tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jan 19 15:51:40 2004

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Re: quraq Proverb(KLBC)

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

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, January 19, 2004 3:52 PM
Subject: quraq Proverb(KLBC)


> nuh  tIn qeng 'a qajatlh  tun
> I speak softly but carry a big  weapon
>
OK, good start. Let's clean it up a bit...

{nuH tIn} "Big weapon" {maj}

You are saying that *you* carry the aforementioned weapon, qar'a'?
So add a {vI-} (I- he/she/it/them):
{nuH tIn vIqeng} "I carry a big weapon."

{qajatlh} means "I speak (to you)." Unless this is what you are going for,
you could probably simply say {jIjatlh} "I speak."

Verbs like {tun} "to be soft" can only modify nouns, or be used as a verb.
In the sentence above, it looks like you want it to modify {qajatlh}. For
this you need an adverbial. Unfortunately, not surprisingly, we have no
adverbial for "softly". But, we do have {pe'vIl} "forcefully", and at least
some of the adverbials can take {-Ha'}. While I don't think we've ever seen
{pe'vIlHa'} in canon, I don't think you would be misunderstood if you were
to say:
{pe'vIlHa' jIjatlh} "I speak un-forcefully (softly)."

Also, just in case it matters, in the original English, the "I speak softly"
clause comes first. So put it first:
{pe'vIlHa' jIjatlh, 'a nuH tIn vIqeng.} "I speak softly, but carry a big
weapon."

And there is a noun that you might not be aware of: {naQ} "cane, staff",
from KGT.
Substituting {naQ} for {nuH} would bring you closer to "a big stick", if
that's what you're going for.

--ngabwI'
Beginners' Grammarian,
Klingon Language Institute
http://kli.org/
HovpoH 701061.8

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