tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Nov 18 13:28:47 2002

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Re: Last sentence from Qov's sentences



On Mon, 18 Nov 2002, Gina Robertson wrote:
> Paul wrote
> > There's also the verb suffix { -qu' } to show emphasis (p48-49), which can
> > add that extra oomph to your words.
>
> So how do you make that describe hard work then?

Keep in mind there's no Klingon noun specifically for "work" as in the
English sense.  { vum } is a verb which means "work", so if you wanted to
say "I'm working hard", you might try { jIvumqu' } (lit. "I'm WORKING!")
Or use an adverb, like { tlhoy jIvum } (lit. "I'm working too much") or
{ nom jIvum } (lit. "I'm working quickly").  I'm not sure, but perhaps
{ pe'vIl jIvum } (lit. "I'm working forcefully" -- seems like it might be
appropriate, but sounds kind of wierd in a pure English translation).

The trick then is to figure out what you're really trying to say.  It
looked like your original intention was "Hard work scares me", but when
you analyze it, what you're really saying is either "I'm afraid I will
need to work hard" or "if I have to work hard, I'll be scared."  Or
perhaps what you are really intending is "I don't want to have to work
hard," which is more easily translated into { tlhoy jIvumnIS vIneHbe'qu' }
(lit. "I *really* don't want to have to work too much")

...Paul

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