tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Sep 08 14:07:54 1999

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Re: Puzzling motion



On Wed, 08 Sep 1999 09:33:40 -0500 Terrence Donnelly 
<[email protected]> wrote:

> I was doing some translating the other day, and I hit upon a
> puzzler.  In light of the new rules regarding Type 5 suffixes
> and motion verbs, how do you say "Where are you going?"
> 
> 1. ?nuqDaq DajaH
> 2. ?nuq DajaH
> 3. ?nuqDaq bIjaH

According to my understanding, the first two are asking for your 
destination, while the third one is asking for the scope of your 
travels. All three are valid questions, though I don't like the 
first one, though I recognize that it is completely valid. While 
offering opinions, AND THIS IS ONLY AN OPINION, I still prefer 
to use {ghoS} for this sort of thing and continue to use {jaH} 
with no direct object, so the third version is the only one I'd 
naturally use of these suggestions. I'd use {ghoS} instead for 
the second one and I wouldn't use the first one at all.

It's just preferred style. You are quite free to use all three.
 
> I'm pretty certain that 3 implies "You are going while at what place",
> but I'm not sure about the other two.

That's pretty much it, but as I see it, you are asking for the 
place that contains your going as opposed to the destination of 
your going.
 
> -- ter'eS

charghwI' 'utlh



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