tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Aug 20 19:25:05 2000

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RE: [KLBC] When to use what?

andreas:

> could anyone of you please explain to me the difference 
> in usage of Ha' and be' ?
> 
> i sometimes read for example  tlhIngan Hol jijatlhlaHbe' 
> but also jijatlhlaHHa' which one is correct, what is the 
> grammar behind it?

First, careful with prefixes and spelling - <vIjatlhHa'> or <vIjatlhbe'>.

<-be'> is simple negation. If I say <tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhbe'>, I mean that I
do not speak Klingon (in whatever context is appropriate for the sentence).

<-Ha'> is a bit more complicated. It has two related, overlapping meanings.
You'll find two in the Klingon dictionary - "do wrongly" and "undo", and
you'll also find a third - "opposite" - by observing the way it's used. For
a given verb, it's usually obvious which one is meant. Let's deal with them
one at a time.

For "do wrongly", consider the word <bach> - "shoot". <bachHa'> generally
means "shoot wrongly" or "misfire", and could apply to a shot that was way
off, or one that never left the gun. <bachHa'> also has a slang meaning of
"make a mistake" or "screw up".

For "undo", consider the proverb <Huch nobHa'bogh verenganpu''e' yIvoqQo'>.
This means "Don't trust Ferengi who give back money". <nob> means "give",
and <nobHa'> means "give back", which is basically undoing the giving.

The "opposite" meaning is found on a lot of words in TKD's and KGT's
wordlists, like <Qey / QeyHa'> - "be tight / be loose"; <jej / jejHa'> - "be
sharp / be dull; blunt"; and <tlhorgh / tlhorghHa'> - "be pungent / be
bland". When <-Ha'> is used on a verb that can act like and adjective, it
generally turns the verb into its opposite.


With <tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhHa'>, the only meaning that makes sense is the
first one - "I speak Klingon wrongly". Something an actor with insufficient
preparation or coaching would do.


To answer your question, both are correct, but they mean different things.
The one you want is probably <tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhbe'>.


pagh
Beginners' Grammarian

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