tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Nov 09 11:55:29 1999
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RE: Phrasal doubts (KLBC)
- From: "Andeen, Eric" <[email protected]>
- Subject: RE: Phrasal doubts (KLBC)
- Date: Tue, 9 Nov 1999 12:56:38 -0700
jatlh Clayton Cardoso:
> How can I build phrases like:
Oh, my. You've run into the famous "ship in which I fled" problem. The
common theme here is that most of these phrases simply can't be translated
into a single Klingon sentence. They can, however, be translated quite
satisfactorily into two.
> 1) I see the table that my cat is on.
raSDaq ba' vIghro'wIj. raSvetlh vIlegh.
> I kill the man whom I gave money to.
loDvaD Huch vInobpu'. ghaH vIHoH.
> I see the land you've come from.
> I saluted your mother in the day that she met me.
> I kissed the woman due to whom I became unhappy.
You try these.
> 2) I not always break the rules.
roD chut vIbIv, 'ach rut vIpab.
> Ann killed even Paul.
Hoch HoH *Ann. *Paul HoHbe'Qo'.
> Maybe I killed the man in the jail.
chaq qama' vIHoH. -OR-
chaq bIghHa'Daq loD vIHoH.
This one depends on what you mean by "in the jail". There's been a long
thread about this sort of thing recently.
> I killed maybe the man in the jail.
qama' vIHoHlaw'?
I'm not sure what the maybe is doing here. I think it's saying you're not
sure if you killed him or not.
> I killed the man maybe in the jail.
loD vIHoH. chaq bIghHa'Daq ghaH.
> 3) I'm as strong as you.
This one is difficult. Since <HoS> is also a noun, you could probably say
<rap HoSmaj>, but that is kind of weird. I need to think about this for a
bit. It is hard in general to say <A is as Q as B> in Klingon.
> I ate more candies than you.
yuch vISopbogh law' law', yuch DaSopbogh law' puS.
Substitute something else for <yuch> if you're not talking about chocolate.
> She's more trouble than she's worth.
This one is definitely an idiom that will not translate literally. Try to
figure out exactly what it means, and then translate that.
> I'm better than I was before.
Several ways to do this:
jIpo'choHpu'; jIpIvchoHpu'.
qen jIrop. DaH jIpIv.
etc.
> I will be happier than I am now.
DaH jI'IQ, 'ach tugh jIQuchchoH.
DaH jIQuch, 'ach tugh jIQuchqu'choH.
These next two are attempts to abuse <-moH>. I'm not even going to try;
there are other ways to say these things.
> 4) Ann made Paul give Jack's money to Tom.
This is trying to twist a <-moH> sentence into a pretzel. Let me try without
using <-moH>.
*Tom-vaD *Jack Huch nob *Paul 'e' raD *Ann.
> He'll cause her to kill me.
muHoH ghaH 'e' raD ghaH.
You'll almost certainly need something to disambiguate the <ghaH> here.
pagh
Beginners' Grammarian
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