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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 2/9/2018 2:37 PM, mayqel qunenoS
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CAP7F2cJiZDMA7djfEAsjpLTStnLkQN7aWjb0rH4vobk2GdHb0A@mail.gmail.com">There
is a problem I've been having, which I don't know how to overcome.
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">If I want to write a story in english, a story
written in irrealis (if that's how we say it), then I can write:</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">"If I was a giant, and I was living in a castle
above the clouds, I would be happy. And if my kingdom had many
soft and furry cats.."</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">In klingon, in order to write something as the
above, we have the {net jalchugh}.</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">However, (and here is my problem), if I want to
write an entire story in irrealis, then what do I do ? Do I
place the {net jalchugh} after each and every sentence ?</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">In the above example would I need to write {I am a
giant net jalchugh, and I live in a castle above the clouds net
jalchugh, I am happy net jalchugh..} ?</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">Wouldn't this make the reader "tired", reading the
{net jalchugh} after each and every sentence ?</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">Is there any other way of approaching this ?</div>
</blockquote>
<p>The Klingon <b>net jalchugh</b> isn't a grammatical mood; it
just sets up the reader or listener to understand that what you're
about to talk about is a counterfactual situation. Once the
audience understands this, forget about it. But every time you
offer a new ounterfactual idea, you have to use it again.<br>
</p>
<p><b>wochqu'wI' jIH net jalchugh 'ej 'eng Dung jem'IH vIDab net
jalchugh, jIQuch. SepwIjDaq veD tun ghajbogh vIghro' law' tu'lu'
net jalchugh...</b></p>
<p>Okrand himself gave an example of this when he explained <b>net
jalchugh:</b></p>
<blockquote>
<p><b>tlhIngan SoH net jalchugh, qagh DatIv
</b><br>
<i>If you were a Klingon, you would enjoy gagh</i></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Notice that Okrand says <b>net jalchugh</b> is used for
counterfactual ideas, not hypothetical ideas. The above sentence,
he says, implies that you are <i>not</i> a Klingon, not that you
might be a Klingon. He compares this idea of counterfactual versus
hypothetical:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><b>qaghwIj DaSopchugh, qaHoH
</b><br>
<i>If you eat my gagh, I'll kill you.</i><br>
</p>
<p><b>qaghwIj DaSop net jalchugh, qaHoH
</b><br>
<i>
If you were eating my gagh, I would kill you <br>
</i></p>
</blockquote>
<p>The first<i> </i>one is hypothetical: you might eat my gagh. The
second is counterfactual: you're not eating my gagh, but if you
were...</p>
<p>So my above Klingon translation of your sentence assumes I am <i>not</i>
a giant<i>,</i> that I am <i>not</i> living in a castle above the
clouds, and that there are <i>not</i> many soft, furry cats in my
kingdom. But if that were true...<br>
<i></i></p>
<p>By the way, while your English sentence is colloquially fine,
more formally English uses a subjunctive mood: <i>If I <b>were</b>
a giant, and if I <b>were</b> living in a castle above the clouds,
I <b>would be</b> happy. And if my kingdom <b>had</b> many
soft and furry cats... </i>This is not the indicative past
tense; it is the subjunctive mood. Most people nowadays ignore the
subjunctive mood in English, in much the same way they ignore the
word <i>whom.</i><br>
</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
SuStel
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://trimboli.name">http://trimboli.name</a></pre>
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