tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Nov 17 16:11:14 2000

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Grammar Highlight Each Day (nominative pronouns)



Disclaimer:  This highlight is incomplete and uses terminology other than 
that of TKD.  Check TKD for further study on the following subject:  
nominative pronouns.

Klingon has no particular word for the English concept of the copulative "to 
be."  Instead, Klingon says the object of the sentence and a pronoun.

Examples:

loD jIH = I am a man (loD = man; jIH = I)

There is no word for "am" here.  Don't assume it is part of {jIH}.  Just 
realize that no copulative is necessary in the Klingon way of thinking.

be' SoH = You are a woman (be' = woman; SoH = you [singular])
puq ghaH = He/She is a child (puq = child; ghaH = he/she) Klingon is not 
gender-specific.
targh 'oH = It is a dog-/pig-like Klingon animal.
yaSpu' maH = We are officers (yaS = officer, yaSpu' = officers; maH = we)
Suypu' tlhIH = You are merchants (Suy = merchant, Suypu' = merchants; tlhIH = 
you [plural])
juppu' chaH = They are friends (jup = friend, juppu' = friends; chaH = they 
[referring to beings capable of language])
mIl'oDmey bIH = They are sabre bears (mIl'oD = sabre bear, mIl'oDmey = sabre 
bears; bIH = they [referring to beings and things which are not capable of 
language])

This highlight does not go into how the pronouns have other usages 
(accusative, dative, genitive, allative, ablative--words which are not even 
in TKD).

good shabbos, peHruS


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