tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu May 13 12:50:27 1999

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RE: [KLBC]yIH



jatlh qultoQ:

> jatlh,

jatlh 'Iv?

> yIH boSov, 'ej De'meH ja'ghach jIgItlh;

I think I understand what you're saying here, but there are some problems.
To start with, <-meH> is a verb suffix and <De'> is a noun, so <De'meH>
makes about as much sense as "computering" does in English. I don't know
what you were going for with the <-meH>.

Also, you should probably try to avoid <-ghach> for a while. Klingon works
best when a sentence is built around verbs, and turning them into nouns with
<-ghach> makes things awkward. <-ghach> has its uses, but they are fairly
rare.

> jISovghachqur;

jIyajbe'chu'. I really don't know what you're trying to do here.

> Hat'oH'a' HoH yIH?

The Klingon "pronoun as to be" construction only works with nouns. With
adjectives (like "illegal"), just use the Klingon verb: <Doq moQ> - "The
ball is red". <moQ> is "sphere", and <Doq> is "be red". As a result, <Hat
'oH'a' ...> means "Is ... a temperature?", which is not what you want.

The other problem here is <HoH yIH>. You're trying to say "Is it illegal to
kill tribbles", yes? Klingon doesn't have infinitives (e.g. to kill), so you
can't do it this way. The Klingon word <HoH> is also a noun meaning
"killing", as in "there was a killing last night". The way you would use it
here is <yIH HoH> - "the killing of tribbles" or "tribble killing".

Hat'a' yIH HoH?

> jIH chojatlh 'Iv?

The prefix here should be <mu->, and you can drop the pronoun:

mujatlh 'Iv?

> QaQbe' tlhIngan-HolwIj qar'a'?

This one you got just about right. The dash is unnecessary - we only use it
in the list name because we can't have a space. You also need to add another
word: <tlhIngan Hol laHwIj>. It makes sense in English to say "My English is
pretty good", but <QaQlaw' DIvI' HolwIj> does not work the same way. It is
saying "the language I own/have created/etc." rather than "my ability to
speak the language".

tlhIngan Hol Dalo'taHvIS, bIlujchu'be'. yIqeq! laHlIj DaDubbej.

> //be'meyvetlh jIQongpa'be'qu' jIH jay'\\

DaH jIyajbe'qa'. "Those women not before I sleep I am dammit!" ??!?!?  I'm
afraid I can't help with this one.

Some basic comments, though. For "beings capable of using language", like
<be'>, the plural suffix normally used is <-pu'> rather than <-mey>. Also,
no suffixes, including rovers, can go after a type nine suffix like <-pa'>.

> tuyaj'a'?

rut.

> toH, tlhaQbe'law''a' 'e'

The <'e'> here is being used as a subject, and that just doesn't work. <'e'>
can only be an object. Fortunatly, just dropping the <'e'> turns this
sentence into exactly what you want it to be.

> wejpuH!


pagh
Beginners' Grammarian

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