[tlhIngan Hol] Does Da necessarily require an object ?

[Jeffrey Clark]

The gloss for {Da} is “behave as” and “act in the manner of”. This is not the same as “behave”, as the gloss directly denotes the presence of an object.

{nuq vIDanIS} would seem to be more grammatically correct than any formulation leading to {jIDanIS}.

If we use a literal translation with the gloss: “How do I need to behave as” is technically understandable, but feels awkward and would get red ink from any writing teacher (if we don’t leave “as” dangling we get “I need to behave as how”, which is kinda muddled). Rather “I need to behave as what” is absolutely grammatically acceptable (though most people would say “what do I need to behave as”). 

—jevreH

Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 6, 2019, at 09:11, mayqel qunen'oS <mihkoun at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Yes, I have thought of various ways to rephrase; but that option aside, I'm wondering as to whether one can use the Da without an object.
> 
> ~ changan qIj
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