RE: Questions from a new guy (KLBC)

["Eric Andeen" <andeen@home.com>]

jatlh ::Adam::

Welcome to the list, Adam. I can see you've seen the BG spiel before, so
I'll skip it.

> yIjang SuyajlaHchug:

maj. Good prefix on the second verb. Your prefixes should match, though,
which means you need a <pe-> on the first verb. Also, a small typo: the last
letter of <-chugh> is <gh>, not just <g>.

> jichu': chay' pong vIwIv jIH 'ej chay' "Before" SughItlh tlhIh?

A couple more typos: the <I> in <jIchu'> should be upper case (<I> is always
uppercase), and so should the final <H> in <tlhIH>. You almost got the
prefix right on <ghItlh>, but since it has an object need to match up the
prefix with the object. The prefix for that is <bo->.

On to your questions. The first is the long one. Basically, it's up to you.
The FAQ has an entire section on this very topic at
http://www.bigfoot.com/~dspeers/klingon/faq.htm#2.2. The second one is the
easy one. You can almost always use the type 9 verb suffix <-pa'>. There are
probably a couple of twisted examples in English where it would not make
sense, but generally <-pa'> does the job:

jISoppa' jIghung - before I ate, I was hungry.
reH qaSpa' DungluQ jIqej - I am always grumpy before noon.

You did a very job on your first post. Keep it up.


pagh
Beginners' Grammarian