tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Feb 19 17:31:35 2003

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Re: QongDaqDaq



You answered my question perfectly.

I guess when I look at:

tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhlaHbe' 'e' tob SuStel!

I see:

SuStel proves/is proving/will prove blah blah blah

and not:

SuStel proved that blah blah blah

My mind doesn't see any tense at all in the setance, it just makes it a 
general something that is/has/will occur but doesn't tie it down to any 
particular time. Hence the reason I over use the aspect markers. 

> At least, we've never seen it used this way in the many examples we 
> have.  If you want, make it into two sentences:
> 
>    tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhlaHbe'.  'ej 'e' tob SuStel!
>    I can't speak Klingon.  And Sustel proved that!

I was always told not to start a sentance with 'and', or any conjunction 
for that matter. The English has to be 

I can't speak Klingon and SuStel proved that!

Hence the reason I did it as once sentance in Klingon. I know I shouldn't 
let English syntax affect my Klingon, but as a programmer 'and' is a 
logical statement as well and cannot be used at the start of a statement.

>    'e' tobpu' SuStel.
>    Sustel has proven that.
> 
> since this by itself is *not* a complex sentence, merely a simple sentence 
> which is not part of a SAO construction.  If so, {'e'} is just a pronoun 
> here.  So, you could either say
> 
>    tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhlaHbe' 'e' tob SuStel.
>    Sustel proved that I can't speak Klingon.
> 
> or
> 
>    tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhlaHbe'.  'ej 'e' tobpu' SuStel!
>    I can't speak Klingon.  And Sustel has proven that!

This is what I wanted to say, but again, starting a sentance with a 
conjunction goes against the logic programming of my brain... I guess I'll 
have to get over it.

How do you use 'e' as not part of a complex sentance, but in a sentance 
with a conjunction. Conjunctions link two simple sentances so having the . 
in there doesn't really matter, the 'ej removes the 'e's link back to the 
previous sentance and turns it into a plain 'that'...

does that make sense?

So, saying:

tlhIngan Hol jatlh Qanqor 'ej 'e' vISov 

means to me:

Krankor speaks Klingon and I know that.

and not:

I know that Krankor speaks Klingon. (with an and in there somewhere)
(would be tlhIngan Hol jatlh Qanqor 'e' vISov)

I guess I could use 'oH in there instead, and make the 'that' an 'it'

tlhIngan Hol jatlh Qanqor 'ej 'oH vISov! 
Krankor speaks Klingon and I know it!

Just throwing some wierd ideas around to try and get some of the subtle 
nuances (can't spell those words) of language and communication. :)

> If this isn't kosher, try using {-bej} "definitely, undoubtedly, certainly" 
> to add the emphasis you're after:

Kosher, smosher... I want to get the meaning across, not worry about 
semantics :) but I get the idea.

Thanks for the info :)

qurgh
Can spell better in Klingon than in English



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