tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Feb 19 12:51:08 2003
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Re: KLBC- 3 questions
From: "Leah Levine" <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, February 15, 2003 2:49 PM
There doesn't seem to have been any response to this for four days, so I'm
going to step in and answer it. I hope the Beginners' Grammarian doesn't
mind.
> 1. In TKD I found the sentence:
>
> "chenHa'moHlaH" - it is translated as "it is able to destroy it"
> and then there is the sentence in all its parts.
>
> I have to admit, that I never would come to this result.
>
> When I would like to say, "it is able to destroy it" I would say:
>
> "Qaw'moHlaH"
>
> Am I on the wrong way?
/chenHa'/ means "undo-take form." The subject of the verb is the thing that
comes apart. /Qaw'/ means "destroy." The subject of the verb is the thing
which causes something ELSE to come apart.
jIchenHa'
I come apart.
jIQaw'
I destroy (something).
So then when we add the causative suffix, we get things like:
'oH chenHa'moH ghaH
He causes it to come apart.
'oH Qaw'moH ghaH
He causes it to destroy (something).
You CAN use the verb /Qaw'/ to translate what's in TKD:
[chaH/bIH] Qaw'laH ['oH]
It is able to destroy them.
(You could use lots of different pronouns here.)
> 2. I have a problem to understand, why
>
> DuS wa' - means torpedo tube number 1
> wa' DuS - means one torpedo tube?
>
> Normaly I start to translate a sentence at its end to find the subject. So
if I do this in this case I would expect the
> wa' stands for one. It is totaly contrary to my feelings. Normal?
Klingon isn't translated backward. It uses an Object-Verb-Subject sentence
order, but it's read in that order, not in reverse. And only those three
elements occur in that order. Other things work differently.
/DuS wa'/ is not a sentence, it is a noun phrase. It doesn't follow the OVS
structure (there is no object, verb, or subject; it's just a noun phrase).
Likewise with /wa' DuS/.
We are told in TKD how to use numbers with nouns. When the number comes
after the noun, it numbers the noun. /DuS wa'/ "torpedo tube number one."
When the number comes before the noun, it counts the noun: /wa' DuS/ "one
torpedo tube." This is just the way it is, and must be learned.
> 3. qama' vIqIppu' neH - I only hit the prisoner
>
> I only hit the prisoner, I didnīt kill him. What do I have to say, when I
mean: I only hit the prisoner, not the officer,
> not the child?
>
> qama' neH vIqIppu' ?
qarchu'. Quite right. When /neH/ follows a verb, that verb is trivialized.
/qama' vIqIp neH/ "I only hit the prisoner (I didn't do anything else to
him." When /neH/ follows a noun, it means that noun, and not other nouns,
is relevant: /qama' neH vIqIp/ "I hit only the prisoner (I didn't hit
anybody else)."
SuStel
Stardate 3137.0