tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Oct 14 16:15:35 2013

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[Tlhingan-hol] Story: ghuv = The Recruit - 50

Robyn Stewart ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

Torg tried unsuccessfully to detonate an antimatter warhead.
---
DaH nguSDI' QoylaHbe' 'a yIntaH torgh 'ej naQtaH jorneb. qatlh jorbe'?
wIjwI' puqloD ghaH torgh'e'. peQchem De' Sovbe'chu'. 'aplo' pe' 'e' nID.
pup. moq. jIrmoH. chop. qaS pagh. jorneb poSmoHmeH qoj chu'meH mIw
SamlaHbe'. chaq Duy' rughvam. latlh chavo' rugh 'aplo'mey boS 'ej ravDaq
ghommoH, 'ach jormoHlaHbe'.  chay' peng chu'lu' jay'? mogh torgh 'ej
reghtaHmo' 'ej 'oy'mo' QublaHchu'be'. yavDaq QotchoH. chorDaj rIQ HotDI'
nItlhDu'Daj jojDaq char 'ej Hum 'Iw. SaHba'taH baS jej. lujchu'pu' torgh.
mInDu' SoQmoH.
--
DaH nguSDI' QoylaHbe' 'a yIntaH torgh 'ej naQtaH jorneb. -- Don't get
tricked by the word nguSDI' - it's not a verb+V9, it's the noun "motor".
Divide the sentence at the conjunctions, because everything between the
conjunctions is its own sentence. That's the awesome thing about having
separate sentence and noun conjunctions. DaH nguSDI'' QoylaHbe' => adverb
noun verb. The noun is not a timestamp and has no N5, so it is the object of
the verb. The subject is implied, let's go with it being the protagonist,
because he's the only actor in the recent part of the story capable of
hearing. yIntaH torgh - > verb noun. The noun is clearly the subject of the
verb, which has a continuous suffix, so the subject is going on doing that
thing . The next clause is of exactly the same form, because I wrote it for
the parallel. All together: "Now he cannot hear the motor, but torg is still
alive and the warhead is still whole."

qatlh jorbe'? = "Why did it not explode?" or "Why doesn't it explode?"

wIjwI' puqloD ghaH torgh'e'. = It's the A pronoun B'e' structure that means
"B is A". The only wrinkle is that A is a noun-noun construction: wIjwI'
puqloD = farmer's son.  "Torgh is the son of a farmer." 

peQchem De' Sovbe'chu'. = "He knows nothing about magnetic fields." Some
beginners would try to express this thought using the verb bop, "be about."
While you could say <peQchem bopbogh De' Sovbe'chu'> "He is wholly ignorant
of data that is about magnetic fields," I'm happier to skip the middleman
and say that he is wholly ignorant of magnetic fields' data.  You could take
that a step further and say peQchem Sovbe'chu' - he is wholly ignorant of
magnetic fields, except in this case he isn't. He knows they exist and that
they can be used to contain antimatter. 

'aplo' pe' 'e' nID. = "He tries to cut the container."  Maybe you should
make a sentence of that form and memorize it, because the <'e' nID> "tries
to" construction seems to be pretty useful.

pup. "He kicks it." (context required for subject and object)

moq. "He beats it."

jIrmoH. "He whirls it around."

chop. "He bites it."

qaS pagh. "Nothing happens."

jorneb poSmoHmeH qoj chu'meH mIw SamlaHbe'.  = "He cannot find a procedure
to open or activate the warhead."  I wonder whether a Klingon would say
jorneb poSmoHmeH mIw qoj chu'meH instead, or perhaps repeat mIw. I don't
have strong arguments for any of the three options.

chaq Duy' rughvam.  = "perhaps this antimatter is defective" - This makes
about as much sense as biting it, but cut the poor guy some slack. He's lost
a lot of blood.

latlh chavo' rugh 'aplo'mey boS 'ej ravDaq ghommoH, 'ach jormoHlaHbe'.  "He
collects antimatter containers from other torpedoes and groups them on the
ground."

chay' peng chu'lu' jay'? =  "How the hell is a torpedo activated?"

 mogh torgh 'ej reghtaHmo' 'ej 'oy'mo' QublaHchu'be'. "Torg is frustrated
and because he is bleeding and in pain he can't think clearly." 'oy'mo'
could easily be "because of the pain" also. Same thing,

yavDaq QotchoH. = "He lies down on the ground."

chorDaj rIQ HotDI' nItlhDu'Daj jojDaq char 'ej Hum 'Iw.  You could misread
this with nItlhDu'Daj being the subject of the first verb, but that leaves
jojDaq alone and hard to interpret. I'll add a comma to disambiguate.  "When
he touches his injured belly the blood is slimy and sticky between his
fingers."

SaHba'taH baS jej. = "Obviously the sharp metal is still there."

lujchu'pu' torgh. = "Torg has failed completely."

mInDu' SoQmoH. = "He closes his eyes."

- Qov



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