tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Feb 23 13:41:29 1999

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RE: -bogh and -ghach



jatlh T'Lod:

> I have two questions about -bogh and -ghach.
> 1. How does Soj vutlu'pu'bogh become the food which has been cooked?  
> The subject and object aspect of -bogh is what is confusing me, and 
> not necessarily just this example.

Here's a simple, two step way of thinking about <-bogh> clauses. First, drop
the <-bogh> and think of it as a mini-sentence: <Soj vutlu'pu'>. This means
"The food is cooked." You can do the same thing with any <-bogh> clause.

When you've figured the whole thing out as a sentence, you now need to find
the head noun. The whole purpose of the clause is to descirbe the head noun.
If the clause has no object (e.g. <qetbogh loD>), or the object is an
unstated pronoun (e.g. <DuqIpbogh puq>), then the head noun is the subject.
If the subject is indefinite (e.g. <Soj vutlu'pu'bogh>), or is an unstated
pronoun (e.g. <paq vIlaDbogh>), then the head noun is the object. If the
clause has both a subject and an object, the head noun could be either. If
one is marked with <-'e'>, then that's the one you want. If not, it's
generally the subject, but you will have to decide based on the context. A
headless clause (e.g. <qaleghbogh>) is just too weird.

Once you've identified the head noun, you can now intepret the whole clause.
Some examples:

Soj vutlu'pu'bogh vISop.

Soj vutlu'pu' - The food had been cooked.
Soj - head noun
Soj vutlu'pu'bogh vISop - I ate the food that had been cooked.

muqIpbogh Doch vIlegh.

muqIpbogh Doch - The thing hit me.
Doch - head noun
muqIpbogh Doch vIlegh - I saw the thing that hit me.

jejqu' matlh DuQbogh taj

matlh DuQ taj - The knife stabbed Maltz.
taj -OR- matlh - potential head nouns. Since the verb in this sentence is
<jej>, the head noun has to be <taj>.

jejqu' matlh DuQbogh taj - The knife that stabbed Maltz is very sharp.


> 2. How should -ghach be translated?  We have naDHa'ghach - 
> dicommendation, so can I assume that naQHa'ghach means 
> incompletion?  [It is probably easier though, to use 
> DanaQHa'chugh, though]

<-ghach> is a suffix that should be used sparingly. If you feel like using
it, stop, count to ten (in Klingon, of course) and try to phrase the idea
using the verb as a verb. If that doesn't work, try again. If after that you
are really sure you want to use <-ghach>, the go ahead.

<-ghach> turns a verb, which represents an action or a quality, into a noun,
which labels the concept of the action. If it sounds awkward, it is. Some
examples:

QublI'ghach - thinkingness ??!?
tlhuHlaHbe'ghach - inability to breath / suffocation
Sopqangghach - willingness to eat


pagh
Beginners' Grammarian



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