The Great Tree

[Erik]

Shorah,

I'm translating some journals and documents to Dutch, and I have a little question now. I decided to post it here, as it's just a little question, and I think my question would be overrun on a big forum like MOUL or UO.

From the Story of Me'erta:

[Professor Askew]

Don't you know us Americans don't know nothin' 'bout no English? Is you crazy?
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Professor Daniel Askew - Securing our reality from the machinations of the Station Masters.

[CuzinJohn]

[Erik]

LOL. Well, you should know more than me at least.

[Professor Askew]

Not from me. I'm a writer and I've never even heard of subjunctive mood. Well, it's not a phrase that comes up much.

But, I will attempt to answer your query without doing research.


Mmmmmm. I don't know.

Anyone else?
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Professor Daniel Askew - Securing our reality from the machinations of the Station Masters.

[Erik]

Well, it's an old-fashioned verb form.

For example:
"Long live the king" doesn't mean that the king will live long. It means "May the king live long".

So, "But you realize, my son", could mean that Me'erta realises that all those rules are no longer required. Or, his mother is hoping that he will realise that, as in "May you realize, my son".

Most verb forms in the subjunctive mood are identical to the indicative in English.

[Zardoz]

I'm not convinced this is subjunctive, as it seems to be more of a neutered interrogative (a super-technical grammatical term that I just made up).

Consider the sentence in the following form:

"Do you realize, my son, that these words are old now, and no longer the ways of our people?"

Now transform that direct question into something like this:

"You do realize, don't you (my son), that these words are old now, and no longer the ways of our people?"

The "don't you" leaves the door open to ending the sentence with a question mark.

Finally, chop it some more to get this:

"You realize, my son, that these words are old now, and no longer the ways of our people."

It seems as if it's trying to get to the subjunctive mood/form, but I don't think it quite makes it. Subjunctive mood/form is almost always characterized by a transformation of the verb in the secondary clause, which in this case is "that these words are old now, and no longer the ways of our people." No such transformation there, so I don't think it fits as a subjunctive expression.

[Durin Mephit]

Or, the sentence could be a truncated form of either:

You should realize, my son...

-or-

I expect that you realize, my son...

The meaning is similar between these two interpretations and shouldn't cause much confusion.
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Durin Mephit * Member of Guild of Messengers - Unless otherwise stated, opinions are mine only and not Guild endorsed.
rel.to | Marten KI: 59474 | Durin M KI: 11883768

[Erik]

Okay, thank you for the replies!

[Sa'rUK]

Or, maybe something like "Have you figured out, my son.......
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Saruk

The Lowly Veteran Explorer???
MO:ULagain KI:

[Erik]

/ne is needing some more Linguistic assistance.

"For is it Terahnee that you seek."

It seems to me that the word order is a bit uncommon ('is it' instead of 'it is'), unless the writer forgot the question mark.... Could someone clear this up, please?

[Professor Askew]

I'm not seeing it in context but it does look like the question mark is missing.
_________________
Professor Daniel Askew - Securing our reality from the machinations of the Station Masters.

[Durin Mephit]

Erik,

I think we need more context - what sentences precede and follow the one you've given?

This could be a simple translation error by the original author. He or she might have meant "it is."
_________________
Durin Mephit * Member of Guild of Messengers - Unless otherwise stated, opinions are mine only and not Guild endorsed.
rel.to | Marten KI: 59474 | Durin M KI: 11883768

[Erik]

[Rils]

I feel like the words "is" and "it" are transposed... The context suggests the sentance "For it is Tehranee that you seek."
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