tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Sep 01 18:22:17 2001

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RE: KLBC -- "Kill 'em all..."

DloraH said:

	So with these rules of plurals and grammatically singular, if I said
"Kill 
	them.", without using the pronoun it would be [tIHoH].  If I do
include the 
	pronoun it would become [chaH yIHoH].  qar'a' 

Actually, we would say {chaH tIHoH}. It might be less confusing if we don't
think of words in terms of "(grammatical) plural & singular". Instead, let's
look at the prefix charts on pages 33 and 34 of TKD. There, we see that the
prefixes distinguish between "him/her/it" and "them".

If we're talking about {'oH} ("it") or {ghaH} ("he/she"), then we use a
prefix that that indicates "him/her/it". For example:
{ghaH yIHoH} "Kill him/her!"
{'oH yIHoH} "Kill it!"
{SoH DuHoH ghaH} "He/she kills you."

If we're talking about {bIH} ("them") or {chaH} ("them"), then we use a
prefix indicating "them". For example:
{chaH tIHoH} "Kill them!"
{bIH tIHoH} "Kill them!"
{SoH nIHoH chaH} "They kill you.

Now, suppose you order me to destroy the following:
{nuch}
{qorDu'}
{Hoch}
{cha}
{Humanpu'}

In order to figure out what verb prefix to use, you need to figure out
whether I'm destroying a "him/her/it" or a "them":
{nuch}  - "a coward", so this is a "him/her".
{qorDu'} - "a family" is an "it", even though the family is made up of
several people. I'm only destroying 1 family.
{Hoch} - "everything/everyone" is an "it". You could think of {Hoch} as "the
entirety".
{cha} - {cha} is an "it". You could think of it as "a volley (of
torpedoes)". I'm only destroying 1 {cha} here.
{Humanpu'} - "Humans" are "them". There are more than 1 Human in this case.

So the commands you would give are:
{nuch yIQaw'} "Destroy the coward!"
{qorDu' yIQaw'} "Destroy the family!"
{Hoch yIQaw'} "Destroy everything!" or you could think of it as "Destroy the
entirety!"
{cha yIQaw'} "Destroy the volley (of torpedoes)!"
{Humanpu' tIQaw'} "Destroy the Humans!"

Words such as {nuch} can also refer to more than one "coward". However, if
you want me to destroy more than 1 coward, you would have to use a prefix
that indicates "them":
{nuch tIQaw'} "Destroy the cowards!"

- taD

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