tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Sep 09 19:52:39 2000
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RE: [KLBC] A is like B
- From: "Stauffer, Tad E (staufte7)" <[email protected]>
- Subject: RE: [KLBC] A is like B
- Date: Sat, 9 Sep 2000 22:49:22 -0400
jatlh Tremal:
> I want to say something like:
>
> Kill you is like kill a targh
>
> Is right:
>
> DaHoHlu' 'e' rur targh HoHlu'
>
> ??
>
You can't use a sentence as the subject of another sentence. In this case,
you're trying to use {targh HoHlu'} ("The targh is killed") as the subject
of the whole sentence. However, it's an entire sentence by itself, so you'll
have to recast it.
> or I must recast the sentence?
>
That's probably the best choice here. You could recast "Killing you is like
killing a targh" as something like:
{targh vIHoHmeH Qu' rur qaHoHmeH Qu'} ("The task of killing you resembles
the task of killing a targh")
Here, {targh vIHoHmeH Qu'} means "the in-order-that-I-kill-a-targh task", or
more simply, "The task of killing a targh".
{qaHoHmeH Qu'} means "the in-order-that-I-kill-you task", or more simply,
"The task of killing you".
You suggested recasting the sentence as:
> targh HoHlu'bogh rur SoH'e' DaHoHlu'bogh (but this example is not like
> the original phrase).
>
Since the subject of the verb {rur} ("resemble") is {SoH} ("you"), the verb
needs the {Da-} prefix to indicate that the subject is {SoH}.
So your recasted sentence should be:
{targh HoHlu'bogh Darur SoH'e' DaHoHlu'bogh}
which is made up of the following:
{targh HoHlu'bogh} ("A targh which is killed")
{Darur} ("you resemble it")
{SoH'e' DaHoHlu'bogh} ("You who are killed")
This rewording could work. As you pointed out, though, it's not exactly the
same meaning. It actually means "You who are killed resemble a targh which
is killed", or more simply, "A killed you is like a killed targh".
- taD