tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Jan 29 09:55:38 2013
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Re: [Tlhingan-hol] 'ar again
De'vID:
> {'ar} is both "How many?" and "How much?" In most cases one of the two
> will apply, and the question is unambiguous. However, in some cases
> there seems to be some ambiguity.
>
> "How many languages do you speak?" - {Hol 'ar Dajatlh?}
qay'be'. loS Hol vIjatlh. (I speak 4 languages).
> "How much of the language do you speak?" {Hol[vam] 'ar Dajatlh?}
?? wejmaH vagh vatlhvI' Holvam vIjatlh. (I speak 35% of this language. [??])
I don't know what answer you're expecting. (A little? A lot?) You want to know how well I speak the language - e.g. Do'Ha' romuluSngan Hol vIjatlhchu'be' 'ej qarDaSngan Hol vIjatlhlaHbe'qu' (Unfortunately, I don't speak Romulan well and Cardassian not at all). In this case you should probably ask something like:
Holvam Dajatlhchu''a'?
Do you speak this language well?
chay' Holvam Dajatlh?
How do you speak this language.
... though don't be surprised if you get the answer: I speak with my mouth, I use my fingers, etc.
> For the latter sentence, I can add {-vam} to make it clear I'm talking
> about one language in particular. But if I ask, {Hol 'ar Dajatlh?},
> would you understand it to be a question about how many languages one
> speaks, or how much of one language one speaks? This is not a
> theoretical question: I recently asked this of a Klingon beginner, and
> he didn't understand the question the way I intended.
Unhesitatingly: How many languages.
> "How many ships were damaged?" - {rIQ Duj 'ar?}
> "How much of the ship was damaged?" - {rIQ Duj[maj] 'ar?}
>
> Perhaps in the latter case I can ask about {DujHom} (by analogy to
> {'uSHom} in the phrase from PK). But I think {DujHom} refers to a
> shuttlecraft or small ship, not part of a ship. Again, adding {-maj}
> or something like that to clarify I mean one ship works in the latter
> case, but if I ask the question {rIQ Duj 'ar} during a battle, would
> my tactical officer understand whether I was asking about the fleet,
> or one particular ship?
If I were {ya}, how many ships -- assuming that there were more than one present). For the latter, I would have said: Duj QIH yIngu' (yIper)! (Identify [specify] the ship's damage).
{'ar} "how many" expects a number as an answer:
Haw'pu' yaS 'ar
How many officers fled? TKD
Huch 'ar DaneH?
How much money do you want? TKD
Dochvetlh DIlmeH Huch 'ar DaneH
How much do you want for that? TKD
mughoS 'avwI' 'ar
How many guards are coming? CK
{'ar} "how much" probably expects a number as well:
nIn 'ar wIghaj
How much fuel do we have left? (TKD, CK, PK)
Although it was asked three times, AFAIK no answer was provided. Presumably expected answers include:
cha'netlh tlho'ren wIghaj.
We have 20,000 tlho'rens (left).
wa'maH vatlhvI' nIn wIghaj neH!
We only have 10% of the fuel left!
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons
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