tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Sep 14 06:59:13 2010

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Re: jISIv

ghunchu'wI' 'utlh ([email protected])



On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 8:12 AM, lojmIt tI'wI' nuv <
[email protected]> wrote:
> Today, I thought I might be late. I said to myself, "How late will I be?"
> I considered how I would say that in Klingon.
>
Referring to degrees of a quality in general is one of Klingon's grammatical
blind spots. "How tasty is it?" "How loud does it get?" "How tired are you?"
There's no obvious translation.

But specific concepts are usually not a problem. In this case, one
very simple way to ask is this:
{mupaSmoH poH 'ar?} "How much time causes me to be late?"
Substitute {rep} or {jaj} or {lup} if you have a particular timescale in
mind.

If you need a universal but unobvious formula for asking the question "How Q
is it?" you can try
{Q-taHghach 'ar ghaj?} or {Q-moH Q-taHghach 'ar?}
But the form of the answer is also unobvious. What sort of statement can
respond to {lettaHghach 'ar}?

-- ghunchu'wI'






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