[Tlhingan-hol] Maltz talking about age

[Lieven]

qepHom 2015, page 15:

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LL: We know that loSmaH ben jIboghpu’ is how a Klingon would say "I am 
40 (years old)". But how would you say "when I was X, I did such and such"?

MO: Maltz says:
qaStaHvIS DISwIj javDIch…
When I was six years old…

MO: This is a confusing one, because it depends on how you count age. So 
I'm thinking for klingons, from the time you're born, until you're one 
year old, that's your zeroth year. So in terms of numbers, it matches 
the way we do it in english.

wa’maH ben loDnI’wI’
My 10-year-old brother

LL: In The Klingon Dictionary, ben was translated only as "years ago". 
Later, on the tape Power Klingon, it was used in the phrase cha’vatlh 
ben HIq "two century old ale", which confused lots of klingonists.

MO: That's right, but this follows the same pattern, so it's clear you 
can use it for both meanings.

Comparatives:
jIH qan law’ SoH qan puS
I'm older than you

jIH Qup law’ SoH Qup puS
I'm younger than you

cha’ DISmo’ jIH qan law’ SoH qan puS
I'm two years older than you

You can also replace some of the components and say the following:
cha’ ’ujmo’ jIH woch law’ SoH woch puS
I'm two 'ujes taller than you.
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-- 
Lieven L. Litaer
aka Quvar valer 'utlh
Grammarian of the KLI
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