Re: translation exercise
From: | Roger Mills <romilly@...> |
Date: | Monday, January 26, 2004, 4:27 |
Mark J. Reed wrote:
>
> I know who I want to take me home.
>
It took 24+ hours to coerce this into Kash:
makaya kaçe re mamelo re me yafilan ri punayeni
I-know person-dat REL I-want THAT me-dat he-take LOC house-dat.-his
Lit: I know the person who I want that he take me to his house.
Awkward, isn't it.
(For all "he"'s you could substitute "she". But the main problem is "who"--
it's rare to use _kari_ in a non-interrogative sense, and there's no form
for non-interrog. "(the) one who".
OTOH "who do I want to take me home?" would be kariye mamelo ...as above,
lit., whom(dat.) do I want that he-take me....etc. but it just sounds odd to
append that as a subclause of makaya.... (which incidentally says that I am
not actually acquainted with my dreamboat; if I were, it would be
matimbat.... (i.e. the same difference as between saber and conocer, weissen
and kennen)
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