De'vID:

> There's actually one place in the paq'batlh 

> where "one by one" wasn't translated using {ngIq}

What's that place?

Anyway, to summarize all this, (and see if I understand this correctly) I'll write two examples:

1. 

{vabDot tlhIngan Hol ghItlhmey vIqonbogh laDchugh pagh, ngIq chuSwI''a' Sa'Hut vInobbe'}.

The only thing that the the above can mean is "I don't give a single rat's ass, even if no one reads the Klingon that I write". Obviously, it cannot mean that "I don't give the ass of one rat, then I don't give the ass of the next one, then of the next one, and so on.. ."

Also, it would be weird to write the above with {Hoch} instead of {ngIq}, since that would mean "I don't give each rat's ass", and perhaps it would be equally weird to use {wa'} instead of {ngIq} (although less weird that {Hoch}), since that would mean "I don't give one rat's ass". Although, I feel the {wa'} variation to be closer the the {ngIq} original. Perhaps the {ngIq} variation has more of an "emphatic" flavor.. Whatever.

 

2. 

{vIghro' jIH net jalchugh, 'elaDya'vaD ngIq yInwIj vInob}.

The only thing this sentence can mean is "if I was a cat, I'd give each of my lives for Greece", with the meaning being "I give my first life for Greece, then I give the second, then the third, etc.."

Obviously it cannot mean "if I was a cat, I'd give a single life for Greece", because I'm no jay' traitor. I'd give *all* my lives for Greece in a heartbeat.

And for the same reason, I would never use {wa'} instead of {ngIq}, because only a traitor cat would give only one of its' lives for its' country,

Now, suppose I wrote:

{vIghro' jIH net jalchugh, 'elaDya'vaD Hoch yInwIj vInob}

This would obviously mean: "if I was a cat, I'd give each of my lives for Greece". But here, it isn't made clear that the way in which I'd give them, would be in succession, one after the other.

I hope my understanding is correct, because now that I think of this matter, after almost seven years of Klingon, and after having written my brains out in this so-called language, I've never used {ngIq} not even once. I hope that after this thread this will change.

--
Dana'an
https://sacredtextsinklingon.wordpress.com/
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