tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Sep 07 04:44:54 2000
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RE: KLBC: nuq as object
- From: "Stauffer, Tad E (staufte7)" <[email protected]>
- Subject: RE: KLBC: nuq as object
- Date: Thu, 7 Sep 2000 07:41:48 -0400
jang ghaHbe'wI':
[...] 3- bISopmeH nuq DaneH.
> 4- bISopmeH nuq DamaS.
> taD answered to these last proposals I wrote:
> >These examples (...) with -meH say that you want
> >something so that you can eat something. Your answer
> >could be either food itself, or an object to use for
> >eating - perhaps you want a {baghneQ} (spoon) so that
> >you can eat.
>
> You\'re right, it\'s always good that someone read over
> your text to correct them. So here you have an
> improvement for these sentences, it\'s based on a change
> from the verbal prefix {bI-} (you/no object, non-object
> prefixes used with transitive verbs emphasizes the
> action) to {Da-} (you/it, so there\'s an object non-
> clarified by sentence order but that appears with
> {nuq}):
> 5- DaSopmeH nuq DaneH.
> I translate it literally as \"What do you want to eat
> it?\" [...]
>
You're correct that using the prefix {Da-} rather than {bI-} is probably
preferable in this case, since {Da-} refers to eating a specific thing,
instead of eating in general.
However, I think you may have misinterpreted my comment because I wasn't
entirely clear. In the examples with {-meH} above, such as {DaSopmeH nuq
DaneH}, it doesn't actually say "What (food) do you want to eat?" It says
"In order for you to eat (some food), what (object) do you want?" In other
words, you are still eating a specific item of food, but you want something
(maybe the food itself, a utensil, money to buy the food, etc.) in order to
eat. The purpose of the action, indicated by the verb with {-meH}, is so
that you eat something.
Hopefully, this shows the subtle differences between {nuq DaSop DaneH} and
{DaSopmeH nuq DaneH}.
- taD