[Tlhingan-hol] nuqDaq ghaH 'arHa'e'?

[De'vID]

On 17 November 2015 at 13:44, Anthony Appleyard
<a.appleyard at btinternet.com> wrote:
> De'vID:
>> taghwI'pu' tIQorgh. yIbIv, 'ej bIbIvtaHvIS qa'meH vIttlheghvam yIqaw:
>> Hagh qoHpu' neH HeghtaHvIS SuvwI'pu'.
>
> (I know what "infringe" means.)

But the question remains, why do you believe that this is the
definition of {bIv}? What's your source?

> That text seems to say "Take care of beginners. Infringe (imperative), and while you are infringing, as a replacement, remember (imperative) this proverb: "while the warrior is dying, only the fool laughs.".".

"Take care of the beginners. Break the rules, and while you're
breaking them, remember the replacement proverb: only fools laugh
while warriors die."

Do you know what replacement proverbs are? These are statements used
by Klingons to excuse themselves when committing a social faux pas
(among other kinds of errors). I was telling Qov to go ahead and break
the rules, while excusing herself.

I also chose that proverb specifically to highlight the fact that it's
inappropriate from a Klingon point of view to do nothing while
beginners need help, just as it's inappropriate to laugh while
warriors die.

> This looks to me like an example of an imperative being used as a conditional, a construction used in English sometimes. e.g.: "Scuba dive (imperative) there, and the navy base's underwater defences will make a quick end of you", used to mean "If you scuba dive there, the navy base's underwater defences will make a quick end of you". But, is imperative-as-conditional allowed in Klingon?

I don't know. Your example looks nothing like what I wrote.

This is a Klingon sentence resembling your example sentence:
{bIjeghbe'chugh vaj bIHegh.} "Surrender or die", or more literally,
"if you do not surrender, you will die."

-- 
De'vID