tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jun 26 16:10:37 2002

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Re: adverbials with -Ha'



'angghal:
> >Can we play this game with other adverbials? How about {tugh}?

Andrew Strader:
>Cool thread. I may be alone on this one, but I have often needed to express
>the concept of "ever" or "at any point in time".  It occurred to me that
>notHa' would do just that, if it were acceptable.

I dunno.  We have one example of Okrand using "ever" in canon:

   not lay'Ha' tlhIngan.
   No Klingon ever breaks his word.  TKW
   ("A Klingon never breaks his word" - {lay'Ha'} "break ones word")

In this case "never" is a contraction of "no [...] ever" or "not ever", so 
all you have to do is to recast the sentence using "never" {not}.  E.g.:

   not Huch nobHa' verengan
   No Ferengi ever gives money back.
   A Ferengi never gives money back.

   not Ha'DIbaH Sop vulqangan
   No Vulcan ever eats meat.
   A Vulcan never eats meat.

Thus, choosing "ever" over "not ever" is a matter of English style, not 
Klingon.

In other cases, "ever" marks a perfective verb, as it refers to a completed 
act.  E.g.:

   <<veS roj je>> DalaDpu''a'?
   Have you ever read "War and Peace"?

What example with "ever" or "at any point in time" were you trying to 
translate?



-- 
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons



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