tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Nov 10 10:56:22 1999

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing



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

RE: KLBC / DaHjaj: lupwI' DaSmeywIj ghap



jatlh pIl'o':
>>> Ha'DIbaH 'oHpu'chugh puH DujwIj vaj vIbach.

ja' pagh:

>> jIyaj. rut DujwIj vIQaw'qanglaw' jIH.
>>
>>> tugh  QapHa'  loS *struts  wa' *ball joint je'.
>>
>> ghay'cha'. mu'tlheghvam vIlaDDI' jInogh.

> I cannot find the verb [nogh]

<nogh> - "writhe" from TKD.

>>> 'ach wej Sovlaw'taH DujwIj qa'.
>>
>> DaH jIyajbe'. nuq Sov DujlIj qa'? jImIS.

> ...but the spirit of the car does not yet know it 
> (that it is so deteriorated, very old, used up)

Ah, now I understand. I was being a bit dense. It might have been clearer if
you had said something like:

'ach tlhoS Qop wej 'e' Sovlaw' DujwIj qa'.

>>> 'u'majDaq 'oHtaHchugh DujmeyvaD Sto'vo'qor
>>> vaj vIHoHqangchu'neS.
>>
>> This kind of N1-S5 N2 construction is kind of weird. 
>> Instead, I would just use <Duj Sto'vo'qor>. Also, 
>> <'u'majDaq Duj Sto'vo'qor tu'lu'chugh ...> would
>> be better for expressing "If there is ..."

> oops. I got things turned around. I'm saying to myself 
> in my head "sto'vor'qor for cars, if there is one in our 
> universe, then I'd be willing to put the honorable thing 
> finally out of it's misery" (willing to kill perfectly) 
> yes, I admit, it's too weird. I'm a bit confused.

You'll get used to it with some practice.

> In the sentence "If there is a car heaven, then..." what 
> is the subject and what is the verb?

I just do Klingon grammar :) Actually, the verb would be "is", and the
subject would be "there", acting as some sort of funky pronoun. An eighth
grade English teacher could probably explain it better, but that's all I can
do.

> In the tlhIngan Hol sentence "if one finds a ....." is 
> the indefinate "one" the subject?

In the tlhIngan Hol sentence < . . . tu'lu'chugh . . . >, the <-lu'> stands
in for the subject, which is indefinite. In the English translation, it gets
replaced by the pseudopronoun "one", which is one of the uglier things about
English grammar.

> I'm trying to visualize some sort of memnonic (is that 
> the correct word for word picture in your head to 
> understand/remember something?) the -tu'lu' concept. 
> for "there is". loQ 'oy' QoghIjwIj.

"mnemonic" is correct. A lot of people think it's "pneumonic", which is not
a very nice thing to be . . .

I always remember <QuvlIjDaq yIH tu'be'lu'jaj>, one of the toasts from one
of the cassettes. It's got a <be'> in the middle, but it's still a good
example.


pagh
Beginners' Grammarian

tlhIngan Hol Mailing List FAQ
http://www.bigfoot.com/~dspeers/klingon/faq.htm


Back to archive top level