tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Nov 08 16:18:09 2002
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Re: KLBC: Worst Case Scenarios
maQ wrote:
If I may add a thought to Quvar and maQ's thread...
>ghItlh Quvar:
>>>Is this safe to eat?
>>>SopmeH mujochbe'?
>>
>>yes/no-questions always end with the type9 suffix {-'a'}
>>And verbs describing a quality ("be...") cannot have an object,
>>which >you do here using prefix {mu-}.
>>{joch} is "be harmful", now the question comes up, "what is
>>harmful?" >Answer: "the food is."
>>Now it's your turn: put it together!
>
>SopmeH joch'a'?
>Is this harmful to eat?
For who to eat? Remember, you can conjugate a {-meH}'ed verb:
vISopmeH joch'a' Sojvam?
Is this food harmful for me to eat (it)?
vISopmeH joch'a'?
Is it harmful for me to eat (it)?
Although this sounds a little awkward in English, it's perfectly fine in
Klingon.
>joch'a' Sojvam?
>Is this food harmful?
Good. Another way is to make an action verb out of the quality by adding
{-moH} "cause". E.g.:
mujochmoH'a' Sojvam?
Will this food harm me?
vISopchugh mujochmoH'a'?
Will it harm me if I eat it?
There are lots of examples of these pairs. E.g. to start with the
B's: {bergh} "be irritable" vs. {berghmoH} "irritate [someone]"; {boch}
"shine, be shiny" vs. {bochmoH} "shine [something]"; etc.
--
Voragh "All the meaning is in the context."
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons (Ilya Kabakov, Russian artist)