tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Jan 14 11:06:25 1999

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

RE: KLBC: HovqIj jun Hov wov

lab HovqIj:

> ja' HomDoq:

>> ja' HovqIj:
>>> displays.(?) Es zeigt.(?) I can see your point, that it is just
>>> unimportant in the first place _what_ is displayed. It doesn't seem to
>>> be wrong, just strange. (By now everybody should have found out my real
>>> name: HovHuj...)
>>
>> yeah, I was all up in arms against "He gives." (Er gibt.)
>> We didn't have {Dab} back then, but "He dwells." (Er wohnt.)
>> is really my favorite for displaying (no pun intended) the
>> strange feeling I get with these.

> When would I use <Dab> without an object? If I understand this
> correctly, these forms are only used to describe an action 
> generally, when no further information is needed. Like <jISop>: 
> it's not interesting what I eat, only the fact that I eat is 
> important. I really can't think of a situation where <Dab> 
> could be used like this. I mean, dwelling is not something I 
> do at one moment, and the place where one dwells usually does 
> matter when people are talking about this kind of thing. 
> <cha'bogh nav> seems strange, but at least I can find some
> legitimation for it. <Dab> without an object however doesn't 
> make sense to me. Maybe there are a few rare cases when it 
> could be used, but I can't think of one at the moment.

Just thinking about it a bit, I came up with an unlikely but possible usage:

qatlh naDev SoHtaH jay'?
jIDab.

The full, formal answer would probably be <naDev vIDab>, but in a less
formal setting, I can see how the shorter <jIDab> might work.

I can also see some potential slang uses similar to this.


pagh
Beginners' Grammarian

Back to archive top level