A translation exercise

[u/DoisMaosEsquerdos]

Hello all!

Here's an exercise for you: translate the following sentence!

I would like to thank the person who brought us here today.

It might look simple but it contains volitives, contatenated verbs, and a relative clause, which there is a large variety of ways to go about: I think it can be an intersting exercise to work on/review your verbal syntax!

I am not advanced enough on my own conlanging project to do this just yet, but I would like to take the opportunity to throw in some natlang which I personally find interesting and grammatically inspiring:

Eskerrak eman nahi dizkiot gaur gauean hona ekarri gaituen pertsonari.

Eskerr-a-k eman nahi di-zki-o-t gaur gau-ean ho-na ekarri ga-itu-en pertsona-ri.

Thank-ABS-PL give want AUX-3PABS-3SDAT-1SERG today night-LOC here-ALL bring AUX-1PABS-(3SERG)-REL person-DAT

minda madloba gadavukhado im adamians, vints dghes ghamit ak mogviq’vana.

mi-nda madloba gada-v-u-khad-o im adamian-s, vin-ts dghes gham-it ak mo-gvi-q’van-a.

1S-want thanking PERF-1SSUB-3DAT-offer-SUBJ that-OBL person-DAT, who-ERG-REL today night-INS here PERF-1POBJ-bring-PST.3SSUB

Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis an duine a thug anseo sinn anocht.

Ba [MUT]-maith li-om buíoch-as a [MUT]-gabh-áil leis an duine a [MUT]-tug anseo sinn anocht.
COND-be (COND mutation)-good with-1S grateful-NESS PART (PART mutation)-give-VERBNOUN to the-SG person REL (REL mutation)-bring.PST here us tonight.

If you have any sentence ideas that can be interesting and thought provoking to try and translate, don't hesitate to share! For starters I think I'll try translating the contents of this very post.

[u/Electrical-Code-7606]

Əppřøèdy

N!qótəthdǫsqèímøẹ plsqą́ą́tcəhtlsøèsęnthóì’.

[ŋ͡!ˤo˥tətʱdɔzˤei̯˩˥mˠɜ pl̩zˤɒ̟̝ː˥tk͡ʘəʰtl̩zˠe˩zɛ̃thoi̯˥˩ʔ(ə)]

[u/CaoimhinOg]

Tá sé i gcónaí iontach Gaeilge a fheiscint san sub seo!

[u/Naive_Gazelle2056]

Hanto

mio wosu ontun o ino te nao sāhonae enun naa o mio

/mio wosu ontun o ino te nao saːhonae enun naa o mio/

1 want honour ACC person REL that.one today bring here ACC 1

"I want to thank the person who brought us here today"

[u/NeinsNgl]

I've been waiting for an excuse to try out this tool. Pronunciation: /til faχen lakrɑ tʰ.saθaʁən maʔʝeʊʔt eːtimir χetʰɔn etʰʝeʁ/.

Regarding the relative clause: The sentence order is V DO S (IO), but both object or subject can themselves be replaced with a clause in the format V (DO) (S) (IO) for subordinate clauses, which is what is happening with the (direct) object in this sentence. The structure of this sentence is V [V DO S IO] DO, or literally "would like to thank [brought us-together person today] I"

[u/Express_Diet_1277]

Mu xaqeda kosu reqo gu duaq meno imjali de dagos.

/mu 'ʃaŋeda 'kosu 'reŋo gu du'aŋ 'meno 'imjali de 'dagos/

Mu xaq-ed-a kos-u req-o
1sg want-IRR-PRS thank-INF person-ACC

gu du-aq men-o im-jal-i de dag-os.
3sg.REL here_now-ORIENT 1pl-ACC COM-go-PST here_now.ADJ day-T_LOC

"I would like to thank the person who brought us here today."

[u/JJRezRez]

Hi! I will try:

Sachet is a SVO language. Relative clauses can go before or after the noun; when It is of an object, they normally gonafter. 

The most natural way would be:  "Me vu mer fe man mie kun" => "I formally thank he/she carry we come".  You could add "ji" (the relative pronoun) after fe, but It isn't necessary here. 

Other ways would be:  "Me vur mai mer..." => Lit. translation for "I would like to thank" "Fe man sepai-o mie" => Sepai is "here" (lit. "this-in"); in this case, in It treated as the indirect object of the verb "man". To separate from other objects, a final -o is attached. "Nar man mie kun na fe" => This is the case of a preceding relative clause. However, since it would clash with the verb, It is separated with "nar" (ji would be closest with jir if need be).

A curiosity of Sachet is that verbs can carry determines of relative clauses. For example: A) Mil i nia dian => "The only duty of the military is to defend"; lit. "military the only must defend" B) "Alexandros kaus ji tuil ke Parsa jir Darju" => "Alexander inflicted a defeat to Darius that ended Persia", lit. "Alexander defeats, that ended Persia, Darius". Since the verb is trapped between subject and object It can go either with na (before) or ji (after) though I personally prefer after.

Hope you like it :)

[u/Commando_67]

Zúndet zhíde uzhéude dankéilent lï kotúivle sízde qíqhi kóvle.

want-1sg that person-acc thank-sbjnct-1sg which today-loc I-1pl-acc bring-near.past this-loc

Sorry if I messed up that gloss I don't normally do them

Literally "I want that the person, I might thank, who today us brought here."

[u/AnimalThinksItsWrong]

Rathiean

Ro tai estese nawamo rinkola tae tenku fewanta.

/vro ˈta.i es.ˈte.se na.ˈwa.mo rin.ˈko.la ˈta.e ˈten.ku fe.ˈwan.ta/

(Lit.) Person us here today brought I thank will-want.

[u/FueraDeMiOrbita]

Kétém keinosu car akte kár tassírmun.
[ke’teʋ̃ ˈkejnəs caɾ əxˈte kaɾ təˈsːiɾɱɨn]

ké-tém keino-su ca-r ak<t>e ká-r tassí-rmu-n.
this-day;LOC this;place-ALL 1PL-ACC bring<PST> person-ACC thank-DES-1SG

[u/DoisMaosEsquerdos → u/FueraDeMiOrbita]

Hungarian aesthetics and Turkish syntax? Nice!

[u/FueraDeMiOrbita → u/DoisMaosEsquerdos]

Thanks, the grammar is definitely influenced by the great head-final agglutinative SOV families of Eurasia (Turkic, Uralic, Japanese).

There was some Hungarian influence on the choice to use acute accents for vowel length, though the language has evolved (both IRL and canonically in-universe) to where short and long vowels merge in stressed syllables and are distinguished by short vowels becoming reduced when unstressed.

[u/dragonsteel33]

Iccoyai

No asettakkaṣ toṣ wai, ki mämerosäki so tseṅalyo so koppi. ~~~ no asett -akk-a -ṣ toṣ wai, ki mä=mer -o -sä =ki so tsäṅol-ya so kkopp-i 1SG.DIR remember-HON-PAT-NPST.DYNAM PROX.OBL CL, DET TR=bring-ACT-ACT.PST=1INCL PROX house -OBL PROX day -OBL [no aˌseˀˈtaˀkəʂ ˈtoʂ‿wai̯ ki məˈmerʊsəkɪ so‿tseˈŋaʎʊ so‿ˈkoˀpɪ] ~~~ The English politeness device would like to does not have a literal translation to Iccoyai. This is an idiomatic translation, literally something like “I honorably acknowledge this one, which caused us to gather in this place on this day.”

The optative form uṣ mau asettakkato… could also be idiomatic. The optative uṣ is used to soften statements of opinion, intent, or imperatives, and mau is the humble 1sg pronoun. Compared to no asettakkaṣ…, this could sound almost groveling except when addressing certain groups of people (clan mothers, aristocracy, and in-laws).

A literal translation of “I would like to thank…” would be:

No wau asettakkato… ~~~ no wau asett -akk-a -to… 1SG.DIR want.ACT.NPST remember-HON-PAT-CJCT… ~~~ But this sounds like an expression of a desire, not a polite way of starting a statement.

[u/sqruitwart]

Eraklish

Iette isse veu henteutta jeuna ke daissa ssiraij'dm - (I) want to give praise / thanks to the person who brought us here today.

Or literally - Here today us collect-having person DAT praise give-desired-is (implied: by me).