VaghSanID wejvatlh loSmaH Soch

604 javvatlh loS

31 wejmaH wa’

Some of the number-forming elements for higher numbers are:

 

ten thousand	netlh
hundred thousand	bIp
million	’uy’

 

Zero is pagh.

Numbers are used as nouns. As such, they may stand alone as subjects or objects or they may modify another noun.

 

mulegh cha’ Two (of them) see me. (mulegh they see me, cha’ two)

wa’ yIHoH Kill one (of them)! (wa’ one, yIHoH kill him/her!)

The preceding sentence is grammatically correct even without the wa’ because the prefix yI- indicates a singular object. The wa’, therefore, is used for emphasis only.

 

Numbers used as modifiers precede the noun they modify.

 

loS puqpu’ or loS puq four children

vaghmaH yuQmey or vaghmaH yuQ fifty planets

The plural suffixes (-pu’, -mey) are not necessary when a number is used.

 

When a number is used for numbering, as opposed to counting, it follows the noun. Compare:

 

DuS wa’ torpedo tube number 1

wa’ DuS one torpedo tube

Ordinal numbers (first, second, etc.) are formed by adding -DIch to the numbers.

 

wa’DIch first

cha’DIch second

HutDIch ninth

Ordinal numbers follow the noun.

 

meb cha’DIch second guest

Adding -logh to a number gives the notion of repetitions.

 

wa’logh once

cha’logh twice

Hutlogh nine times

These numbers function in the sentence as adverbials (section 5.4).

 

Conjunctions

Conjunctions are of two types: those that join nouns together and those that join sentences together. The meanings of the two types of conjunctions, however, are the same:

 

JOINING NOUNS	JOINING SENTENCES
je	’ej	and
joq	qoj	and/or
ghap	pagh	either/or

 

The conjunctions joining nouns come after the final noun.

 

DeS ’uS je an arm and a leg

DeS ’uS joq an arm or a leg or both

DeS ’uS ghap either an arm or a leg (but not both)

The noun conjunction je has an additional function: when it follows a verb, it means also, too.

qaleghpu’ je I also saw you, I saw you too

As in English, the meaning of such sentences is ambiguous: I and others saw you or I saw you and others. The exact meaning is determined by context.

 

In addition to the three listed above, there is one other sentence conjunction:

 

’ach but, nevertheless, however, even so

This word is sometimes shortened to ’a.

The conjunctions joining sentences occur between the sentences they join. For illustrations, see section 6.2.1.

 

Adverbials

  These words usually come at the beginning of a sentence and describe the manner of the activity.

 

batlh with honor, in an honored fashion

bong by accident, accidentally, not intentionally

chaq perhaps

chIch on purpose, purposely

DaH now

Do’ with luck, luckily

loQ slightly, a little bit

nom fast, quickly

not never

pay’ suddenly

pIj often

QIt slowly

reH always

rut sometimes

tugh soon

vaj thus, in that case, so, accordingly, then

wej not yet

Examples:

 

bong yaS vIHoHpu’ I accidentally killed the officer. (yaS officer, vIHoHpu’ I killed him/her)

batlh Daqawlu’taH You will be remembered with honor. (Daqawlu’taH somebody continues to remember you)

vaj Daleghpu’ Then you have seen it. (Daleghpu’ you have seen it)

wej vIlegh I don’t see him/her yet (vIlegh I see him/her)

One word fits somewhat awkwardly into this category:

 

neH only, merely, just

Unlike the other adverbials, it follows the verb which it modifies. The semantic effect is one of trivializing the action.

 

qama’ vIqIppu’ neH I merely hit the prisoner. (gama’ prisoner, vIqlppu’ I hit him/her)

Duj yIQotlh neH Just disable the ship! (Duj ship, vessel, yIQotlh disable it!)

The use of neH in the preceding sentence implies that the ship is to be disabled, but not damaged further.

 

Also unlike the other adverbials, neH can follow a noun. In such cases, it means only, alone.

yaS neH only the officer, the officer alone

jonta’ neH only the engine

Adverbials sometimes occur alone, functioning more or less as exclamations (section 5.5). For example:

 

nom Move fast! Move quickly!

wej Don’t do it yet!

tugh Hurry up!

 

Exclamations

These expressions stand as sentences in their own right.

 

ghobe’ No. (response to a question)

Ha’ Let’s go! Come on!

HIja’ or HISlaH Yes. (response to a question)

lu’ or luq Yes. Okay. I will.

maj Good. (expressing satisfaction)

majQa’ Very good. Well done.

nuqneH What do you want? (greeting)

pItlh Done!

Qo’ No. I won’t. I refuse.

SuH or Su’ Ready!

toH Well! So!

wejpuH Charming. (used only ironically)

’eH Ready!

HIja’ and HISlaH yes seem to be used interchangeably.

 

SuH, Su’, and ’eH all mean that the speaker is about to give a command. They are comparable to the “Ready!” at the beginning of a race: “Ready! Set! Go!” SuH and Su’, but not ’eH, can also be used to indicate that the speaker is ready to do something or that arrangements have been made for something to happen. Some speakers of Klingon pronounce SuH as if it were SSS, almost like the English expression for “be quiet”: shhh!

pItlh is used for It’s done! I’ve done it! I’ve finished! All done! etc.

 

The expression toH is roughly equivalent to English aha!

Also included in the category of exclamations are Klingon curses. Only three such curses have been noted to date.

 

QI’yaH *?!#@

ghuy’cha’ *@$%

Qu’vatlh #*@!

 

Names and address

Klingon names are frequently mispronounced by non-Klingons. Furthermore, when written in the writing systems of other languages, they usually end up with spellings which only suggest their true pronunciation. For example, the Klingon sound tlh at the beginning of a word is almost always written kl by English speakers, presumably because the sound tl cannot occur at the beginning of an English word. Similarly, Klingon Q is often rendered kr, and Klingon q always comes out k.

The following is a list of a few Klingon names along with their usual English spellings.

 

	mara	Mara
	matlh	Maltz
	Qeng		Kang
	QeylIS		Kahless
	Qolotlh		Koloth
	Qor		Kor
	QoreQ		Korax
	QaS		Kras
	Qel		Krell
	Qugh		Kruge
	Torgh		Torg
	ValQIS		Valkris

 

Names may be used in direct address (that is, calling somebody by name) at the beginning or end of the sentence. Other words in direct address (such as qaH sir, joHwI’ my lord) are used similarly.

 

torgh HIghoS	Torg, come here! (HIghoS proceed toward me!)
lu’ qaH Yes, sir!

 

 

SYNTAX

As in any language, Klingon sentences range from the very simple and straightforward to the very complex and convoluted. What follows here are the mere basics of Klingon sentence structure. This information should provide a good foundation so that students of Klingon can converse properly, though not eloquently, while learning more about the language.

 

Basic sentences

The basic structure of a Klingon sentence is:

 

OBJECT–VERB–SUBJECT

This is the reverse of the order in English, so care should be taken to avoid interpreting sentences backward. The subject is the person or thing doing the action described by the verb; the object is the recipient of that action.

 

The importance of word order can be seen by comparing the following sentences.

 

puq legh yaS The officer sees the child.

yaS legh puq The child sees the officer.

In both sentences, the words are identical: puq child, legh he/she sees him/her, yaS officer. The only way to know who is seeing whom is by the order of the words in the sentence. The verb legh is preceded by the prefix 0 he/she–him/her.

When the subject and/or object is first or second person, the prefix on the verb must be the proper one.

 

puq vIlegh jIH I see the child. (vIlegh I see him/ her)

jIH mulegh puq The child sees me. (mulegh he/ she sees me)

Actually, the first- and second-person pronouns are seldom used in sentences of this type (though they can, as here, be used for emphasis), so the following sentences illustrate more commonly occurring sentence types.

 

puq vIlegh I see the child.

mulegh puq The child sees me.

Imperative sentences (commands) follow the same rules.

 

So’wI’ yIchu’ Engage the cloaking device! (So’wI’ cloaking device, yIchu’ engage it!)

DoS yIbuS Concentrate on the target! (DoS target, yIbuS concentrate on it!)

yaSpu’ tIHoH Kill the officers! (yaSpu’ officers, tIHoH kill them!)

Any noun in the sentence indicating something other than subject or object comes first, before the object noun. Such nouns usually end in a Type 5 noun suffix (section 3.3.5).

pa’Daq yaS vIleghpu’

I saw the officer in the room. (pa’Daq in the room, yaS officer, vIleghpu’ I saw him/her)

 

Other examples of this construction are given in section 3.3.5.

 

 

Complex sentences

A few of the more common types of more elaborate Klingon sentences will be illustrated.

 

Compound sentences

  Two sentences may be joined together to form a longer compound sentence. Both sentences must be able to stand alone as properly formed sentences. When combined, they simply come one after the other, joined by a conjunction (see section 5.3).

 

jISoptaH ’ej QongtaH I am eating, and he/she is sleeping.

jISoptaH ’ach QongtaH I am eating, but he/she is sleeping.

bISoptaH qoj bItlhutlhtaH You are eating and/or you are drinking.

bISoptaH pagh bItlhutlhtaH You are either eating or else you are drinking.

When the subject of both of the joined sentences is the same, the English translation may be reduced to a less choppy form, but Klingon does not allow this shortening. The pronominal prefix must be used with both verbs. Thus, the final two sentences above may be translated You are eating and/or drinking; You are either eating or drinking.

When a noun (as opposed to simply a verbal prefix) indicates subject and/or object, there are some options in Klingon. In its fullest form, a Klingon sentence repeats the noun:

 

yaS legh puq ’ej yaS qIp puq (yaS officer, puq child, legh he/she sees him/her, qIp he/she hits him/her)

The child sees the officer and the child hits the officer.

 or The child sees the officer and hits the officer.

 or The child sees and hits the officer.

It is possible, however, to use pronouns rather than nouns in the second of the joined sentences.

 

yaS legh puq ’ej ghaH qIp ghaH (ghaH he/she)

The child sees the officer and he/she hits him/her.

 or The child sees the officer and hits him/her.

If the context is clear, even the pronoun may be left out.

 

yaS vIlegh ’ej vIqIp (vI- I–him/her)

I see the officer and I hit him/her.

 or I see the officer and hit him/her.

 or I see and hit the officer.

 

Subordinate clauses

Klingon verbs ending in Type 9 suffixes (other than -’a’ interrogative and -wI’ one who does, one which does) always occur in sentences with another verb. Hence, they are verbs in subordinate clauses.

 

Cha yIbaH qara’DI’

or qara’DI’ cha yIbaH Fire the torpedoes at my command!

The two parts of this sentence are cha yIbaH fire the torpedoes! and qara’DI’ when I command you or as soon as I command you. -DI’ is a Type 9 suffix meaning as soon as, when, so qara’DI’ must occur as part of a larger sentence. Note that the order of the two parts of the sentence is variable.

 

A few further examples should make the use of subordinate clauses clear.

 

bIjatlhHa’chugh qaHoH
or qaHoH bIjatlhHa’chugh	If you say the wrong thing, I will kill you.   (bIjatlhHa’chugh if you misspeak, qaHoH I kill you)

 

Note that although the English translation uses the word will, there is no marker for future in Klingon. The unsuffixed verb HoH kill is neutral as to time: since the person being addressed is being given a chance to speak, that person must still be alive. Thus, the killing must take place in the future.

SutlhtaHvIS chaH DIHIvpu’
or DIHIvpu’ SutlhtaHvIS chaH	While they were negotiating we attacked them. (SutlhtaHvIS while they are negotiating, chaH they, DIHIvpu’ we attacked them)

 

The notion of were negotiating, rather than are negotiating, comes from the suffix

  -pu’ perfective attached to the verb HIv attack. A translation such as While they are negotiating we attacked them makes little sense in English and misrepresents the meaning of the Klingon sentence.

 

Relative clauses

  Relative clauses are translated into English as phrases beginning with who, which, where, and, most commonly, that. Like adjectives, they describe nouns: the dog which is running, the cat that is sleeping, the child who is playing, the restaurant where we ate. The noun modified by a relative clause is the head noun.

 

In Klingon, the verb in the relative clause ends with the Type 9 suffix -bogh, which will, for convenience, be translated which.

Whether the head noun follows or precedes the relative clause depends on its relationship to that clause. Compare the following:

 

qIppu’bogh yaS officer who hit him/her

yaS qIppu’bogh officer whom he/she hit

In both phrases, the relative clause is qIppu’bogh (qIp hit, -pu’ perfective, -bogh which), and the head noun is yaS officer. In the first phrase, yaS is the subject of the verb qIp (the officer is doing the hitting), so it follows qIppu’bogh, just as all subjects follow the verb. In the second phrase, yaS is the object (the officer is getting hit), so it precedes qIppu’bogh, just as all objects precede the verb.

 

The whole construction (relative clause plus head noun), as a unit, is used in a sentence as a noun. Accordingly, this construction follows or precedes the verb of the sentence, depending on whether it is the subject or object.

 

qIppu’bogh yaS vIlegh

I see the officer who hit him/her.

 

The entire relative construction qIppu’bogh yaS officer who hit him/ her is the object of the verb vIlegh I see him/her, so it precedes the verb.

 

mulegh qIppu’bogh yaS

The officer who hit him/her sees me.

 

Here, qIppu’bogh yaS is the subject of the verb mulegh he/she sees me, so it follows the verb. This pattern is also followed when the head noun is the object of the verb in the relative clause, such as yaS qIppu’bogh officer whom he/she hit.

 

yaS qIppu’bogh vIlegh	I see the officer whom he/she hit.
mulegh yaS qIppu’bogh	The officer whom he/she hit sees me.

 

In the English translation, the relative pronouns (that, which, etc.) may often be omitted: I see the officer he/she hit, the officer he/ she hit sees me. In Klingon, however, -bogh is mandatory.

 

Purpose clauses

If an action is being done in order to accomplish something, or for the purpose of accomplishing something, the verb describing what is to be accomplished ends with the Type 9 suffix -meH, which may be translated for, for the purpose of, in order to. The purpose clause al- ways precedes the noun or verb whose purpose it is describing.

 

ja’chuqmeH rojHom neH jaghla’

The enemy commander wishes a truce (in order) to confer.

 

The phrase ja’chuqmeH rojHom a truce (in order) to confer is the object of the verb neH he/she wants it; the subject is jaghla’ enemy commander. The object is a noun rojHom truce preceded by the purpose clause ja’chuqmeH for the purpose of conferring or in order to confer. (The verb is made up of ja’ tell, -chuq each other; thus, confer is tell each other.)

 

jagh luHoHmeH jagh lunejtaH

They are searching for the enemy in order to kill him/her.

 

Here the purpose clause is jagh luHoHmeH in order for them to kill the enemy, which is made up of the object noun jagh enemy pre- ceding the verb luHoHmeH in order for them to kill him/her (lu- they–him/her, HoH kill, -meH for). It describes the purpose of the verb lunejtaH they are searching for him/her (lu- they-him/her, nej seek, search for, -taH continuous). Note that, just as in compound sentences, the object noun jagh enemy occurs before each verb for which it is the object. Thus, somewhat more literally, the sentence may be translated In order to kill the enemy, they are searching for the enemy.

Furthermore, just as in compound sentences, the second of two identical nouns may be replaced by a pronoun or, if the context is clear, left out altogether.

 

Jagh luHoHmeH ghaH lunejtaH