[169] in tlhIngan-Hol
re: him/her dialogue
dcctdw@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (dcctdw@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Sun Feb 16 19:18:44 1992
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Reply-To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
From: krankor@IMA.ISC.COM (Captain Krankor)
To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
Date: Fri, 31 Jan 92 17:58:38 -0500
>Her: nuqneH
>Him: porghlIj
>Her: SoHvaD vIlobqang joHwI'
>Him: ghobe' Dajatlhpu'chugh 'ach vItlhap
>Her: yIgheghHa'Qo'
>
>Here's a translation, just so the pabpo' can tell me if I actually said
>what I intended to:
>
>Her: What do you want?
>Him: Your body.
>Her: I give it to you willingly, my lord.
>Him: If you had said no, I would take it nevertheless.
>Her: Don't be gentle!
Some problems here. First off, as I've said a hundred times, nuqneH does
NOT mean the literal question "what do you want?", it is just a greeting.
However, we will presume that his response here is intentionally playing
on the 'pun', as it were. Second, SoHvaD vIlobqang does not mean I give
it to you willingly", it means "I obey it willingly". I think you wanted
SoHvaD vInobqang. Third, 'ach vItlhap doesn't really work for "I would take
it nevertheless". The problem is with 'ach, which really means 'but' and
is a conjunction, not an adverb. I don't think there's any good way to
get across that I'd-do-it-anyway thing, but I think context makes it clear
enough. I think I would do that sentence as: ghobe' Dajatlhta'chugh
vItlhapbej (although I tend to use ja' instead of jatlh for 'say', despite
the new dict entry {{:-)
HEY! I JUST FOUND SOMETHING COOL!
I'm so happy! yay!
While researching this response, I just came upon an important example
regarding indirect objects, which supports the notion that Klingon is
much looser than english about which object is the direct object and
which the indirect. But this is important enough that I'll make a separate
posting for it.
--Krankor
