tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jun 26 23:05:53 2000
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KBLC: mu'tlheghmeyvam vImughchu''a'
- From: "Eric Andeen" <[email protected]>
- Subject: KBLC: mu'tlheghmeyvam vImughchu''a'
- Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 23:06:17 -0700
- Importance: Normal
> DublIj yIbej
> Watch your back!
Yes and no. This is literally correct, but "watch your back" is an idiom in
English that probably does not make any sense in Klingon. A Klingon would
likely just be confused. Something along these lines that would make sense
is <'em yIqIm> - "Pay attention to the area behind."
> yIruch nuq 'e'
> What are you doing?
This just doesn't work. Try <nuq Data'?>
> nIteb vIjatlhta' vIneHqu'
> I wanted to speak to him alone.
Very close. The object of <jatlh> (if it has one) is generally a word,
sentence, speech, language, etc. rather than the person spoken to, so you
can't really say <vIjatlh> for "I speak to him". It would have to be
<ghaHvaD jIjatlh>.
> (How would I say "personally"?)
What does "personally" mean here? It's a vague enough word that I really
don't know. If you mean "*I* speak with him (as opposed to having someone
else do it)", I would say <ghaHvaD jIjatlh jIH>. If you mean "in person"
rather than on the telephone, then <matay'bejtaHvIS ghaHvaD jIjatlh>. If you
mean "alone", then <nIteb> is great.
> bItlhaQ yInIDbe'
> Don't try to be funny.
You're missing an <'e'>. You've got two main verbs up next to each other
without any clue as to what's connecting them. You just can't have two main
verbs in a sentence without something else connecting them. <'e'> serves as
the connection. <bItlhaQ 'e' yInIDQo'> is really two sentences: <bItlhaQ> -
"You are funny", and <'e' yInIDQo'> - "Don't try that".
Note also that <-Qo'> is used instead of <-be'> for imperative verbs.
> QaQ jaj yIghaj
> Have a nice day.
> (Yes, I know how un-Klingon it is.)
Aye, it is un-Klingon in spirit. It's also a bit weird grammatically. First,
verbs acting as adjectives go *after* the noun, so it's <jaj QaQ>. Also,
"have" gets used for a lot of things in English, and only a subset of those
work in Klignon. I doubt you can "have" a day - nice, lousy or otherwise -
in Klingon. Instead, I suggest a nice subversive little verb - <SIQ>. jaj
QaQ yISIQ.
> yIruch. jajwIj yInaQmoH.
> Go ahead. Make my day.
> (Much better.)
I like this one. maj.
> vIghajmeH naDev Dochvam roQ vay' 'a'
> Did someone put this here for me?
<vIghajmeH> - "in order that I have it" works here, but <jIHvaD> - "for me"
would work as well and is simpler. Also, the <-'a'> is a verb suffix. It has
to go on the verb.
> vIghaj 'a'
> Is it mine?
Once again, <-'a'> is a verb suffix, not a separate word. This also doesn't
quite work. If I'm holding a shoe, and I say <vIghaj'a'?>, the answer is
almost certainly <HISlaH>. I do have the shoe. To ask "Is this shoe my shoe"
is different: <waqwIj 'oH'a' waqvam'e'?>.
> rut HIq vIlegh 'ach not vItlhutlh
> I sometimes see liquor but I never drink it.
> ('ach bIQ vItlhutlhqangbe')
bImojchoH'a'? nuq Datlhutlh? vIychorgh Datlhutlh'a'? 'awje' Datlhutlh'a'?
> bI vangchug vaj 'uQ Daghaj
> If you act, then you have dinner.
> bIQubchugh vaj 'uQ Damoj
> If you think, then you become dinner.
I suspect you got these from TKW. They are correct, except for the typos in
<bIvangchugh>.
> monchugh 'ej ngoQ lughajbe' jawtaHvIS qoHpu' neH
> Only fools smile and talk without a goal.
You got the parts right (mostly), but didn't put them together correctly.
The two main verbs here are "smile" and "talk". <jaw> is perfect for this
sense of "talk", btw. Those two are the action of the sentence. As such they
should just be dropped into the sentence with a conjunction ('ej), and no
type 9 suffixes. The other verb - "have" - is what's going on (or rather not
going on) during the action of the sentence, so it should be the verb with
the <-vIS> suffix. I'll also suggest <Hutlh> instead of <ghajbe'>.
ngoQ luHutlhtaHvIS mon 'ej jaw qoHpu' neH.
> qorDu'lI' DaQan taHvIS bIHegh jaj
> May you die while protecting your family.
A family is not a "being capable of using language". It's made up of them,
but is not one itself, so you should use <-lIj> rather than <-lI'>. Other
than that and the spaces between verbs and verb suffixes, this is quite
good.
> joH bItoy' taHvIS bIHegh jaj
> May you die while serving the Lord.
If you're talking about the Lord, just <joH> is probably not strong enough.
Many people around here use <joH'a'> for this, and Okrand has commented that
that's a pretty good choice. You've also got a small prefix problem:
<Datoy'taHvIS>.
> batlh yIchegh
> Return with honor!
majQa'.
pagh
Beginners' Grammarian