tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue May 20 09:45:51 2003
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Re: tlhobqa'qu' taghwI'
QeS lagh wrote:
>DIp mu'tlheghDaq <<nuq>> <<'Iv>> ghap vIlo'laH'a'? SachuH:
>
>Can I say, for instance, <<be'etor nuq DaSuchtaH>> "What thing of B'Etor's
>are you looking for?" I could find nothing in TKD about it.
First, {Such} is "visit". The verb you want is {nej} is "look for, seek,
search for".
Second, you're right; it's not addressed in TKD. Although I admire your
solution - {be'etor nuq} "B'Etor's what" - {nuq} "what" doesn't work this
way in Klingon. The way to say this is as a command, not a question:
be'etor Doch Danejbogh yIngu'!
Identify the thing of B'Etor that you're looking for!
This use of a relative clause sounds awkward in English, but apparently
it's common in Klingon.
Okrand gave us some more information about asking questions and using {nuq}
in a couple of posts on the startrek.klingon newsgroup:
From: [email protected]
Newsgroups: msn.onstage.startrek.expert.okrand
Date: December 12, 1996
Subject: What do you think?
[....]
(2) You suggested translating "What is your favorite month?" as:
jarlIj qaq nuq?
This one's a little easier to deal with. Your sentence literally means
"What is your preferable month?" The basic syntax is correct. Question
words (in this case, {nuq} "what?") function the same way pronouns do in
questions with "to be" in the English translations. Thus, the question
{yIH nuq}? "What is a tribble?" is exactly parallel the statement {yIH 'oH}
"It is a tribble" (where {yIH} is "tribble" and {'oH} is "it"). The answer to
the question {yIH nuq}? ("What is a tribble?") would presumably be a
definition or description of a tribble. This being the case, then, the
answer to the question {jarlIj qaq nuq}? ("What is your preferable month?")
would presumably be a definition of "your favorite month." But this is not
what you want to find out by asking your question. What you really mean
to ask is something like "Of all the months, which one do you prefer?"
The first word in your sentence, {jarlIj}, means "your month" ({jar} "month,"
{-lIj} "your"). But given that what you're really asking is "Which month do
you prefer?" it's not really "your month" at all. The "you" should go
with the verb, not with "month."
Which brings us to the verb. You use {qIb}, "be preferable," adjectivally
({jarlIj qIb} is "your preferable month"). I think what you mean is better
expressed by using the verb {maS} "prefer" with "you" as the subject: {jar
DamaS} "you prefer the month." If you want to highlight the notion of
"most prefer," you can use the emphatic suffix {-qu'}: {jar DamaSqu'} "you
very much prefer the month." (In this case, since "prefer" involves
making a choice, the one chosen is automatically the one that is "most"
preferred.)
So what about the "what" (or "which") of your original question
("What/which is your favorite month?")? When asking someone a question of
this type, you are really asking him or her to make a choice. So just be
a Klingon and order them to do so: "Identify the month that you very much
prefer!":
jar DamaSqu'bogh yIngu'
{DamaSqu'bogh} "that you very much prefer" ({DamaSqu'} "you very much prefer
it" plus {-bogh} "which," the relative-clause marker) modifies {jar} "month"
and the whole phrase {jar DamaSqu'bogh} "the month that you very much
prefer" is the object of the verb {ngu'} ("identify"), which is preceded by
the imperative prefix {yI-} ("do something to it!").
***************************************************************************
From: Marc Okrand
Newsgroups: startrek.klingon
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 1999
Subject: Re: ["Where do you live?"]
Will Martin wrote:
> And which of the following would be the most common form of the question,
> "Where do you live?" and what form would the most common answer take?:
> nuq DaDab?
> nuqDaq DaDab?
> nuqDaq bIDab?
Actually, the most common form of the question "Where do you live?" is not a
question at all, but a command such as:
Daq DaDabbogh yIngu'
"Identify the place where you live"
(<Daq> "place"; <DaDabbogh> "that you live at," made up of <Da-> "you [do
something to] it," <Dab> "live in/at, dwell in/at, inhabit" <-bogh> "relative
clause marker"; yIngu' "identify it!" consisting of <yI-> "imperative prefix,"
<ngu'> "identify")
Perhaps a translation such as "Identify the place that you live at" or
"Identify the place that you inhabit" is more revealing.
Answers are likely to be brief and to the point:
Daqvam "this place" (<Daq> "place," <-vam> "this")
pa' "there"
naDev "here"
qachvetlh "that building" (<qach> "building," <-vetlh> "that")
Qo'noS "Kronos"
It is possible, however, to respond with a full sentence:
Daqvam vIDab "I live at this place"
pa' vIDab "I live there"
naDev vIDab "I live here"
qachvetlh vIDab "I live in/at that building"
Qo'noS vIDab "I live on Kronos"
(<vIDab> "I live in/at," consisting of <vI-> "I [do something to] it,"
<Dab> "live in/at, dwell in/at, inhabit")
Of the three suggested ways to ask "Where do you live?" the first is the
most acceptable:
nuq DaDab "What do you inhabit? What do you dwell at?"
(<nuq> "what?"; <DaDab> "you live in/at it, you dwell in/at it, you inhabit
it," containing the prefix <Da-> "you [do something to] it")
The English translations of <nuq DaDab> are very awkward (from an English
point of view) and don't get across the sense of the Klingon all that well.
The less literal "Where do you live?" is what is really being asked. In
Klingon, when one lives in a place or dwells in a place, he or she is thought
of as "occupying" or "inhabiting" that place; not doing something at that
location, but doing something to it (occupying it).
***************************************************************************
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons