tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Mar 31 12:57:10 2001

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RE: KLBC: Grammer questions




qonwI' said:

>    tlhIngan Hol vItaghDI', jImogh.  <TDK> vIlaDpu', 'ach vIghojpu'be'.
> 'ach jabbI'ID vImughchugh, vIghojlaH.  tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhlaHbe', 'ach
> vIghItlhlaH, jInIDchugh.
> 
> (When I began learning (Klingon language), I was frustrated. I read TDK,
> but I didn't learn it. But if I translate posts (from the list), I can
> learn. I can't speak Klingon, but I can write it, if I try.)  :-)
> 
majQa'. bInIDba'!
I don't see any grammar problems here.
On the list here, we typically use the abbreviation <TKD> to refer to "The
Klingon Dictionary". Other common abbreviations that you might see are <KGT>
for "Klingon for the Galactic Traveler", and <TKW> for "The Klingon Way".


> I had some questions about grammer:
> 1.  How would I say, "[Someone's name] sent an e-mail to me" or "I
> received am e-mail from [someone's name]? (Using "jabbI'ID" for e-mail).
> 
For "sending" an email, you could use the verbs {ngeH} ("send"), {lab}
("transmit data away from a place"), or {lI'} ("transmit data to a place").
{lab} and {lI'} appear to be similar to  "upload" and "download" in English,
although the definitions in TKD aren't clear as to which is which. Here,
"e-mail" is the thing that is being sent/transmitted, so it is the object of
the verb.

For the "to me" part, you can use the noun suffix {-vaD} ("for"), because
the email is intended for you and benefits you.

I don't think you'll have any other major problems with saying "[Someone's
name] sent an e-mail to me". See if you can do it yourself, and then I'll
make sure that you don't have any other problems.


> 2.  If I want to say, "lunch was good", could I say <megh QaQpu'>?
> 
Remember that Klingon word order is object-verb-subject. The subject of the
sentence is "lunch", which would go after the verb. With Klingon verbs such
as "be good", "be hungry", "be angry", etc. there are no objects in the
sentence. So the word order would be:
{QaQpu' megh} "Lunch had been good"

Unless you're focusing on the fact that lunch was good and now it's not,
then you don't need to use the verb suffix {-pu'} here. {-pu'} gives the
meaning of being completed or accomplished.


> 3.  Is there a word for "fun"?
> 
What do you mean by "fun"? There isn't a word in TKD or KGT that is defined
as "fun".
However, if you enjoy something, you could use some of the following words
to indicate that it is "fun" and that you enjoy it:
{tIv} "enjoy"
{parHa'} "like"
{DuQ} "touch (emotionally)", but literally "stab"
{Dun} "be wonderful"


> 4.  What can I use for "with" as in "I talked/stayed/ate/etc. with
> [someone's name]"?
> 
Often, this idea can be expressed by using the verb {tlhej} ("accompany").
Sometimes a single, long English sentence can broken down into two smaller
Klingon sentences. For example, "I ate dinner with Torg" could be said in
Klingon as these two sentences:
{'uQ vISop.} "I ate dinner."
{mutlhej torgh.} "Torg accompanied me."


> 5.  If I want to say, "[Someone's name] ate lunch" or some other verb, how
> would I write it?
> 
This sentence is in the typical object-verb-subject form. The object is
"lunch", the verb is "eat", and the subject is the someone who is doing the
eating. So this would be written as:
{megh Sop [someone's name]}
Note that Klingon doesn't distinguish between "ate", "eat", and "will eat"
in the way that English does. The verb {Sop} can mean all three, depending
on context.


> 6.  Can I use <Quj>, (play a game) if I have a specific game in mind,
> like, "<Baseball> vIQuj", or should I just use reH, (play), "<Baseball>
> vIreH" ?
> 
I believe that {Quj} was used in a British magazine interview with Marc
Okrand. The sentence that he translated for the magazine was something like
"Do you want to play cricket?" If I recall correctly, he translated this as
{ghew yIQuj} ("Play cootie"). Note the tongue-in-cheek literal translation
of the game "cricket" as {ghew} ("bug, cootie").
So judging from this example, and the fact that {Quj} specifies "game" but
{reH} doesn't, {*Baseball vIQuj} works fine.

Captain Krankor hypothesized that perhaps {reH} was used for playing a
musical instrument, while {Quj} was used for playing a game. However, once
KGT came out, we discovered that the verb {chu'} ("engage, activate") was
also used as the verb for playing an instrument. So we really don't know
when the verb {reH} is used - perhaps for playing in general, such as with
toys.


> 7. Can I use <je> (and) for joining more than two nouns?
> 
Yes. Actually, in a recent KLBC message this same question was asked. The
word {je} goes at the end of a list of nouns. So "a computer, a robot, and a
tricorder" would be {De'wI', qoq, Hoqra' je}. It is also helpful to include
commas between the nouns. If I write {De'wI' qoq Hoqra' je} without commas,
you might think that I mean "a computer and the robot's tricorder".


> 8.  How can I say "[someone's name] and I?  (I tried "[someone's name jIH
> je"-- is that right?)
> 
maj. That is correct. For example, {torgh jIH je} would be "Torg and I".


> 9.  How can I say "when" as in, "When I got there..." or "When it was
> over..."?
> 
There's a type-9 verb suffix that is used for such a situation: {-DI'} means
"when, as soon as", and is explained on page 62 of TKD. For example,
{tach vIghoSDI', 'uH HoD} "When I went to the bar, the captain was hungover"

>    
>    Also, could someone maybe ask me some questions or something that I
> could answer in Klingon? That'd be good practice for me.  : )
> 
Qov gave you some very good (and interesting) sentences to practice with.
Good luck with them - I can give you help once you've worked through them.


- taD
-----------------
AIM: Tad Stauffer
ICQ #:    7622618

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