tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Sep 02 19:04:07 1999
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RE: What sort?
- From: "Andeen, Eric" <[email protected]>
- Subject: RE: What sort?
- Date: Thu, 2 Sep 1999 19:05:01 -0700
jIjatlh:
>
> jatlh Zrajm:
>
> > De'vam yIlaD 'ej yIjang.
>
> > I tried to translate "What kind [of tea] is he making?"
> > but how do I say that in klingon? Is {nuq Segh vut.} correct?
>
> Probably not. <nuq vut?> would mean "what is he cooking?", but <nuq Segh
> vut?> doesn't work (at least as far as we know).
> Dargh Segh vutbogh yIngu' - Identify the variety of tea he is preparing.
>
> pagh
jatlh Zrajm:
> Dargh Segh DachenmoHtaHlu'bogh choja''a'
> You tell me which type tea you are making ?
maj. Now you're getting the hang of it. The suffix <-lu'> is out of order,
but doesn't belong on <chenmoH> anyway. Also, the <-taH> would only be
appropriate if the tea making were an ongoing activity - perhaps if I were
working in a restaurant and my morning task was to make the tea. In general,
either the suffix <-lI'> or no aspect suffix at all would work better.
Also, the verb <vut> is often defined as "cook", but really refers to any
kind of food preparation. It makes more sense than <chenmoH> for making tea,
I think.
Finally, you have asked "Will you tell me what kind of tea you are making?".
This is a polite way to phrase a question in English (and parallels many
other Terran languages), but I would expect a Klingon to say <ghobe'> and
leave it at that. Instead of asking, be more direct and tell the tea maker
to tell you:
Dargh Segh Davutbogh HIja'. - Tell me what kind of tea you're making.
pagh
Beginners' Grammarian
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