tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Jun 20 11:33:50 2000

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RE: klbc: abstract nouns 2



jatlh lay'tel SIvten:

> part of the problem i have with learning and using tlhIngan 
> Hol is figuring out how to render (or "recast") what i want 
> to say into the available words.  e.g. how to say "length"?
> ("to be long" is [ nI' ] or [ tIq ] depending on the sense, 
> so i'll use [ tIq ] here.)  does one say something like: 
> "when something is long"?  [ tIqDI' vay' ] what is a common 
> paraphrase for this sort of thing?

That's the general idea. There are all sorts of ways to use a verb instead
of the noun length. If you have a specific situation in mind, let me know.
It's always easier to figure out how to translate whole ideas than single
words.

Here are some useful verbs:

tIq - be long (space)
nI' - be long (time)
juv - measure

There are also a set of verbs for describing the length and other dimensions
of objects. They take the object to be described as the subject, and a
number of units of measure (e.g. 'ujmey, qellI'qammey) as their object.

'ab  - Have a length of (one dimensional)
'aD  - Have a length of (two dimensional)
juch - Have a width of
Saw' - Have a depth of

The distinction between <'ab> and <'aD> is fairly subtle, but important.
<'ab> is used for long skinny things like spears. It is also used for
people's heights, I believe. <'aD> is used for things like 8.5x11 paper. If
you want to ask how long something is, rather than make a statement, just
use <'ar>.

wej 'uj 'ab naQjej - "the spear has a length of three uj" (about 3'5")
wa'maH 'uj 'aD yaHwIj - My duty station is about 10 ujes long
'uj 'ar 'aD DujlIj? - How long is your ship?

The first example came from Okrand's explanation of <'ab> in an MSN
newsgroup post, so you can be sure it's correct.

And now that I've talked about a bunch of verbs related to length, I'll add
a noun for good measure: <chuq> - "range; distance".


pagh
Beginners' Grammarian


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