A community for the dragon language of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
 ZohiifZul February 17, 2015 |
With a normal passive voice you can simply change the voice. Ex: "The ball was kicked by the boy," becomes "The boy kicked the ball." But with an implied object it isn't so easy. Ex: "He was given the sword." The sentance is writen as passive yet doent give an agent and would be left to context and then you may still not know what the subject is. How would you translate this into Dovahzul? |
With a normal passive voice you can simply change the voice.
Ex:
"The ball was kicked by the boy," becomes "The boy kicked the ball."
But with an implied object it isn't so easy.
Ex: "He was given the sword."
The sentance is writen as passive yet doent give an agent and would be left to context and then you may still not know what the subject is. How would you translate this into Dovahzul?
 paarthurnax Administrator February 17, 2015 |
There are two possibilities: use lost, add an object, or convert this into the active voice. The simple translation would be rok lost ofan zahkrii. The aforementioned problem here is that, without further context, this could either mean "he was given the sword" or "he has given the sword." You can add an object with naal to avoid this confusion. Rok lost ofan zahkrii naal jun "he was given the sword by the king." This firmly roots the sentence in the passive voice. It's possible that the above information might not exist, though, so if you really want to avoid mistranslation, you can convert it into the active voice. Zahkrii meyz ok "the sword became his," or rok meyz wah piraak zahkrii "he came to possess the sword." |
There are two possibilities: use lost, add an object, or convert this into the active voice.
The simple translation would be rok lost ofan zahkrii. The aforementioned problem here is that, without further context, this could either mean "he was given the sword" or "he has given the sword."
You can add an object with naal to avoid this confusion. Rok lost ofan zahkrii naal jun "he was given the sword by the king." This firmly roots the sentence in the passive voice.
It's possible that the above information might not exist, though, so if you really want to avoid mistranslation, you can convert it into the active voice. Zahkrii meyz ok "the sword became his," or rok meyz wah piraak zahkrii "he came to possess the sword."
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ZohiifZul February 17, 2015 |
Thanks, this makes a lot more sense. Also, I'm a bit confused on what lost can mean. It adds was or were to the sentance, can it just be translated as passive by context? |
Thanks, this makes a lot more sense. Also, I'm a bit confused on what lost can mean. It adds was or were to the sentance, can it just be translated as passive by context?
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paarthurnax Administrator February 17, 2015 |
Lost is both the verb "to have," which can be used for perfect tense, and the past tense of "to be." This means that rok lost ofan zahkrii could either mean "He was given the sword" or "He has given the sword" without any further context. Some examples where context helps shape the sentence:
|
Lost is both the verb "to have," which can be used for perfect tense, and the past tense of "to be."
This means that rok lost ofan zahkrii could either mean "He was given the sword" or "He has given the sword" without any further context.
Some examples where context helps shape the sentence:
|
ZohiifZul February 17, 2015 |
paarthurnax Ok that makes sense |
paarthurnaxLost is both the verb "to have," which can be used for perfect tense, and the past tense of "to be."
This means that rok lost ofan zahkrii could either mean "He was given the sword" or "He has given the sword" without any further context.
Some examples where context helps shape the sentence:
- Fah ok nonvul sod lost rok ofan zahkrii "For his noble deeds, he was given the sword."
- Rok lost ofan niin zahkrii "He has given them the sword."
Ok that makes sense
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