Re: [KLBC] -lu' and -ghach

["Rohan Fenwick" <rfenwick18@hotmail.com>]

jatlh SuStel:

>One of the problems people have when trying to use /-lu'/ is that they get
>mixed up between "indefinite subject" and "passive voice."  English has a
>passive voice, Klingon does not (passive Klingon?!?).  The active voice
>version of "qagh is eaten" is "someone eats qagh," and it is this active
>voice version that you should think about when translating.


bIlughbej. 'ach tlhIngan Hol mu'tlheghmey wImughDI', lo'laH "passive voice". 
bIjatlhpu':

>qagh Soplu'.
>Someone unspecified eats qagh.
>("qagh is eaten.")

>[SoH] Daqawlu'taH
>An unspecified subject will continuously remember you.
>(Better English is the passive voice here: "You will be remembered."  But
>the KLINGON sentence is not passive.)

>quSvamDaq ba'lu''a'?
>Does someone unspecified sit in this chair?
>("Is this seat taken?")

In these three sentences, the Klingon indefinite subject *can translate* 
into English passive voice, and I have found that the passive makes for a 
good device for translating Klingon to English, so it works in one 
direction. However, SuStel is correct: the two are not equal, and the 
opposite direction doesn't always work.

Qapla' 'ej Satlho'

ro'Han

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