence,
so when you want to say "I wait for *something*" or "I know *something*", if
the *something* is a whole sentence, you write out the sentence and then
represent it with <'e'>. Examples:
chojang 'e' vIloS - I wait for you to answer me
bIval 'e' vISov - I know that you are clever
The one exception to this rule is the verb <neH> - "want". With <neH>, <'e'>
is not used.
maj. Doj QInlIj wa'DIch. yItaH.
Good. Your first message was impressive. Continue!
pagh
Beginners' Grammarian
tlhIngan Hol Mailing List FAQ
http://www.bigfoot.com/~dspeers/klingon/faq.htm