<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">If you make a vague statement in Klingon, we can’t decide which of three precise English sentences it means.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The Klingon sentence you’ve made is ambiguous, as has been pointed out. Context could disambiguate, or you could consider translating each of your meanings more precisely:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">During ten years, I fed the cat once.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">qaStaHvIS wa’maH DIS wa’logh vIghro’ vIje’.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">During ten years, I fed the cat an unspecified number of times.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">qaStaHvIS wa’maH DIS rut vIghro’ vije.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">During ten years, I was constantly feeding the cat.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">qaStaHvIS wa’maH DIS reH vIghro’ vIje’taH. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Note this sounds like an exaggeration, since no cat would tolerate you constantly bothering it with food it didn’t want.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Perhaps:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">qaStaHvIS wa’maH DIS, qaSDI' Hoch jaj wa’logh vIghro’ vije’.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I have a nagging feeling that I should have said {jaj Hoch} instead of {Hoch jaj}. One means “every” and the other means “each”, and I don’t remember which is which.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">This is a great opportunity for someone to correct me.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">
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<div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Feb 25, 2019, at 9:42 AM, mayqel qunen'oS <<a href="mailto:mihkoun@gmail.com" class="">mihkoun@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div class="">Suppose I write:<br class="">{qaStaHvIS wa'maH DIS, vIghro' vIje'ta'}.<br class=""><br class="">What does it mean ?<br class="">"During ten years, I fed the cat once"<br class="">"During ten years, I fed the cat an unspecified number of times"<br class="">"During ten years, I was constantly feeding the cat"<br class=""><br class="">Which of the sentences above, correctly describes the meaning of the<br class="">original klingon sentence ?<br class=""><br class="">~ mayqel *capricorn* qunen'oS<br class="">_______________________________________________<br class="">tlhIngan-Hol mailing list<br class=""><a href="mailto:tlhIngan-Hol@lists.kli.org" class="">tlhIngan-Hol@lists.kli.org</a><br class="">http://lists.kli.org/listinfo.cgi/tlhingan-hol-kli.org<br class=""></div></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></body></html>