tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Jan 29 04:06:04 2006

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Re: ja'

QeS 'utlh ([email protected])



ghItlhpu' Quvar, ja':
>I believe I'm just confused a bit.
>How do I use {ja'}??

A quotation plus {ja'} is two separate sentences. {ja'} doesn't have 
agreement with the quoted statement: {<<jIghung>> jIja'} "I said, 'I am 
hungry'", {bIja' <<bImoH>>} "you said, 'you are ugly'". (The verb {ja'} can 
go either before or after the quoted sentence.)

For a lot more discussion on how to use verbs of speaking, see the interview 
with Okrand in HolQeD 7.4.

>{maSopnIS wIja'lu'} or
>{maSopnIS 'e' wIja'lu'} ?

It would probably be {<<maSopnIS>> wIja'lu'} "someone said to us 'we need to 
eat'". As for the version with {'e'}, even if it were correct you'd need to 
use {net}, since there's a verb plus {-lu'}. Anyway, Okrand hasn't told us 
how indirect quotation works in Klingon... so probably better to avoid that 
second one, for the time being anyway.

>And what about {ra'}?
>Do I say
><yIloS> ra' HoD or
><yIloS> nura' HoD

Remember that {ja'} and {jatlh} are the only two verbs of speech that we 
know for certain, so you need one of those in there somewhere. In total, 
this would be three sentences in Klingon. {ja' <<yIloS>> nura' HoD} "The 
captain commanded us. He said 'Wait!'"

Other than that, I don't think it matters whether you use {nura' HoD} "the 
captain commanded us" or {ra' HoD} "the captain commanded". I believe either 
is OK.

QeS 'utlh
tlhIngan Hol yejHaD pabpo' / Grammarian of the Klingon Language Institute


not nItoj Hemey ngo' juppu' ngo' je
(Old roads and old friends will never deceive you)
     - Ubykh Hol vIttlhegh

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