tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Feb 27 09:55:14 2007
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Re: Topic (was: Re: Dilbert Comic in Klingon for February 9, 2007
pm5:
>>>"I have served you for the past year."
'ISqu':
> >> wa'ben qatoy'choH 'ej qaStaHvIS wa' DIS qatoy'taH.
Doq:
> >>That's the kind of awkward work-around I was trying to avoid.
QeS 'utlh:
> >"I began serving you a year ago and for one year I continue to serve
> you." I
> >see no problem. Remember that Klingon often splits up what would be a
> single
> >English sentence into two sentences. And the lack of a Klingon equivalent
> >for the English preposition "for" (which really means "during" here, which
> >is usually translated as {qaStaHvIS}) is only to be expected, since Klingon
> >doesn't have the range of prepositions that English does anyway.
mIq'ey:
>For those who object to the repetition of the verb (though I recognize
>that this perfectly good Klingon style), how about:
>
> qatoy'taH wa'ben 'e' vItagh
>
>This seems (to me) to mean exactly what we want it to mean. Are there
>objections to it from a grammatical (or, for that matter, any other) point
>of view?
I like this, but the time-stamp should precede the verb:
wa' ben qatoy'taH 'e' vItagh.
"I began serving you (continuously) a year ago"
Now I admit to having lost the thread of this discussion, but if you're
trying to distinguish:
"I have served you for (during) the past year" (i.e. and I still am)
wa' ben qatoy'taH.
"I have served you since last year" (i.e. I began my service a year ago)
wa' ben qatoy'choH(taH)
(Does {qatoy'choHtaH} make sense? There are no examples of {-choH} used
with {-taH}. If not, 'ISqu's version repeating {toy'} is the way to go.)
"I served you last year" (i.e. but not now; IOW I used to serve you)
wa' ben qatoy'pu'
(this might also mean "a year ago I performed a service for you")
you might want to add the adverbial {ngugh} "then, at that time". E.g.:
vagh SanID ben buDbe' wamwI'pu'. ngugh Ho'Du'chaj lo' chaH, 'ach DaH
tajmey lo'.
5,000 years ago, hunters were not lazy. Then (at that time) they used
their teeth,
but now they use knives. (st.k 11/99)
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons