Catalan to Klingon (Latin): a negative command needs its own grammar
Do not build a prohibition by negating an ordinary statement
CPNL contrasts the Catalan commands Seu! and No seguis!: the affirmative uses an imperative, while the prohibition uses a subjunctive form. Even in the source language, a negative command is not assembled by adding no to an unchanged affirmative imperative.
KLI likewise distinguishes Klingon negative statements from negative imperatives. Its command lesson gives HIHot for touch me and HIHotQo' for do not touch me. The imperative negative uses -Qo', rather than the statement-negating -be'. The Catalan no therefore cannot be translated by selecting the same Klingon negative suffix regardless of the source sentence’s function.
The person addressed is not the command’s object
KLI’s imperative system makes a further distinction that Catalan readers should not infer from a simple singular-versus-plural verb match. For commands without an object, yI- addresses one listener and pe- addresses several. With a third-person singular object, yI- is used regardless of how many listeners receive the command.
A Catalan instruction to several people to find one missing item therefore does not follow the same prefix decision as an instruction to several people simply to listen. The group receiving the instruction and the thing to be found are different participants. Choosing a prefix solely because the Catalan verb addresses a plural group can misidentify the object pattern. Determine whether the commanded action has an object before deciding which number distinction the target prefix expresses.
A short Catalan command can still carry a recipient or object
Catalan weak pronouns attach after affirmative imperatives, so a compact written command may contain more participant information than its bare verb. A reader must resolve that clitic rather than treating the whole form as a dictionary action word.
For an original instruction meaning identify me rather than identify that person, the action stays similar but its object changes. KLI distinguishes imperative prefixes for me, us, and third-person objects. Losing the Catalan clitic’s antecedent can thus select a different target prefix, even when the translation still contains a correct word for identifying. The number of people issuing the instruction is also separate from the number of listeners receiving it.
Not yet delays an instruction rather than cancelling it
The KLI lesson separately teaches wej for not yet, including commands, without combining it with the ordinary negative suffixes in those examples. A delayed action has a different meaning from an unqualified prohibition.
A Catalan message that asks someone to wait before repairing an item should not become a permanent instruction never to repair it. Conversely, a prohibition should not accidentally imply that the action becomes acceptable later. Retain the source distinction between no and an explicitly temporary not-yet meaning before choosing the Klingon construction. In these commands, the target’s short suffix or adverb establishes whether the speaker forbids the act or merely postpones it.
Language references