"wish you well"?

[Keenir]

Writing a birthday present for a friend, and as they're a fan of Game of Thrones, I thought I would put a Dothraki phrase in it.   (i confess this was something of a last-minute decision; my original plan had been to start learning Dothraki after completing the gift)

The sentance I originally planned for, was "I wish you good fortune."  (Then I thought that, even better than '"I wish you good fortune," he told her in Dothraki.'...would be to actually give the phrase)

Breaking the sentance down before re-ordering it, gave me this:
Anha (I) - azhat (to give) athvezhvenar (greatness) - she (onto) - yer (you)-aan (allative case: movement towards)

But "I give greatness onto you" doesn't sound quite right, and I think it might need "athzalar" (hope) instead.

Also might need the durative "vi-" because it's one friend to another. (my reasoning is that, it might only be said once, but it always applies)

But mostly, whether its greatness or hope being given, does it follow the verb or tbe object?
(yeraan athzalar?)


Any help and suggestions are greatly appreciated.  Thank you.

[ingsve]

Hi and welcome.

You are on the right track. The word order is correct (object before recipient).

You don't need to use any preposition to mark the recipient. It's enough to use the allative in accordance with the recipient verb class seen here: http://wiki.dothraki.org/dothraki/Verb_Classes#Recipient_class

You don't want to use the durative. The durative refers to an action that is done for an extended period of time and and in this case, eventhough the sentiment may remain, the action itself is just momentary.

Also you shouldn't forget to conjugate the verb.

The sentence you attempted would then be:

Anha azhak athvezhvenar yeraan.

or

Anha azhak athzalar yeraan.

You could also try using the verb zalat meaning "to hope" or "to wish".

Anha zalak athzalar yeraan.

This would then mean "I wish you hope" rather than "I give you hope".

You could also go a little crazy and say:

(Anha zalak assikhqoy davra yeraan.) EDIT: So the correct sentence should be Anha zalak assikhqoyi davra yeraan.

Which means "I wish you good omens." which is the closest I can think of to wishing good fortune with the words we currently know.

[Qvaak]

Anha zalak assikhqoy davra yeraan.

I really like that one. "Useful", literal meaning of davra, doesn't sound that strong in English, but I think it has a good strong vibe in Dothraki (Exclamation "athdavrazar!" means literally "usefulness" but translates in use as "Exellent!"). We already have a phrase "Anha zalak asshekhqoyi vezhvena yeraan!, "I wish you a happy birthday," so we can be comfortable that the syntax works... And as super cool bonus asshekhqoyi and assikhqoyi go well together. You might even say "Anha zalak ma asshekhqoyi vezhvena ma assikhqoyi davra yeraan!", ie. "I wish you great birthday and good omens!"

The /-i/ at the end of assikhqoyi should not be an error, though. This is more verb class madness. With azhat accusative is of course right choice for an object of giving, but I think with zalat the accusative is reserved strictly for the things that are wanted for oneself. You kinda need to wish about the object that the recipient gets it, and that is handled with genitive.

[Keenir]

I thank you both.

Hi and welcome.

hi.  I like it here.

You are on the right track. The word order is correct (object before recipient).

You don't want to use the durative. The durative refers to an action that is done for an extended period of time and and in this case, eventhough the sentiment may remain, the action itself is just momentary.

ah.  now I get it.  thank you.

Also you shouldn't forget to conjugate the verb.

not my strong point; thank you for reminding me and pointing it out.

You could also try using the verb zalat meaning "to hope" or "to wish".

Anha zalak athzalar yeraan.

This would then mean "I wish you hope" rather than "I give you hope".

thank you.

You could also go a little crazy and say:

Anha zalak assikhqoy davra yeraan.

Which means "I wish you good omens." which is the closest I can think of to wishing good fortune with the words we currently know.

much appreciated.

The /-i/ at the end of assikhqoyi should not be an error, though. This is more verb class madness. With azhat accusative is of course right choice for an object of giving, but I think with zalat the accusative is reserved strictly for the things that are wanted for oneself. You kinda need to wish about the object that the recipient gets it, and that is handled with genitive.

so...that one would be implying "yes, I want the best omens and hopes for you, but I'd really like some good omens and hope myself" ?

[Qvaak]

so...that one would be implying "yes, I want the best omens and hopes for you, but I'd really like some good omens and hope myself" ?

Umm. Anha zalak assikhqoyi davra yeraan. should have no strange implications. It should mean "I wish you good omens."
Anha zalak assikhqoy davra yeraan. should, on the other hand, sound queer. Zalat has much wider range than English wish, ranging at least from want to hope and thus using wrong noun cases may cause a considerable meaning shift. It's anyone's guess, how Dothraki would parse the sentence. Perhaps "I wish for me good omens against you." .. "I desire good omens for you to have." ..  "I want good omens towards you." .. something vague. They'd probably understand the meaning you aimed for, though.

[ingsve]

Anha zalak assikhqoy davra yeraan.

I really like that one. "Useful", literal meaning of davra, doesn't sound that strong in English, but I think it has a good strong vibe in Dothraki (Exclamation "athdavrazar!" means literally "usefulness" but translates in use as "Exellent!"). We already have a phrase "Anha zalak asshekhqoyi vezhvena yeraan!, "I wish you a happy birthday," so we can be comfortable that the syntax works... And as super cool bonus asshekhqoyi and assikhqoyi go well together. You might even say "Anha zalak ma asshekhqoyi vezhvena ma assikhqoyi davra yeraan!", ie. "I wish you great birthday and good omens!"

The /-i/ at the end of assikhqoyi should not be an error, though. This is more verb class madness. With azhat accusative is of course right choice for an object of giving, but I think with zalat the accusative is reserved strictly for the things that are wanted for oneself. You kinda need to wish about the object that the recipient gets it, and that is handled with genitive.

Ya, verb classes always seem to screw things up. I remember them in one instance and then forget them in the next.