"You were right"

[Kaltros]

bIqarbej (Of course, you are right.)
[/quote]

Greetings, I am Kaltros, an obviously new poster. I was looking for help translating a phrase, and it happens to be along the lines of this one. "You were right", in the past tense and in the form of required acknowledgment that another had the right idea in the first place.

Could you (and/or anyone else, by all means) please educate me in the following details:
1.) How this phrase would be written in Klingon
2.) How this would be properly pronounced in Klingon
3.) Are there any Trek-isodes where this phrase was used? If so, I should have no trouble finding it in my collection, and an audio recording is often ideal for assimilation of knowledge.

I do apologize if this is considered thread-jacking; it was convenient and I thought to act efficiently.

Also, any helpful suggestions or direct inquiries can be directed to my screen name at gmail[dot]com.

Q'apla.

[Jon]

We have qar (be accurate) and lugh (be right or be correct).

So You are right. would be bIlugh. Klingon is a bit vague about tenses, so this could be in the past, as in wa'Hu' bIlugh - Yesterday you were right..

You can emphasis this with a suffix, wa'Hu' bIlughbej - Yesterday you were certainly right..

Another approach would be a sentence such as You said something that was right. translated (please correct me if I am mistaken) as vay' vIjatlhpu' 'e' lugh.

[ter'eS]

Another approach would be a sentence such as You said something that was right. translated (please correct me if I am mistaken) as vay' vIjatlhpu' 'e' lugh.

OK 

"You said something that was right" would be vay' lugh Dajatlh (vay' 'something', lugh 'correct', Da- verb prefix: 'you(subj)-it(obj)', jatlh 'to speak or say').  The use of vay' implies to me that the speaker doesn't know what the correct thing is, but was only told that the hearer said something correct.  If the speaker knows what the hearer said, I'd use mu' 'word(s)' or SoQ 'speech, utterance', instead.

Actually lugh doesn't feel proper to me, either.  I know a person can be right, but can a thing?  Maybe teH 'true' would be better: mu' teH Dajatlh "You've said (some) true word(s)."

Edited by ter'eS

[Kaltros]

Jon, ter'eS,

All right, this is definitely the place to find what I'm after.

"wa'Hu' bIlugh - Yesterday you were right", for example, is almost exactly what I'm looking for. However I'm curious as to how precise that temporal assignation is; the purpose of this phrase is not to say "yesterday" specifically, but more along the lines of "You were right" at any point in the past.

Pronunciation is important in that I'll need to be able to say the phrase.

Finally, it's my intention to convert the word into the Klingon script (and there are at least two versions that I've found). And so I will prevail upon your knowledge and experience to ask what pitfalls are there with this translation? While all adjustments from one language to another can have potential problems, I suppose I'm wanting to be as certain as possible about the accuracy of this.

My thanks.

[Qunchuy]

...the purpose of this phrase is not to say "yesterday" specifically, but more along the lines of "You were right" at any point in the past.

You're not going to get exactly what you want, I'm afraid. Klingon simply lacks grammatical tense, and that's all there is to it. The correct way to say "You were right" in Klingon -- bIlugh -- is also the correct way to say "You are right" and "You will be right."

You might be able to get a little closer to expressing the idea you want by using perfective aspect and saying bIlughpu' You have been right. Lacking other context, one typically assumes the time of the sentence to be "now", so there's often very little distinction in meaning between a simple perfective and past tense. But there's almost always some context to pull the meaning in one direction or another, so it's possible that someone would interpret it as "You had been right" or even "You will have been right."

Since context is so important, how about giving us some? What's the situation where the phrase is to be used?

[Kaltros]

Since context is so important, how about giving us some? What's the situation where the phrase is to be used?

The context is literally supposed to be versatile. For those of you who have been married, imagine your spouse telling you something was a bad idea. You do it anyway. It goes badly. As such, the entire meaning I'm after is in the sense of "You were right", with an undertone of "I was wrong"; an admission after the fact that another person had the situation properly analyzed and said so earlier. It does not need to be specific to time, nor to situation. In fact, the more vague it is, the more situations it applies to.

bIlugh sounds like what I'm after, actually, and I appreciate the patience.

Phonetically, I believe it would sound something like "Big Lou" with no "g" and the spit-hawking sound at the end of it. Does that seem close?

If I've got it, then all that's left is to figure out the Klingon lettering for it.

[Kehlan]

Had to smile reading Kaltros' example of the Klingon telling his spouse she was right.  Especially since as Qunchuy states, the same phrase also indicates, was right, is right and will be right.

this tells me one thing.... Klingon males have learned the hard way - the woman is ALWAYS right!  (grin)

Kehlan

[ter'eS]

bIlugh sounds like what I'm after, actually, and I appreciate the patience.

Phonetically, I believe it would sound something like "Big Lou" with no "g" and the spit-hawking sound at the end of it. Does that seem close?

If I've got it, then all that's left is to figure out the Klingon lettering for it.

The accent falls on the verb itself, which I guess is true of "Big Lou" also, but I wanted to make that clear.  If you want to try to get the "spit-hawking" gh correctly pronounced, try this:

Regular g and k differ by the first being voiced and the second being voiceless.  If you put your hand on your throat, you should feel your vocal cords vibrate with g but not with k.  Next, try saying the name of the German composer Bach.  Try to give it as broad a fake-German accent that you can, especially at the end.  That ch is technically an aspirated k and, of course, voiceless.  To say gh, try to keep the aspiration, but make it voiced instead.

And you don't really have to spit to speak Klingon.  I don't, and I think those I speak it to appreciate that! 

[qurgh_]

If I've got it, then all that's left is to figure out the Klingon lettering for it.

Go to this url. It'll show you what "bIlugh" (You are right) looks like in pIqaD.

[Kaltros]

Kehlan

Klingon males have learned the hard way...

I'm not sure the easy way would get through to a Klingon. A good strong warrior needs a good strong sign, after all.

ter'eS

To say gh, try to keep the aspiration, but make it voiced instead. And you don't really have to spit to speak Klingon.

I know. It's just hard to communicate the sounds sometimes. You did remarkably well, actually, which I appreciate.

qurgh_

It'll show you what "bIlugh" (You are right) looks like in pIqaD.

Brilliant!

I wish to extend my appreciation to this proud and honorable crew. Your assistance has been invaluable and far more useful than I could have hoped for.
Not disappearing, I just wanted to communicate that.