[tlhIngan Hol] Expressing must with imperatives
mayqel qunenoS
mihkoun at gmail.com
Thu Nov 24 02:57:45 PST 2016
A while ago we talked about the nature of {-nIS} and how it differs
from "must". And we discussed how we could work around this limitation
through the use of {'ut} and {net poQ}.
However something continued "not to feel right".
A while ago I wrote: "when you're translating into klingon you must
recreate the feeling of the original passage". If I wanted to write
this using the above workarounds I should say {tlhIngan Hol
DaghItlhmeH Hol nov DamughtaHvIS, Hol nov qa' Dachenqa'moH} and then
add a {'ut}, or {net poQ}.
But today I realized there is an additional way, which is perhaps even better..
What does the "must' express, if not an imperative of sorts ? When I
say "you need to do this", often I mean "you must do this", and in
other words I'm giving a command, only I choose to do it in a more
kind manner.
But since tlhIngan Hol, isn't the weak and indecisive DIvI' Hol, we
could avoid altogether the {-nIS} and give the command.
So, in above example, instead of the
{tlhIngan Hol DaghItlhmeH Hol nov DamughtaHvIS, Hol nov qa'
Dachenqa'moH, 'ut / net poQ}
I could write:
{tlhIngan Hol DaghItlhmeH Hol nov DamughtaHvIS, Hol nov qa'
yIchenqa'moH}. and then, if it is necessary I could add a {'ut}, a
{net poQ} or whatever else (although I think that they rarely would
be).
qunnoH jan puqloD
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