tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Jan 09 17:58:43 2004

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Re: Verbs as Nouns

Scott Willis ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Johnson" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 3:42 PM
Subject: KLBC: Verbs as Nouns


> Is it possible to turn a verb into a noun in Klingon?

In the addendum in the back of TKD, we are given {-ghach}, a type 9 verb
suffix that will nominalize a verb with at least one other suffix on it. It
cannot be used on a bare verb.

> For instance, if I
> wanted to say something like:
>
> disturbance (from disturb)
> work (in reference to the act of working)
> sadness
>
> Or do these concepts have to be recast into things like: disturbing,
> working, cause something to be sad, etc.

You *could* use {-ghach} to turn these verbs into nouns. It's not
ungrammatical to simply stick {taH} onto the verb, and then {ghach}.

That being said, using this technique to get a noun out of a verb is
considered by many to be poor form. Often, this technique is used out of a
desire to stick too close to the original language.

For instance, if you wanted to say "There was a disturbance", instead of
saying {Sujpu'ghach tu'lu'} "There is a completed disturbance", we can
recast, and use a verb:
{vay' Sujlu'} "someone was disturbed"

> Secondly, how does weight work.
>
> Like if I wanted to say:
> I weigh 200lbs
>
> Would I say something like:
> cha'vatlh cheb jIghaj

We were given Klingon weights on the Bird of Prey poster: 1 {cheb} is
approximately 4.96 pounds (2.25 kg)
We also have a verb {ngI'} meaning "to have a weight of, to weigh"
So "I weigh 200 pounds" would be {loSmaH cheb vIngI'} "I weigh 40 cheb"


--ngabwI'
Beginners' Grammarian,
Klingon Language Institute
http://kli.org/
HovpoH 701021.1

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