tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Jul 11 22:45:59 1999
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RE: KLBC: Subordinated Phrases
- From: "Eric Andeen" <[email protected]>
- Subject: RE: KLBC: Subordinated Phrases
- Date: Sun, 11 Jul 1999 22:45:31 PDT
jatlh Clayton Cardoso:
>KLBC
>How can I write these phrases in Klingon?
To make this more interesting for everyone, I'm not going to tell you how to
translate each of these phrases. Instead, I will explain the relevant
grammatical constructions, and then you can give these phrases a try
yourself.
>Ann kills the woman that Bob loves.
>Ann kills the woman that loves her.
>Ann kills who loves Bob.
>Ann kills who Bob loves.
The tool here is the verb suffix <-bogh>. This suffix can usually be
translated as "which", "that", or "who". A <-bogh> clause (also called a
relative clause) modifies a noun - usually the subject or object of the main
clause. For example: <paq vIlaDbogh> - "the book that I read"; <qetbogh be'>
- "the woman who runs" or "the running woman".
If a <-bogh> clause has two nouns (like <puq qIpbogh yaS>), then you have to
decide which one is the "head noun" - the noun which is modified by the
clause. You can usually tell from context. Also, if either noun is marked
with the suffix <-'e'> or another type five suffix, then it is the head
noun. For example: <puq qIpbogh yaS'e'> - "the officer who hit the child";
<puq'e' qIpbogh yaS> - "the child who was hit by the officer". See TKD 6.2.3
for more information.
>The hot water burns Paul.
>The beautiful woman uses the clothes.
For this sort of thing, you could also use a <-bogh> clause, or you could do
something simpler. A verb which "describes a state or quality" can be placed
right after a noun and act like an adjective does in English. For example:
<paq tIn> - "the big book"; <waq Doq> -"the red shoe". See TKD 4.4 for more
on this.
>I drink the hot water you bring.
>The woman I like kills the stupid man.
>The hot water burns the woman I like.
These are just a relative clause plus a verb used as an adjective.
>I'm stronger than you.
>Here I'm the strongest.
Klingon has a very special formula for comparisons that is unlike other
Klingon sentence structure. If you are comparing a quality Q for nouns A and
B, to say "A is more Q than B", the formula is <A Q law' B Q puS>. To say "A
is more Q than anything else", it's <A Q law' Hoch Q puS>. See TKD 6.6 for
more on this.
You should be able to figure out how to translate your examples based on
this. Give it a try and see how you do.
pagh
Beginners' Grammarian
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