tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Jul 11 18:43:34 2009

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Re: {pagh Doch} or {pagh Dochmey}? (Fwd: [Question #76058]: Klingon plural expression is this: Plural-Forms: nplurals=2; plural=n > 1)

ghunchu'wI' ([email protected])



On Jul 11, 2009, at 9:13 PM, pm5 wrote:

> I was [proposing][1] a Klingon plural expression in [Launchpad
> translation][2], so they can setup the system to help translating
> software into Klingon.  I was asked to verify that "zero things" in
> Klingon is {pagh Doch} instead of {pagh Dochmey}.

I would probably never say {pagh Dochmey}.  "Zero" is not more than  
one thing.  I often leave off the plural suffix when counting things  
explicitly anyway.  For something like a count of computer files I  
think I prefer it that way:

   0 file
   1 file
   2 file

The only time a plural suffix is "required" is when distinguishing  
between the "each" and "all" meanings of {Hoch}:

   {Hoch ta} "each record"
   {Hoch tamey} "all records"

-- ghunchu'wI'






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