[tlhIngan Hol] "Your goal is to shoot the asteroids"

SuStel sustel at trimboli.name
Sat Mar 23 07:43:10 PDT 2019


On 3/23/2019 1:38 AM, Christa Hansberry wrote:
> Speaking of X [pronoun] Y'e' constructions, can 'e' be the pronoun? 
> Like if I were making a Klingon arcade game, and wanted to say "Your 
> goal is to shoot the asteroids", would "ghopDapmey Dabach 'e' 
> ngoQlIj'e' " work? I mean, you /could/ just say "ghopDapmey tIbach!", 
> but that doesn't cover all the situations when you want to define a 
> noun with an action...

You can only use *'e'* (or *net*) as an object, and that precludes using 
it as the pronoun in a copula.

To say /Your goal is to shoot the asteroids,/ say *ghopDapmeyDaq bachmeH 
ngoQ 'oH ngoQlIj'e'.* You could use *'e'* by saying *ghopDapmeyDaq 
bIbach 'e' 'oH ngoQlIj'e'* and it would follow all the known rules of 
grammar, but I feel like this construction would be cumbersome, and 
you'd only do it to mimic the grammar of the English original.

Note that the object of *bach* is the beam that comes out of your 
weapon, not the target of your fire, though Klingon allows you to refer 
to the weapon that shoots the beam. So you can say *tIH vIbach*/I shoot 
the ray/ and *nISwI' vIbach*/I shoot the disruptor,/ but not *ghopDap 
vIbach*/I shoot the asteroid./ To specify your target, use the locative 
*-Daq.*

KGT is a little cagey as to exactly what the difference is, but it 
appears that you use *bach* when referring to beam weapons and *baH* 
when referring to weapons that launch a projectile that explodes. You 
use *chuH* to refer to thowing a weapon that's meant to be thrown. It's 
unclear what you would use when referring to non-exploding projectile 
weapons. My guess is *bach.*

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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