On 8/24/2017 6:38 AM, Lieven wrote:
One other thing that came to my mind: if you add "that" to the english phrase (it is true /that/...) I began to think about using the verb {teH} to say "it is true that..." like {Sopta' 'e' teH}. But that does not work; we know that {'e'} is used with verbs of thinking or observation like "see", "know" etc. I'm sure {teH} is not one of that kind, so that does not work. (although it would nice to have)
More importantly, *'e'* has to be the object of a verb, and *teH* does not take an object without a *-moH* attached to it. The advice in /The Klingon Dictionary/ that sentences-as-object primarily use verbs of thinking and observation as their second verbs must be taken with a grain of salt. We have tons of examples of sentences-as-object that don't follow that advice. For example, I count nine uses of sentence-as-object in /The Klingon Way/ (not counting multiple instances in the same saying), and of these only two could be said to be remotely about thinking (*tul* and *Hech*) and one about observation (*Qoy*). Maybe you could argue that *wIv* represents thinking about a choice, and maybe you could argue that *tIv* is about thinking of enjoyment, but we're opening up the meaning of "thinking or observation" pretty widely, and we still have the verbs *chaw', mev,* and *baj* to consider. I don't think Okrand has had that particular bit of advice in mind when crafting sentence-as-object constructions subsequent to /TKD/. I think it's more important simply to keep the second-sentence concept relatively simple. Don't try fancy tricks with these sentences. If you get to a point where you're not sure if you /can/ do something, you probably shouldn't. -- SuStel http://trimboli.name