[tlhIngan Hol] *-moH* with verbs of state / quality

luis.chaparro at web.de luis.chaparro at web.de
Wed Nov 17 06:49:11 PST 2021


Thanks again to both of you for the detailed discussion! I will try to summerize it (for beginners like me :-) Please tell me if I'm right:

1. We can use *-moH* or *-choHmoH* depending on wether we want to express or focus on the end result (*-moH*) or the change (*-choHmoH*) someone or something is causing. If someone wants to cook and her / his hands are really dirty, I'll probably be interested on emphasize that I want her / his hands to *become* clean, so I'll likely use *-choHmoH*. If I just recommend someone to be *generally* clean, I'll likely use *-moH*.

2. This apply not only to verbs of state / quality, but to all verbs that can take *-moH*:

*ghaHvaD tlhIngan Hol pab yajmoH* (*She / He causes her / him to understand the Klingon grammar* or *With her / his help she / he understands the Klingon grammar*). We can use it when the result is the important thing for us, for example, because we focus on the ability of the teacher.

*ghaHvaD tlhIngan Hol pab yajchoHmoH* (*She / He causes her / him to begin to understand the Klingon grammar* or *With her / his help she / he begins to understand the Klingon grammar). We can use it when the change is the important thing for us, for example, when the student had difficulties with the grammar, but now she / he has overcome them.

(I noticed my example would work better with *yaj* instead of *ghoj*).

SuStel:

> If you're translating Sit down!, you pretty much need to say yIba'choH. Saying yIba' means Be in a seated position! which, while it will get the point across, does not express the same concept as the original. In English, an imperative be! means become! or remain!, which concepts require Klingon suffixes like -choH and -taH.

3. If I understand it right, we can say both in Klingon with the same effect (depending on wether we want to focus on the end result or the change), but if we want to *translate* the English sentence *Sit down!* (which expresses a *change*) properly, then we must say *yIba'choH*. This is similar, I think, to what happens with the word *embellish*, which implies a change and is better translated with *-choHmoH*.

What I haven't understood: an English *be!* that doesn't mean *become!* doesn't neccesarily have to take *-taH*, right?

4. And if I have understood the whole thing properly, then I think it would be also possible to say something like *yIbItHa'qu''eghchoHmoH* if we wanted to focus on the change. Are there any canon examples of this?



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