tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon May 03 15:28:32 2004

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KLBC {X-Hom X X-'a'} and Re: Verbs of quality and 'e'

QeS lagh ([email protected]) 

ghItlhpu' SuStel:

>Grammatically, there's no reason why you can't do this.  But let's look at
>what you're actually saying.  /DuH/ "It is possible."  WHAT is possible?
>You didn't use an indefinite subject (-lu') here, so this sentence must 
>have
>SOME subject; what is it?

If I may make a suggestion:

(chaq) Human Hol qub ghoj chaH. DuH ghu'vetlh.
"(Perhaps) they learn rare human languages. That situation is possible."

I don't think that this would be *wrong* without {chaq}, but it might be a 
little less accurate, and one should always strive for accuracy. However, I 
don't think {ghu'} is out of place as a subject for the verb {DuH}.

While it involves a verb with {-ghach} (a construct I still shy away from, 
not understanding it all that well yet), a recast of the idea might be

DuH ('oH) Human Hol qub ghojtaHghachchaj'e'
"Their learning of rare human languages is possible/a possibility"

ghItlhtaH:
>If you can't answer this question with a grammatically appropriate subject,
>I wouldn't phrase it this way.  And if you can come up with a good subject,
>then I'd leave the subject in.  Subject or objects may be elided if they're
>being repeated, but there's no repetition here.

Of course, repetition is a big thing in Klingon, and not as resounding as it 
is in English. I wouldn't see a problem even if a repeated subject were left 
in a sentence. Look at {beyHom bey bey'a' jachtaH} (from TKW, IIRC, even 
though this isn't a great example).

Which leads to the KLBC part of the message: {beyHom bey bey'a' jachtaH} 
looks a little bizarre; it's not a construct I've seen anywhere else. Would 
the following sentence work?

{nom chechmeH HIvje'Hom HIvje' HIvje''a' lo'}
In order to get drunk quickly, he uses ever-larger cups

If this is possible, is the {X-Hom X X-'a'} part singular, or plural? (Hence 
{HIvje'Hom HIvje' HIvje''a' lulo'} for "they use ever-larger cups".)

Savan.

QeS lagh

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