tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jul 04 18:42:19 2001

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RE: quraq's proverb-klbc



quraq said:

	tIn nagh jIqeng a' tunlI jIQIch 
	I speak softly but carry a big rock. 

	I wanted to say a big stick but rock works just as well. 

For the first part, the verb {tIn} ("be big") is acting like an adjective in
English. On page 49 of TKD, it explains that when the verb is acting as an
adjective, the verb goes after the noun:

{nagh tIn} "The big rock"
In this kind of situation, this isn't a complete sentence. It's just a noun
being modified by the verb.

When we want the verb & noun to form a complete sentence, the noun goes
after the verb:
{tIn nagh} "The rock is big."

Since you are carrying a big rock, the subject in the sentence is "I" and
the object is "a big rock". So you want the verb prefix that represents "I -
it", which is {vI-}.

So you would say:
{nagh tIn vIqeng} "I carry a big rock."


For the second part, {QIch} is only the noun "speech (vocal sounds)", so we
can't use it as a verb. You could correct this in one of two different ways:

Use the noun {QIch} as a noun, and say "My speech (vocal sounds) is quiet."
or
Use a verb such as {jatlh} ("speak"), and say something such as "I speak
unforcefully".

In the second case, "unforcefully" would be the adverb {pe'vIl}
("forcefully"), plus {-Ha'}. When the adverb makes sense, we can add {-Ha'}
onto adverbs to mean "un-". For example:
{batlh} "honorably"
{batlhHa'} "dishonorably"


Finally, the English version of the proverb says "I speak softly, but I
carry a big rock." So you would need to switch your Klingon sentences, so
that the "I speak softly" sentence is first, and then "But I carry a big
rock" is second.

- taD



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