[Tlhingan-hol] Beginners corner

[Lieven]

Hi,

as a former BG, I permit myself to jump in here.

First advice: because of the frequent usage of apostrophes, we agreed to 
not use "these" quotation marks. Instead of that, when a klingon word is 
in an english sentences, use brackets: {Hol}. Inside a klingon text, you 
can use <these> or if your computer can do it, use «these».

Next, to your question, you wrote: " 'aQroS " jIH vIponlaH'a'?

I suppose you mistyped {pon} for {pong}. Since Klingon words are very 
shor, one must pay attention, because the slightest difference can 
create a different word.

Your use of the prefix is well done, but does not work in this case, 
because the prefix must follow the object:
{ghaH vIponglaH'a'} - "Can I name him?"
{SoH qaponglaH'a'} - "Can I name you?"

In your case, it's even more complicated, because there is no prefix to 
do something to yourself. This needs the suffix {-'egh} "oneself"
{jIpong'eghlaH'a'} - "Can I name myself?".
(PS: Klingon is not really complicated, it's just different)

To name things, we have a canon phrase:
{roD 'oHvaD juHqo' ponglu' neH}
"It is usually referred to as simply "The Homeworld."

Your homework for tomorrow:
Look up the words to understand the meaning of the phrase. Try to put 
your own words into the structure of that phrase, and adapt it to a 
question. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. It's part of the exercise. 
I'm sure others will correct then again.

By the way: due to multiple meanings of a word, {'aQroS jIH vIponlaH'a'} 
is grammatically correct, and means "Can I convince the monitor of 
Aqros?" :-)

jaj 07.08.2015 um 10:49 ghItlh Maxim Sonin:
> " 'aQroS " " 'aqroS " rur.

This phrase is easy to correct: Pay attention to the word order, which 
is Object-verb-subject, so "A resembles B" is {B rur A}.

Also read the links below for further information of different topics.

-- 
Lieven L. Litaer
aka Quvar valer 'utlh
Grammarian of the KLI
http://www.facebook.com/Klingonteacher
http://www.klingonwiki.net/En/MailingListFAQ#A_2.11_Can_we_use_punctuation_when_writing_Klingon_63
http://www.klingonwiki.net/En/WordOrder