Re: Translation Exercise: Like a ...

Christian Thalmann wrote:

>Here are two short sentences as a translation exercise for anyone with
>too much time on their hands. They illustrate the uses of Obrenje
>|naw| "in a ... way" (that I've already mentioned in a previous post a
>while ago). Note that I do not have a general aversion against dogs. ;-)
Hey, these are FIVE sentences, not two! By the way, Rhean seems to deal with
the first two in a similar fashion to your Obrenje.

>1) I shall kill you like [I would kill] a dog.
Lon nunie o ürok kros'irmi.
[you-ACC] [in-the-way-that] OBJ dog(-ACC) kill-FUT.1s

>2) I shall kill you like a dog [would kill you].
Lon nunie ai ürok kros'irmi.
[you-ACC] [in-the-way-that] SUBJ dog(-ACC) kill-FUT.1s

So this is like the Obrenje in that these two sentences differ only by the
case of "dog". But usually in Rhean, |o| and |ai| are not used unless a
subject or object is "out of place". I only used them here because the noun
|ürok| happens to be identical in the Nominative and Accusative. Had "dog"
been "bear" instead (Nominative |kuma|, Accusative |kuman|), the |o| and
|ai| would not be needed. Also, the |nunie| clause could just as easily come
after the main verb: "Lon kros'irmi nunie ai/o ürok."

>3) I prefer grandma-style bread.
Onokas'er pik'a k'lep blagim.
grandma-GEN style-GEN bread(-ACC) prefer-1s

"I prefer bread of Grandma's style"

>4) She sings loudly.
Vurhusie ganatis'.
loud-ADV sing-3s

>5) She sings in a way that makes her ridiculous.
Ganatis' nunie tak'em hilat nelis'.
sing-3s [in-the-way-that] [it-INST] (ridiculous)-DAT become-3s

"She sings in such a way that she becomes ridiculous by it"

Hmm... both Obrenje and Jovian have words for "ridiculize". I could coin a
new verb here from existing Rhean roots: ag-hila-ek, giving |aghilak| "to
make ridiculous". Then "she self-ridiculizes" would be |jiaghilas'|. "She
makes herself ridiculous," jiaghilas'. Concise, eh? I think I'm going to
make a whole pile of Rhean verbs this way. Thanks, Christian!

NS

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