[tlhIngan Hol] nuq'e' / 'Iv'e'

[Will Martin]

I think you’ve just done a much better job of explaining “to be” in Klingon than TKD does.

Meanwhile, I’m trying to remember where Okrand made sentences that were consistently in the form:

{X-Daq <noun> <pronoun>-taH}

It seemed important to put {-taH} on the pronoun. So, why isn’t it {nIHDaq ‘oHtaH puchpa’’e’.}?

charghwI’ vaghnerya’ngan

rInpa’ bomnIS be’’a’ pI’.

> On Nov 20, 2020, at 5:01 PM, SuStel <sustel at trimboli.name> wrote:
> 
> On 11/20/2020 4:55 PM, Will Martin wrote:
>> I’ve always been curious as to why the sentence wasn’t {nuqDaq puchpa’ ‘oHtaH?}
>> 
>> The answer would be to point down the hall and say {nIHDaq puchpa’ ‘oHtaH} (sung to the tune of “Theeeere’s a Bathroom, On The Right”, a.k.a. “There’s a Bad Moon On The Rise”).
>> 
>> It seems weird to answer {nIHDaq ‘oH puchpa’’e’.} It’s just different from all the other “to be” sentence structures. It would be like saying {maH tlhIngan’e’} instead of {tlhIngan maH.}
>> 
>> {nuqDaq} is not the thing that is synonymous with bathroom. It’s the place the bathroom is being. We usually handle that with {X-Daq ‘oHtaH.} We usually use {-‘e’} when we have a pronoun between two nouns, neither of which is a locative.
> When you use a copula sentence in Klingon, you're not saying the two things are synonymous. You're saying there is a link between them. The verbal suffixes on the pronoun and the syntactic suffixes on the noun tell you what that link is.
> 
> nIHDaq 'oH puchpa''e'
> The bathroom is on the right.
> The link between nIH and puchpa' is that when talking about the bathroom, its location is on the right.
> 
> HoD ghaHvIp torgh'e'
> Torg is afraid to be the captain.
> The link between HoD and torgh is that when talking about Torg, he is afraid of being the captain.
> 
> jagh chaHbe' Human'e'
> The humans are not enemies.
> The link between jagh and Human is that when talking about humans, they have a negative identification with enemies.
> 
> Don't think of copula sentences as working like basic sentences, with subject and objects and verbs. They follow their own completely distinct grammar.
> 
> -- 
> SuStel
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