If you make a vague statement in Klingon, we can’t decide which of three precise English sentences it means.
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:
During ten years, I fed the cat once.
qaStaHvIS wa’maH DIS wa’logh vIghro’ vIje’.
During ten years, I fed the cat an unspecified number of times.
qaStaHvIS wa’maH DIS rut vIghro’ vije.
During ten years, I was constantly feeding the cat.
qaStaHvIS wa’maH DIS reH vIghro’ vIje’taH.
Note this sounds like an exaggeration, since no cat would tolerate you constantly bothering it with food it didn’t want.
Perhaps:
qaStaHvIS wa’maH DIS, qaSDI' Hoch jaj wa’logh vIghro’ vije’.
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.
This is a great opportunity for someone to correct me.
charghwI’ vaghnerya’ngan
rInpa’ bomnIS be’’a’ pI’.
Suppose I write:
{qaStaHvIS wa'maH DIS, vIghro' vIje'ta'}.
What does it mean ?
"During ten years, I fed the cat once"
"During ten years, I fed the cat an unspecified number of times"
"During ten years, I was constantly feeding the cat"
Which of the sentences above, correctly describes the meaning of the
original klingon sentence ?
~ mayqel *capricorn* qunen'oS
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