tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu May 24 12:32:28 2001
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RE: KLBC: Grammer questions
- From: "Stauffer, Tad E (staufte7)" <[email protected]>
- Subject: RE: KLBC: Grammer questions
- Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 15:32:05 -0400
Qov said:
>lab Paul McIntosh
qonwI' replied:
Paul McIntosh jIHbe'. puqbe' jIH. ("e-mail address"maj
rap.)
For the last part here, in order for it to be a complete sentence, {*email
address*maj} is the subject of the verb {rap}. So the word order should be
changed.
> Why are there many sticky things under my bed?
QongDaqwIj bingDaq Hum law' tu'lu' qatlh?
The question words {qatlh}, {ghorgh}, and {chay'} all go at the beginning of
the sentence, not at the end.
{Hum} ("be sticky") is a verb. In this case, you want to turn it into a noun
by adding the verb suffix {-wI'}. The {-wI'} means "one who does" or "thing
that does". For example,
{Suv} "fight"
{SuvwI'} "one who fights" or "fighter"
You can also use it with descriptive verbs such as {Hum} ("be sticky"),
{Doq} ("be red/orange"), etc. So you can say:
{Hum} "be sticky"
{HumwI'} "one which is sticky" or "sticky thing"
> Are there blue cups in the kitchen (galley)?
vutpa'Daq HIvje' SuD tu'lu''a'?
maj.
> Can you disassemble my attitude control thrusters and that control
panel?
lolSeHchawIj, SeHlawvetlh je bolaghlaH?
maj.
> Will the children attack each other tomorrow?
wa'leS HIvchuq puqpu'?
If you're asking a yes/no question, you should add the type-9 verb suffix
{-'a'} onto the verb.
For example,
{HIvchuq} "They attack each other"
{HIvchuq'a'} "Do they attack each other?"
Don't confuse the type-9 verb suffix {-'a'} with the type-1 noun suffix
{-'a'}. They're spelled the same. When {-'a'} is on a verb, it means that it
is a yes/no question. When {-'a'} is on a noun, it means that the noun is
bigger, more important, or more special than normal.
> Were your neighbour's targs noisy yesterday?
wa'Hu' chuS jIllI' targhmey'a'?
(I didn't mean to add "ram". And the verb suffix on the noun
is
actually meant to be "your", not "in progress")
The verb suffix that Qov is referring to is the {-'a'} on {targhmey}. Again,
if you want to ask a yes/no question, the verb suffix {-'a'} goes on the
main verb of the sentence.
Compare these different sentences:
{chuS targhmey} "Targs are noisy."
{chuS'a' targhmey} "Are targs noisy?" Here, the {-'a'} is the type-9 verb
suffix {-'a'}. So it becomes a yes/no question.
{chuS targh'a'mey} "Big targs are noisy." Here, the {-'a'} is used on a
noun, and is the type-1 noun suffix {-'a'}.
{chuS'a' targh'a'mey} "Are big targs noisy?" In this case, the first {-'a'}
is the verb suffix and the second {-'a'} is the noun suffix.
>Interesting that you changed "yesterday" to "last >night."
There's a verb
prefix on a noun here.
I didn't mean to add "ram", and <lI'> was meant to be used
as
"your", not "in progress".
> I was an officer before the Romulans destroyed the base.
waw' luQaw'pa' romuluSnganpu', yaS jIH.
maj.
- taD