[Tlhingan-hol] Story: ghuv = The Recruit

[Robyn Stewart]

I write stories for the same reason this list encourages everyone to write
in Klingon: to practise (yes, that's how the verb is spelled in Canadian),
and to get feedback for improvement. It's easy to think you have something
right when it's not quite, or to drift away from proper usage if you don't
reground yourself in canon all the time. I also write stories because I like
writing stories, so feel free to provide feedback on grammar, usage, Star
Trek canon, writing critique, or the way I explain things. 

Here's the first paragraph. Six sentences. 

ghuv = The Recruit

nenchoHDI' torgh, tlhIngan mangghom muv.  woSDajDaq wej chen rol 'ach QI'
wIvta' rIntaH. qorDu'DajvaD wIvDaj ja'be'. Hu' neH 'ej Du'vo' vengDaq yIt,
waqmeyDaj Qop tuQtaHvIS. Sargh lIghchugh vaj Sargh tatlhlu'meH tlhejnIS
vay'. nIteb ghoS 'e' maS torgh, vaqlaHpa' vay'.

If you're experienced and can read that, you don't need the rest of this
message.
If you're learning and think you can read it, then do so and then you can
check your understanding below.
If you're a rank beginner and you'd like to be able to read it, let me help
you. You can look up the individual words, and I'll help you parse and
interpret the ones with affixes. I use a shorthand V4 and N2 to describe
type-4 verb suffixes and type-2 noun suffixes.
If you're only here for the petty arguments then hang tight, one should
break out any time now.

Sentence by sentence:
nenchoHDI' torgh, tlhIngan mangghom muv.  

nen = be mature, be grown up
-choH = V3 indicating a change of state 
-DI' = V9 when, as soon as
torgh = personal name, canonically given to a male

tlhIngan mangghom = army of the Klingon(s) OR Klingon(s) army (a noun-noun
construction, see TKD 3.4)

There is a zero prefix on the verb wIv so the subject is he/she/it, and you
can assume the subject is the same as in the previous phrase until a new
subject is specified or the verb prefix changes.

And of course you know that the subject of the verb comes after the verb,
and the object before it, so:

"When Torg came of age, he joined the Klingon army."

Next: woSDajDaq wej chen rol 'ach QI' wIvta' rIntaH.

woS = chin
-Daj = N4 his/her/its
-Daq = N5 locative 

>From the dictionary wej could mean "three" or "not yet." If it meant three
it might 
a)	precede a noun <wej rolDu'> = three beards - but it doesn't
b)	follow a noun <rol wej> = beard number three - but it doesn't
c)	act alone as a pseudo-noun as in the canon <wa' yIHoH> = kill one 

But it can't be playing role (c) because chen is not a transitive verb, so
it would have no place in the sentence that way. So it must mean "not yet."
While TKD says that adverbs "usually come at the beginning of a sentence" we
see from Skybox SP1 <tlhIngan Dujmey law'qu' SommeyDaq batlh cha'lu'> that
it can follow a locative phrase, as it does here.

An experienced speaker doesn't have to do this analysis to read the
sentence. Your brain just rejects the other possibilities before you think
about them, but a beginner might have to stop and figure it out.

wIv = choose, select
-ta' = perfective suffix, indicating that it's the completion of the action,
not the action itself that is important here, and that the action has been
undertaken deliberately
rIntaH = "it continues to be finished" an idiom emphasizing the undoability
of the preceding.

"He hasn't yet grown a beard, but he has chosen the military and that's
final."

Tense isn't indicated in Klingon, so this could just as well be: "A beard
didn't formed on his face yet, but he had chosen the military and that was
that." I'm afraid I'll waffle between present and past as I translate.
		
Next: qorDu'DajvaD wIvDaj ja'be'.

qorDu' = family (don't be fooled by what looks like the plural suffix -Du')
-Daj = N4 his/her/its 
-vaD = the action of the sentence is directed towards this noun

wIv = choice - you know it's the noun choice and not the verb choose here,
because it has a N4 on it.
ja' = tell, report
-be' = negation suffix

"He did not tell his choice to his family." or "He didn't tell his family
his decision."

Next: Hu' neH 'ej Du'vo' vengDaq yIt, waqmeyDaj Qop tuQtaHvIS.

Hu' = get up + zero prefix = he gets up OR the noun "zoo"
neH could mean only, merely, or want

If Hu' is a noun then the sentence begins "he wants a zoo" or "only a zoo".
It can't be the latter, because the next thing in the sentence is the
conjunction 'ej, which joins sentences or verbal clauses, and "only a zoo"
has no verb. You probably don't have to read more of the sentence to guess
whether a story about someone joining the army will feature him getting up,
or him wanting a zoo, but if you read on, with luck you won't need to guess.

Du' = farm
-vo' = movement away from
veng=city
-Daq = location or movement towards
yIt = walk

This means "he walks from the farm to the city" as in the canon <tIngvo'
'evDaq chanDaq> "from area-southwestward to
area-northwestward to area eastward". If for some reason the farm was in the
city, I think I could say <vengDaq Du'vo' yIt> but that would be a weird
place for a farm. Perhaps <vengDaq vav juHvo' yIt> "he walks from his
father's house in the city. Some people MIGHT interpret that as "he walks to
the city from his father's house" so I probably would say instead <veng
ghoSmeH vav juHvo' yIt> "He walks from his father's house in order to go to
the city.

There's another clause in this sentence: waqmeyDaj Qop tuQtaHvIS

waq = shoe
-mey = N2 plural
-Daj = N4 his/her/its - okay you should know this one by now, remember it.

Qop = be worn out

The be-verb Qop goes after the noun, so it describes the shoes but is not
the predicate of the phrase. 

tuQ = wear
-taH = V7 - continuous aspect, the point of the action of the verb is its
ongoing nature, not its inception or completion
-vIS = V9 - while - this verb is happening while the main action of the
sentence happens. Always requires -taH.
 
"While he was wearing his worn out shoes."

The whole sentence then, "He simply got up and walked from the farm to the
city, wearing his worn out shoes." Sometimes neH "merely" in this position
is confused for "want" but I think given the choice between "he wants to get
up" and "he merely gets up" is not hard. Let me know if it is. I also hope
the reader understands that the worn out shoes are the only ones he has, not
that he deliberately chose his worn out ones of his shiny new ones, for some
reason, but neither the Klingon nor the English makes that explicit.

Next: Sargh lIghchugh vaj Sargh tatlhlu'meH tlhejnIS vay'.

Sargh = a Klingon riding animal, often translated "horse"
lIgh = ride (v)
-chugh = V9 denoting "if"
vaj = thus, then, often used between an if-clause and then thing that will
happen if it's true.
tatlh = return (something to its place)
-lu' = V5 denotes indefinite subject
-meH = V9 the action of the following verb is in order to achieve the action
of this verb.
tlhej = accompany
-nIS = V2 need - the subject needs to do the action of this verb.
vay' = someone, something, anyone, anything

"If he rides a horse then someone needs to accompany him in order that the
horse be returned."
Without the -lu' it would be "...in order for him to return the horse,"
which could also work.

In English this sentence would be rendered, "If he were to ride a horse,
someone would need to accompany him in order for the horse to be returned,"
and I am so grateful that Klingon doesn't have that tense/mood/whatever it
is, because I've never learned a foreign language well enough to use such
constructions, and I don't know the rules in English they just come out
right when I talk and write, because that's how native language works.  I
think it's fair to translate it in proper English or in the slightly stilted
way I did first. When I'm using that simple  <-chugh, vaj> construction in
Klingon I always check to see that it makes sense without the fancy-dancy
extra tenses English has, otherwise I can't be sure it would make sense in
Klingon.  But I think this one does.

Final sentence: . nIteb ghoS 'e' maS torgh, vaqlaHpa' vay'.

nIteb = acting alone
ghoS = go, come, proceed along a course
'e' = the preceding sentence is now the object of the next sentence
maS = prefer (immediately reject "moon" as a translation, because it leaves
the clause "torg of the moon" with no verb).
vaq = mock
-laH = V5 be able to 
-pa' = V9 before

torgh prefers to go on his own, before anyone can mock him.

Phew, too long? Maybe next time I'll limit myself to five clauses total. 

-	Qov

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