Klingon Grammar Addenda

Key: Spoken by Okrand | Inferred from canon | Accepted usage

Contents
Main chapters given within paretheses are included in the table of contents for comparison with The Klingon Dictionary only, and there is no text to be found in these sections. (For the sake of brevity, not all subsections from the TKD are listed here.) Introduction Conventions 1. The Sounds of Klingon 1.1. Consonants 2. (Grammatical Sketch - Introduction) 3. Nouns 3.1. Complex nouns 3.2.1. Compound Nouns 3.2.2. Verb plus wI' 3.3. Suffixes 3.3.1. Augmentative/diminutive 3.3.2. Number 3.3.4. Possession/specification 3.3.5. Syntactic markers 3.4. The nounnoun construction 4. Verbs 4.1. Pronominal prefixes 4.1.1. Basic prefixes 4.2. Verb suffixes 4.2.1. Oneself/One another 4.2.5. Indefinite subject/ability 4.2.7. Aspect 4.2.9. Syntactic markers 4.4. Adjectives 5. Other Kinds of Words 5.2. Numbers 5.4. Adverbials 5.6. Names and address 6. Syntax 6.1. Basic Sentences 6.2. Complex sentences 6.2.1. Compound sentences 6.2.3. Relative clauses 6.2.4. Purpose clauses

6.2.5. Sentences as Objects 6.4. Questions 6.6. Comparatives and superlatives 7. (Clipped Klingon) (Dictionary) Appendix: A Selected List of Useful Klingon Expressions (Addendum)
Last updated (by Terrence Donnelly) 7/17/99

Introduction
This page is an attempt to collect in one place all the addenda, corrections, clarifications and accepted conventions for tlhIngan Hol that have appeared since the publication of The Klingon Dictionary in 1992. The entries are keyed to the section numbers of TKD, and each entry includes the original source of the addendum (if possible). In order to avoid copyright infringement, and to encourage you to seek out the sources, the entries are paraphrased, rather than quoted directly. Don't consider this page to be a substitute for the originals; every serious student should own the original texts, if only to see how accurately I've interpreted them. Within each section, the entries are classified under one of three degrees of reliability: Those in bold type represent direct statements from Marc Okrand (the language's creator and only source of canon), those in plain type represent grammar inferred from canon examples but not directly addressed by Marc Okrand (I defer to the members of the Klingon Language Institute and its associated mailing list for the interpretation of these canon examples), and those in italic type represent the accepted usages of the KLI and its members, while recognizing that these usages have no canonical standing (there is some overlap between these last two categories, since hopefully we base our usage on canon). Finally, you can read my own commentaries on a given topic within boxes in the text. You the reader should consider bold entries to be as authoritative as TKD itself, plain entries to be reliable but not set in stone, and italic entries primarily as unofficial guides to good usage. My own commentaries, of course, are my opinions only and should be given no more weight than they deserve. A final note: This page is concerned only with grammar. It does not consider any lexical topics, such as the transitivity of a given verb or new or expanded meanings for existing words, unless specifically related to a more general point of grammar. I want this page to be as accurate and inclusive as possible, so if I've omitted something or stated it wrongly, please email me with the correction.

Conventions
*text ?text BoP CK FAQ HQ KGT KLI MSN MO PK S# SK ST# TKD TKW ungrammatical usage questionable usage BirdofPrey poster, 1998 Conversational Klingon Klingon Language Institute FrequentlyAskedQuestions HolQeD Klingon for the Galactic Traveller Klingon Language Mailing List Microsoft Network Expert Forum Marc Okrand Power Klingon Skybox trading card, No. # news.startrek.com/startrek.klingon Star Trek movie, No. # The Klingon Dictionary The Klingon Way

1999 Terrence Donnelly

1. The Sounds of Klingon

1.1. Consonants
1. Q is pronounced [q_X] (in XSAMPA phonetic transcription), or basically like an aspirated q, that is, q followed closely by a raspy puff of air [KLI: M. Shoulson, 2/20/98, "Re: Introduction"] 2. Doubled letters are pronounced either as a lengthening of the letter, or with a brief break between the two letters. Some speakers incorrectly pronounce the double letter as a single letter; this is especially true for '' (two glottal stops). [KGT p.138]

3. Nouns
3.1. Complex nouns 3.2.1. Compound Nouns
1. Don't assume that any naked verb can be used as a noun, just because some can. [HQ3:3 p.11] 2. Don't try to break compound nouns into parts and use the parts either alone or in other compounds. [KLI: A. Anderson, 4/13/97, "Re:
SopDaq"]

3. Don't coin new compound words from existing parts. [KLI: D.

Trimboli, 11/30/96, "Re: KLBC: Re: This message is too long"]

These last two are not so much stated rules as impressions we've gotten from MO over the years. You will sometimes encounter adhoc compounds. But beware of the "hindsight" effect: the compound word that seems so clear to you may make no sense at all to someone else.

3.2.2. Verb plus wI'

1. In reference to inanimate objects, this suffix means "thing which does" (joqwI') or "thing which is used for" (nanwI'). [TKD;
KGT]

2. In reference to animate beings, this suffix means "one who does" (baHwI') or "one who is" (pujwI'). [TKD] This suffix is actually defined in TKD, but in a confusing and incomplete way.

3.3. Suffixes 3.3.1. Augmentative/diminutive

These suffixes are not simply equivalent to tIn/mach, but create a new concept, often requiring an entirely different English word to translate, eg. loD/loDHom "man/boy", bIQ/bIQ'a' "water/ocean". [TKD] These suffixes are defined in TKD, but this point is not clearly made there.

3.3.2. Number
The plural of porgh is probably porghmey (and that of lom, lommey); most likely, Du' is used only for body parts, not the body itself. [KLI: R.
Stewart, 11/16/97, "Re: KLBC tlhIngan yot 'ay' cha'DIch"; KLI: R. Stewart, 11/26/96, "Re: KLBC Plurals"]

There is evidently some latitude in the grey areas. MO tells us on the MSN forum that DIr has the plurals DIrDu' and DIrmey depending on whether it is still on the animal, or off of it. (Does this mean that, if I serve my guests Pipius Claw and each one gets several, I would refer to them as pachmey?). However, in KGT, he describes the handles of a type of pot as DeSDu', although they were obviously never alive at all! My theory is that Klingons are deeply interested in whether a body part is still attached to its body and alive Du', or detatched and dead mey. Their interest in the bodies themselves is different, where their only concern is whether it is a person pu' or a nonperson mey. In the case of inanimate objects, their interest in body parts causes the Klingons to confer "honorary" status as a body part on objects that resemble them; these objects receive the Du' suffix to make the identification clear. This could also be the origin of the "scattered around" meaning of mey. When a body part is separated from its body, its plural changes from Du' to mey, and separation could come to imply not merely removal but dispersal; eventually this "dispersal" meaning could be generalized to words whose usual plural is pu'.

3.3.4. Possession/specification
A "being capable of using language" must be a true living being (not a talking computer, for example) and must have an inherent capacity for speech (which may not be manifested, in the case of infants or someone who has lost the power of speech). [KLI: S. Boozer,
7/12/98, "Anecdotal Okrand"]

3.3.5. Syntactic markers

1. Daq and vo' are strictly locative; they refer only to motion, or location. They can't be used in other situations in which English uses "to", "in" or "from" in a metaphorical sense (eg. "I translate from English to Klingon"; you can't use Daq for "to" or vo' for "from"). [HQ8:1 p.7] 2. Some prepositional concepts in English are verbs in Klingon: eg. tlhej for "with", both in the sense of "accompanying" and "doing something together with", eg. Dargh vItlhutlh 'ej mutlhej torgh "Torg drinks tea with me." [HQ2:4 p.18]. 3. It seems that a noun with a Type 5 suffix can modify a single noun (as opposed to whole sentences), eg. ghe''orDaq luSpet "a black hole in the Netherworld". [PK; BoP] As has been pointed out [HQ6:2 p.2], this construction is most likely not an example of the NN pattern, but a contraction of something involving a bogh verb: balDaq chenmoHlu'bogh Duj ship (which someone assembled) in a bottle. But, since they functionally act the same way, the point is probably moot. We usually call this the "CatInTheHat" problem; ironically, it doesn't really apply to this situation. "In the hat" doesn't mean the Cat is sitting inside a hat, rather, it's an English idiom for "wearing a hat" and would probably be translated mIv tuQtaHbogh vIghro'. 4. Verbs of motion have different meanings when used with and without Daq and object prefixes: X(Daq) vIY "I Y to X" (Daq is optional); Xvo' vIY "I Y away from X"; XDaq jIY "I Y at/on/in X".
[HQ7:4 p.8]

This is a restricted and special usage, and should not be overused or generalized to other types of verbs or noun phrases. I've been trying to explain the new rules to myself: X(Daq) vIY

The groundwork for this phrase was actually laid in TKD, where MO says that "There are a few verbs whose meanings include locative notions, such as ghoS approach, proceed. The locative suffix need not be used on nouns which are the objects of such verbs." [TKD p.28] Maybe this means the rule is now extended to all verbs of motion, that whenever a verb of motion has an object, motion toward that object is assumed. The Daq, we're told, is optional, and I'm guessing is an ungrammatical usage, like leaving lu off of plural lu' objects or using double negatives in English: people are known to do it, but it's also recognized as "wrong". I wouldn't take it to mean that nouns with Type 5 suffixes can be used as direct objects in general. Xvo' vIY Except for this one, of course. This does fly in the face of everything we thought we knew about direct objects and Type 5 noun suffixes. All I can guess is that this is some special usage peculiar to vo' used with motion verbs. At least, if we want to say Xvo' Y vIjaH "I go from X to Y", we can still use the same verb prefix! But what, if anything does Xvo' jIY now mean? "At a distance from X, I am Ying"? XDaq jIY The grammar of this isn't new, the only innovation is that it is now restricted to mean only some type of movement Y occuring at place X. So, maybe the new rules in essence are 1. To indicate motion, use a motion verb with a direct object. 1. Motion towards is the default and needs no marker. 2. Motion away from needs the marker vo'. 2. To indicate location, use a motion verb (or any verb) with a "no object" verb prefix. 1. Use Daq for action occuring at the point of reference. 2. Use vo' for action occuring at a remove from the point of reference. If these are correct, then the new rules have actually given us a pretty neat new set of tools. It doesn't change our understanding of locative phrases, but adds a way to refine the meanings we

can express with Daq and vo'. An unanswered question is how to use those words which, MO tells us in TKD, never require Daq, such as naDev or Dat. They fit fine in the first example: naDev vIghoS "I am coming here", but what about the other uses? We've encountered naDevvo' on the PK tape, and it's probably still OK, but how would you say "I walk in (i.e. while being) here": ?naDev jIyIt or ?naDevDaq jIyIt? The observant student will note that some of the examples in TKD and elsewhere don't agree with these new rules. One guiding principle of the KLI is that the newest rule is generally the most correct, so the old examples should be considered superceded.

3.4. The nounnoun construction

1. This construction doesn't just show possession, but is also used as the grammatical Genitive. That is, it forms phrases that are equivalent to English adjectives of origin romuluS HIq, composition peQ chem, or location tlhIngan wo'. [HQ3:3 p.6] I have long believed that the underlying logic of the N1N2 construction is that the set of items specified by N2 is restricted to a subset specified by N1. This explains not only the possessive use (yaS taj "the officer's knife" = "of the universal set of knives, the one which is the officer's"), but also the Genitive (peQ chem "magnetic field" = "of the universal set of fields, the one pertaining to magnetism"). 2. Multiple NNN(N...) formations are allowed. eg. SuvwI' qa' patlh "a warrior's level of spiritual attainment" [S33] 3. Noun apposition, different from the NN construction, is allowed, eg. DuraS be'nI'pu' be'etor lurSa' je "Duras's sisters, Betor and Lursa" [S26; HQ3:1 p.5] The difference between NN possession and apposition is that in the former, the more general term comes last, preceded by the more specific, while in the latter, the more general term comes first. Also, in the former, the two nouns combine to form a new concept, while in the latter, the two nouns (or phrases) both refer to different aspects of the same concept (that is, "Duras's sisters" and "Betor and Lursa" both refer to the same persons). 4. Nouns representing locative prepositional concepts, such as retlh, bIng, botlh, etc., when used with pronouns, follow the pronoun in a NN formation, and the pronoun suffixes are not used, eg. jIH retlhDaq "alongside me", not *retlhwIjDaq [KGT

p.24]

4. Verbs
4.1. Pronominal prefixes 4.1.1. Basic prefixes
The prefix trick: When a verb has a first or second person indirect object (marked with vaD), and a thirdperson object or no object, the indirect object can be shown by using a verb prefix whose object is the appropriate person: eg. SoHvaD paq vInob = paq qanob "I give you a book"; HInob "Give it to me!" [MSN 6/97] This is similar to English, where "I give you a book" and "I give a book to you" are equivalent. Note that this works only with 1st and 2nd person indirect objects, mainly because there'd be no way to distinguish direct from indirect object if both were 3rd person.

4.2. Verb suffixes 4.2.1. Oneself/One another

Imperatives with stative verbs require the extra suffixes 'eghmoH, eg. yItuj'eghmoH "Warm yourself!" [KGT p.117]

4.2.5. Indefinite subject/ability

The verb prefix lu when used with the indefinite suffix lu' and with plural objects is often omitted, especially in equivalents to English "There is/are" sentences, although this is somewhat ungrammatical, eg. naDev tlhInganpu' tu'lu' "There are Klingons here" [KGT p.171;
HQ7:3 p.4]

4.2.7. Aspect
The perfective suffixes pu'/ta' do not indicate past tense. Klingon has no tenses. They indicate action completed in the time context of the rest of the discourse. The time context may be present, past or future. [CK; HQ2:1 p.10; HQ2:4 p.11] A common beginner's mistake is to assume, when telling a story, that since the action of the story is over, all the verbs should have ta' or pu'.

But these are properly used only when describing action completed at the time of the story. You should mentally place yourself at the time the story is happening. For any given verb, ask yourself if the action is completed at that time (a good rule of thumb: if you can use the word "already" to describe the action of the verb, it is probably perfective). If it is completed, that verb takes the perfective suffix. Since most of the verbs in your story are describing events occuring at the time of the story, they do not take the perfective. One source of the confusion about this is that some of the examples in TKD itself seem to use pu' as a pasttense marker. In fact, MO has admitted that originally, when he was designing the language, pu' was indeed intended to be a simple marker of the past tense. But he changed his mind and decided to eliminate tense entirely and change pu' to an aspect marker. Those examples that seem to indicate simple past slipped past the reediting process.

4.2.9. Syntactic markers

1. The placement of verbs with jaj in the sentence depends on the type of sentence: with formal toasts, the order of the sentence is OSV, eg. 'IwlIj jachjaj "May your blood scream" , but in regular sentences, it is the usual OVS, eg. jejjaj tajlIj "May your knife be sharp." [KGT p.25] 2. Verbs with jaj may take Type 7 aspect suffixes (contra TKD), eg. wo' DevtaHjaj ghawran [KGT p.25-26] 3. Verbs with ghach are very rare and highly marked. These nominalized verbs are not generally the equivalent of simple nouns, but of abstracts and process nouns (those in English with suffixes like ness, tion), so most examples require another verb suffix in addition to ghach, such as taH. These nominalized verbs never take subject/object prefixes. [HQ3:3
p.10]

For most of us, this means don't use ghach except for words found in the dictionary, until you have a really good feel for it.

4.4. Adjectives
1. When a noun has more than one adjective, one of the following forms is used: SuD Dargh 'ej wov or SuDbogh Dargh 'ej wovbogh [KGT p.82] The examples given seem clunky to me, and I wonder if they are the only possibilities: ?SuDbogh Dargh wov wItlhutlh, ? SuDbogh 'ej wovbogh Dargh..., ?SuDbogh Dargh 'ej wovbogh.... Personally, I prefer the first possibility. There is one

canon example yIntaHbogh tlhIngan Soj tlhol... [S21], which seems to support this, although yIn isn't a descriptive verb. (It's also possible that this usage is restricted to color adjectives, but I find this unlikely. Color adjectives are regular verbs in every other sense, so why should they behave differently just because they are used in pairs?) 2. Descriptive verbs used adjectivally (i.e. after the noun) we have seen take only the suffixes qu' (tInqu'), Ha' (ngaDHa') and be' (lo'laHbe'). [TKD; KGT p.150] When used as verbs (i.e, before the noun), descriptive verbs can take any verb suffix that is appropriate.

5. Other kinds of words

5.2. Numbers
1. Most quantity words appear to behave like numbers and come before the noun: Hoch X (Note: Hoch X plus singular noun = "each X"; plus plural noun = "all the Xs") [HQ5:2 p.11], 'op X "some Xs" [S7], latlh X "(an)other X/Xs" [S31], bID X "half an X, a half X" [BoP] It's also possible that these are not so much numbers as examples of the Genitive use of the NN construction (or more likely, numbers themselves fall under the Genitive NN principle). 2. When Hoch follows the noun, it appears to refer to the entirety of the noun, eg nIn Hoch natlhlu'pu' "All the fuel is used up"
[KGT p.155]

3. The quantity word HochHom appears to come after the noun

[S15]

It could be that HochHom is like Hoch, and that used before the noun would mean "most of the Xs", but after the noun means "most of the given X". 4. Number phrases with vatlhvI' are considered numbers and come before the noun, eg. cha'maH vagh vatlhvI' Hong "One quarter impulse power". [ST5; KLI: S. Boozer, 5/21/99, "Re: vatlhvI'"] 5. Type 5 noun suffixes come after a noun + ordinal number or noun + number label phrase: Duj wejDIchDaq "In the third ship"; Duj wejDaq "in Ship No. 3" [HQ5:1 p.17]

[[ ST5: nImbuS wejDaq 'ejDo' 'entepray' ngeH lu'pu' "The starship Enterprise has been dispatched to Nimbus III." ]]

5.4. Adverbials
1. One can use Ha' to form the opposite of some adverbs, eg. Do'Ha' [HQ4:4 p.11; KGT p.148] 2. Time stamps simply come at the head of the sentence, and require no special marking. They can be combined to convey more precise times, eg. DISvam "this year", wej Hu' "3 days ago", DaHjaj po "this morning" [MSN 6/30/97] 3. Duration stamps must be rendered by verb phrases, eg. qaStaHvIS wej rep "for three hours", nI'taHvIS poH "for a long time" [KLI: D. Trimboli, 11/5/98, "Re: KLBC yu'wI'"; KLI: M.
Shoulson, 7/28/97, "Re: KLBC + And now, the news"]

4. Ordinals may be used as a kind of time stamp indicating number of distinct events, eg. wa'DIch tlhIngan Dujmey luleghlu'pu'bogh... "Klingon ships seen for the first time..."
[S15]

This interpretation is not completely accepted. Note the difference between this and forms with logh, eg. cha'DIch maghom "We meet for the second time" (a count of events) vs. cha'logh maghom "We meet twice" (a count of frequency). Neither of these forms indicate the succession of events, for which Klingon appears to use no markers: bogh tlhInganpu', SuvwI'pu' moj, Hegh "(First) Klingons are born, (second) become warriors, (and then) die." [TKW p.5]

5.6. Names and address

1. Names can be stated in a couple of ways: XvaD Y ponglu' "X is called Y" [S27]; and X 'oH pongwIj'e' "X is my name" [FAQ] The word ponglu' is not actually part of the Skybox text, but it is widely assumed to be the appropriate verb for this phrase. 2. The full form of address for a Klingon is wo'rIv, mogh puqloD, martaq tuq "Worf, son of Mogh, of the House of Martok". Except in the most formal circumstances, it is proper to address a Klingon by the first name only. [KGT
p.197; MSN 9/8/97]

3. Titles follow names, eg. tlha'a HoD "Captain Klaa" [KGT p.5]

4. Geographical regions seem to follow this same formula, eg. Sa'Qej Sep "Sakrej Region" [KGT p.16]

6. Syntax
6.1. Basic Sentences
1. Some complex sentences in English will be rendered as two or more simpler sentences in Klingon [HQ3:1 p.3; HQ4:2 p.5] 2. Impersonal sentences ("It" sentences, where "it" doesn't refer to anything specific) seem to be allowed, eg. SIS "It's raining" [KLI:
S. Boozer, 7/12/98, "Anecdotal Okrand"]

6.2. Complex sentences 6.2.1. Compound sentences

1. The conjunction 'ej merely indicates the (simultaneous?) occurence of two events; there is no time sequence implied, eg. mabom 'ej matlhutlh "We sing and we drink", not *"We sing and then drink" [MSN 3/20/98] 2. Sequence seems to be indicated by the lack of a conjunction, eg. bogh tlhInganpu', SuvwI'pu' moj, Hegh "Klingons are born, become warriors, then die."; beyHom bey bey'a' jachtaH "They are letting out an everlouder howl." [TKW p.5; S31] 3. The "sentence" conjunctions can be used with verbal phrases as well as complete sentences, eg. SuvmeH 'ej charghmeH bogh tlhInganpu' [TKW p.5 et al.]

6.2.3. Relative clauses

1. You can mark the head noun of a relative phrase (subject or object of the bogh verb) with 'e': HoD'e' qIpta'bogh yaS vIlegh "I see the captain who was hit by the officer" (not "I see the officer who hit the captain"). [HQ1:3 p.4] 2. You may be able to use any Type 5 suffix to mark the head noun of a relative phrase: meQtaHbogh qachDaq Suv qoH neH "Only a fool fights in a burning house". [TKW p.111; S99] The rule seems to be that the Head noun of the relative bogh

verb must be the subject or object of the relative verb (MO: "I couldn't make the bogh thing work for me with anything other than subject or object" [HQ4:2 p.5]), but that the Head noun can take any Type 5 noun suffix in relation to the main verb of the sentence. When the Head noun is the subject or object of the main verb, too, or when it is the first element in a NN construction, it can take 'e'. When it has some other relationship with the main verb, it can take the appropriate Type 5 Noun suffix. (This is still controversial [KLI: W. Martin, 1/27/99, "Re:
qID"; KLI: A. Anderson, 1/29/99, "Re: qID"]

This doesn't solve the "Ship in which I fled" problem: in a sentence like "They attacked the ship in which I fled", "ship" is the object of the main verb and part of a locative prepositional phrase with the relative verb; the exact opposite of what I described above. 3. Headless relatives (i.e., relative bogh words with no expressed subject or object, eg. *SuHeghbogh "You who are dying") are probably not allowed. [FAQ; HQ1:3 p.5]

6.2.4. Purpose clauses

1. Verbs with meH can modify nouns as well as verbs, eg. pe'meH taj "cutting knife". They are able to take actual subjects and/or objects. [HQ7:3 p.6; HQ7:2 p.14; KGT p.63] Although first stated in TKD, the full implications of this didn't become clear until later. We especially didn't realize the implications of the fact that nouns could be modified with a meH verb which itself had subjects or objects (see below). 2. Such verbs can be used to express Sentences as Subjects, eg. nargh qaSuchmeH 'eb "the opportunity to visit you has passed". [HQ7:2 p.14] Certain types of sentences require a verb phrase to be the subject of another verb. In English, these are usually expressed by sentences of the type "It is X that Y"; for example, "It is good to see you" is equivalent to "It is good that I see you", which is equivalent to "(I see you) is good." This is called a clefted expression; the SentenceAsSubject, "(I see you)" is moved from subject position (with a change in form) to after the verb "good", and the dummy subject "It" serves as the marker of the clefted expression and points back to the clefted phrase. Klingon has no exact equivalent of this construction, but we have come to see that a verb phrase with meH and a noun subject can express the same sort of relationship: QaQ qaleghmeH 'eb. There are several likely candidates for the head noun (i.e., the noun that serves as the actual subject and as the

head of the meH phrase: 'eb, Qu', ghu', etc. Note that this construction carries a sense of purpose that is absent in the English version; in most cases, this doesn't affect the meaning, but it may mean that certain nouns are not appropriate as head nouns. 3. Verbs with meH must take verb prefixes, if only the 3rd person zeroprefix, when appropriate. [HQ8:2 p.12] The practical applications of my article cited above are that 1. the meH verb can take objects when desired; 2. the meH verb must take a prefix when the subject of the purpose clause is 1st or 2nd person (or plural 3rd person with singular 3rd person object); 3. when the subject of the purpose clause is indefinite, you can indicate this with lu' or by 3rd person zerosuffix and no stated subject noun.

6.2.5. Sentences as Objects

1. Adverbs with 'e' come after the object sentence and before the 'e', eg. paw Duj wej 'e' vIlegh "I haven't seen the ship arrive yet". [HQ1:2 p.11] 2. The object pronoun 'e' can refer to an entire previous sentence: 'e' neHbe' vavwI' "That (i.e., some previous sentence) isn't what my father wanted" [ST6]. 3. The verb jatlh can take an object, but only a noun describing a language (eg. tlhIngan Hol) or speech event (eg. SoQ). For reported speech, the quotation is not the object of jatlh, and jatlh will take the "no object" verb prefixes, eg. jIghung jIjatlh "I say I am hungry" (literally "I am hungry. I say (that)"). [MSN 6/30/97] 4. The only true verbs of speech are jatlh and ja'. English allows many verbs to be used as verbs of speech, but in Klingon, these would be multiple sentences, eg. jIjach. jIjatlh yImev "I shouted 'Stop'!" (literally "I shout. I speak. 'Stop!'"). [HQ7:4 p.4]

6.4. Questions
1. We have no indirect question/relative adverbs and thus no way to directly express Questions as Objects, and must recast

them. [HQ6:4 p.12; KLI: S. Boozer, 7/12/98, "Anecdotal Okrand"] Some possible recastings include Duj luQaw'meH mIw vISov "I know how they destroyed the ship" (literally "I know the inorderthattheydestroytheshipmethod"); wa' jaj Duj luQaw' 'ej jajvam vISov "I know when they destroyed the ship" (literally "On one day they destroyed the ship, and I know that day")
[TKW p.177]

2. We have no word for the question word "which" and must recast the sentence, eg. nuH DaneHbogh yIngu' "Which weapon do you want?" (literally "Identify the weapon which you want!"). [KGT p.105; KLI: K. Traft, 12/15/96, "Dr. Okrand Speaks
-- lengthy"]

6.6. Comparatives and superlatives

What can fill the slots of the A Q law'/B Q puS construction: 1. A and B can be any noun or noun phrase, eg. targhwIj yab tIn law' no'lI' Hoch yabDu' tIn puS. [PK] 2. Noun and verb phrases can precede the entire construction, eg. reH latlh qabDaq qul tuj law', Hoch tuj puS; tlhutlhmeH HIq ngeb qaq law' bIQ qaq puS [PK; HQ2:2 p.3; TKW p.75] 3. A and B can be pronouns [HQ4:2 p.3] 4. Other contrastive pairs can replace law'/puS, eg. HoS/puj.
[KGT p.178]

5. Only descriptive verbs can fill the Q slot, and then only in a predicate fashion, so you must use some other formula for other types of comparisions, such as sentences with nIv or qu', eg. bortaS nIvqu' 'oH bortaS'e' "Revenge is the best revenge"; jach yaS 'ach jachqu' HoD "The captain shouts louder than the officer." [HQ4:3 p.15; TKW p.121 et al.].

Appendix: A Selected List of Useful Klingon Expressions

1. Telling time: Hours are expressed in 24hour time. Generally, you can "ask" the time with the phrase rep yIper "Label the hour!" . You answer with a time label: rep wej "three A.M."; rep cha'maH "20 hours (i.e. 8 P.M.)"; rep loS wejmaH "4:30 A.M." You can also use the phrase 'arlogh Qoylu'pu'"How many times has it (a signal

bell, maybe) been heard?". This can be augmented with other elements, eg., mamejDI' 'arlogh Qoylu'pu' "What time do we leave?" You answer with the number of times: cha'logh "two o'clock". [SK 2/3/99] Presumably, you can't tell fractions of an hour using the Xlogh method, only whole hours. Also, the observant student will note that this somewhat contradicts the timetelling examples on the CK tape. The rules given were given more recently, and they supercede CK where they disagree with it. 2. Similes are expressed by a phrase with an adjective and a following metaphorical phrase, eg. puj SuvwI'vetlh; bIQ rur "That warrior is as weak as water". [KGT p.127] 3. Color terms can be made more specific by additional adjectives or by the simile method shown above, eg. SuD 'ej wov "yellow"; Doq 'ej Qaj wuS rur "Krajlip red" or "brown"; Doqqu' "deep red".
[KGT p.82; HQ8:1 p.7]

4. Age is expressed by the formula # ben jIboghpu' "I am # years old" (literally "I was born # years ago"); as a question, it is ben 'ar bIboghpu' [SK 12/15/96] 5. The verbs Sum/Hop generally refer to location in relation to the speaker, ex., Sum raS "The table is near to me". To change the referent of the verb, you can use Daq, eg., yaSDaq Sum raS "The table is near the officer". [HQ7:4 p.10] We're not told exactly how Hop works: "The table is far from the officer" ?yaSDaq Hop raS, ?yaSvo' Hop raS. Since vo' seems to mean exclusively motion away from, the concensus is that the first version, with Daq, is correct, odd as that seems to an English speaker. It's maybe not so odd if we take it to mean "At the reference point of the officer's location, the table is far away".

Errors in Okrandian Sources

The Klingon Dictionary Conversational Klingon Power Klingon The Klingon Way Klingon for the Galactic Traveler

This is an attempt at creating a list of known errors in printed and recorded Okrandian canon. I have not included notes on Marc Okrands various newsgroup postings, nor anything concerning the Star Trek: Klingon CD-ROM game, or any of the SkyBox Klingon Trading Cards, however this may change in the future, and so if you know of any errors, in any Okrandian source (not just the ones mentioned below) I would be happy to include that information here. Please contact me at <zrajm@klingonska.org>. Those of you that speak German might be interested to know that there is a similar project going on for Das offizielle Wrterbuch Klingonisch,(i.e. the German translation of The Klingon Dictionary). To find your way there, take a look at the link page. p. TKD TKDa TKW KGT E-K K-E Abbreviations denotes a space page The Klingon Dictionary TKD Addendum The Klingon Way Klingon for the Galactic Traveler EnglishKlingon dictionary part KlingonEnglish dictionary part

The Klingon Dictionary (Book)

Christian Matzke notes (in HolQeD 4:1, p.7) that jev storm (v) (as defined in TKD K-E) perhaps ought to be a noun, but I have chosen not to include it as an error here, since there are other words dealing with weather (namely SIS rain and peD snow) that are verbs, this suggests to me that jev really should be a verb, as stated in TKD. It is also worth mentioning that the word lists in TKD are incorrectly sorted in quite a number of places. However the divergences from the expected order are so small (most frequently only two or three words are missorted) that they do not in a significant way impede the readers chances of finding the word he/she is looking for. Thanks go to Yehuda Ronen (2002-09-27) and Stevo (2004-01-24 and 2004-02-07) for their contributions.

General Errata
Description lujpu lacks prefix, should be jIlujpu (occur twice) e lacks hyphen, should be -e -egh lacks apostrophe, should be -egh -egh lacks apostrophe, should be -egh subject pronoun (0) is wrong, should be subject prefix (0) -taH continuous. should not begin new paragraph -Do contains superfluous hyphen, should be Do Hagh is incorrectly used for study, should be HaD nine pronouns is incorrect, should be ten pronouns soH is misspelled, should be SoH vaghSad is misspelled, should be vaghSaD gama is misspelled, should be qama jaghla (maybe?) lacks space, should be jaghla qamapue contains superfluous space, should be qamapue joh is misspelled, should be joH matha is misspelled, should be matHa Qaw is listed as noun, should be verb tlhej is listed as noun, should be verb ghIchraj has bad suffix, should be ghIchlIj GHICH-raj has bad suffix, should be GHICH-lij quSDaQ is misspelled, should be quSDaq balua contains superfluous space, should be balua mIvvam contains superfluous space, should be mIvvam loSSaD (maybe?) contains superfluous line break, should be loSSaD jabluDIreH is missing a space, should be jabluDIreH naDevvo contains superfluous space, should be naDevvo bIganmo is misspelled, should be bIqanmo gan is misspelled, should be qan naDqaghach contains superfluous apostrophe, should be naDqaghach gar is misspelled, should be qar objectverbnoun should be objectverbsubject HaqwIe contains superfluous space, should be HaqwIe LeSSov is misspelled, should be leSSov sIbI is misspelled, should be SIbI sIbI is misspelled, should be SIbI Source TKD p.29 / 3.3.5 TKD p.29 / 3.3.5 TKD p.35 / 4.1.2 TKD p.35 / 4.2.1 TKD p.39 / 4.2.5 TKD p.43 / 4.3 TKD p.48 / 4.3 TKD p.48 / 4.3 TKD p.51 / 5.1 TKD p.51 / 5.1 TKD p.53 / 5.2 TKD p.56 / 5.4 TKD p.64 / 6.2.4 TKD p.68 / 6.3 TKD p.78 TKD p.78 TKD p.103 / K-E TKD p.118 / E-K TKD p.170 TKD p.170 TKD p.171 TKD p.171 TKD p.171 TKD p.171 TKD p.171 TKD p.172 TKD p.175 / 4.2.9 TKD p.175 / 4.2.9 Added 1999-09-24(?) 1999-09-24(?) 1999-09-24(?) 1999-09-24(?) 2004-01-24 2004-01-24 1998-09-22(?) 1998-09-22(?) 1999-09-24(?) 1998-09-22(?) 1998-09-22(?) 2002-09-27 1999-09-24(?) 1998-09-22(?) 1998-09-22(?) 1998-09-22(?) 1998-09-22(?) 2000-11-12 2004-01-24 2004-01-24 1999-09-24(?) 1998-09-22(?) 1999-09-24(?) 1999-09-24(?) 1998-09-22(?) 1999-09-24(?) 1998-09-22(?) 1998-09-22(?)

TKD p.176 / 4.2.9 1998-09-22(?) TKD p.179 / 6.4 TKD p.179 / 6.7 TKD p.180 / 6.7 TKDa p.182 / KE TKDa p.184 / KE TKDa p.188 / EK 1998-09-22(?) 2004-01-24 1998-09-22(?) 1999-09-24(?) 1998-09-22(?) 1998-09-22(?)

Words Found Only in the Main Text

Klingon DoHa tIjwIghom tIjwI QIyaH ghuycha Quvatlh mara matlh qeng qeylIS qolotlh qor qoreQ QaS Qel Qugh torgh valQIS nepwI lolaHghach lolaHbeghach naDqaghach petaQ toDSaH taHqeq yIntagh Qovpatlh va ghaycha baQa Hutegh Quvatlh English be unfortunate, unlucky (v) boarding party (n) boarder (n) *?!#@ (curse) (excl) *@$% (curse) (excl) #*@! (curse) (excl) Mara (name) Maltz (name) Kang (name) Kahless (name) Koloth (name) Kor (name) Korax (name) Kras (name) Krell (name) Kruge (name) Torg (name) Valkris (name) liar (n) value (n) worthlessness (n) re-commendation (n) (epithetical curse) (excl) (epithetical curse) (excl) (epithetical curse) (excl) (epithetical curse) (excl) (epithetical curse) (excl) (invective curse) (excl) (invective curse) (excl) (invective curse) (excl) (invective curse) (excl) (invective curse) (excl) Source TKD p.1 TKD p.20,38 TKD p.20 TKD p.58 TKD p.58 TKD p.58 TKD p.58 TKD p.58 TKD p.58 TKD p.58 TKD p.58 TKD p.58 TKD p.58 TKD p.58 TKD p.58 TKD p.58 TKD p.58 TKD p.58 TKDa p.175 TKDa p.176 TKDa p.176 TKDa p.176 TKDa p.178 TKDa p.178 TKDa p.178 TKDa p.178 TKDa p.178 TKDa p.178 TKDa p.178 TKDa p.178 TKDa p.178 TKDa p.178

Words Found Only in the KlingonEnglish Dictionary Part

Klingon DenIb DenIbngan DenIb Qatlh English Denebia (n) Denebian (n) Denebian slime devil (n)

Klingon Dugh Hu jIj luH mojaq muj naw ne nogh pIvlob pujmoH pujwI puy QID Qoj rIp SIv taQ tel tlhov tlhup vengHom vIng wem wem ngav yIQ yuegh orghen orghen rojmab orghengan

English be vigilant (v) zoo (n) cooperate (v) yank (v) suffix (n) be wrong (v) access (v) yeoman (n) writhe (v) warp factor (n) weaken (v) weakling (n) wreck (v) wound (v) make war (v) council, assembly (n) wonder (v) be weird (v) wing (n) wheeze (v) whisper (v) village (n) whine (v) violate (v) violation (n) writers cramp (n) be wet (v) wave (n) Organia (n) Organian Peace Treaty (n) Organian (n)

Words Found Only in the EnglishKlingon Dictionary Part

English access (n) clip (v) cooperate (v) Denebia (n) Denebian (n) Klingon naw poDmoH yeq DenIbya DenIbyangan

English Denebian slime devil (n) drool (v) Organia (n) Organian (n) Organian Peace Treaty (n) permit (n) suffix (n) traitor (n) treason, commit treason (v)

Klingon DenIbya Qatlh bol orghenya orghenyangan orghenya rojmab chaw mojaQ urwI TKDa ur TKDa

Conversational Klingon (Audio Cassette)

I know of no errors, as of now.

Power Klingon (Audio Cassette)

There are some words that occured here for the first time. The ones that I have discovered are listed below, note however, that I have made no systematic search, and that there are bound to be more of them. The spelling/pronunciation of the word QIlop (the name of a Klingon holiday) from the tape is somewhat uncertain. This is due to the fact that Michael Dorn (whose pronunciation isnt exactly unambigious) is the only one speaking the word on the tape.

New Words on the Tape

Klingon English Added ngagh mate with (v) 2000-11-12(?) mIp wealth (n) 2000-11-12(?)

The Klingon Way (Book)

During qepa chorghDIch (in Belgium, summer 2001) Marc Okrand mentioned that there are two different printings of this book. Apparently a lot of errors were corrected for the second printing. (Since my copy of the book is of the first printing, I havent been able to confirm this, so please if you have the second printing of the book, please compare it with the table below and report any differences to me.) 2004-02-07:Stevo reports that all the errors in the first printing (or at least all errors found and presented in the table below) have been corrected, except for the error on page 129 which, even though it has been altered, still contains an error.

Errata for 1st Printing

Description Source Added vangIutaHvIS is misspelled, should be vanglutaHvIS KGT p.55 1998-09-22(?) HubtaHuIS is misspelled, should be HubtaHvIS KGT p.74 1998-09-22(?) IloD is misspelled, should be loD KGT p.127 1998-09-22(?)

Description Source Added HeghIuchugh is misspelled, should be Heghluchugh KGT p.129 1998-09-22(?) cheqotIhchugh is misspelled, should be cheqotlhchugh KGT p.131 1998-09-22(?) qatIh is misspelled, should be qatlh KGT p.135 1998-09-22(?)

Errata for 2nd Printing

Description Source Added HeghLuchugh is misspelled, should be Heghluchugh KGT p.129 2004-02-07

Klingon for the Galactic Traveler (Book)

General Errata
All the errors added to this list August 17, 2001 were reported by Lieven L. Litaer (a fellow German klingonist). Description qImlaqlae is misspelled, should be qImlaqlae nISwIbej is misspelled, should be nISwIbeH pubej is misspelled, should be pubeH nISwIbej is misspelled, should be nISwIbeH wIoj is incorrect, should be maoj HenrI should be written in boldface qan;QItu is missing a word, should be qan;QIturur tIb (be nervous, uneasy) is misspelled, should be bIt Sagh;Hooy is missing a word, should be Sagh;Hooyrur maghwI is misspelled, should be maghwI mumey qhoQ is misspelled, should be mumey ghoQ mumey qhoQ lacks part-of-speech, should be (n) neHjej is misspelled, should be naHjej ngop has incorrect part-of-speech, should be (n) SaS not fully defined, should be marked (slang) paramaqqay is misspelled, should be parmaqqay Source KGT p.53 KGT p.56 KGT p.56 KGT p.80 KGT p.102 KGT p.126 KGT p.130 KGT p.132 KGT p.133 KGT p.157 KGT p.220 / K-E KGT p.220 / K-E KGT p.221 / K-E KGT p.222 / K-E KGT p.251 / E-K KGT p.255 / E-K Added 2001-08-17 1998-09-22(?) 1998-09-22(?) 1998-09-22(?) 2001-08-17 1998-09-22(?) 1998-09-22(?) 1998-09-22(?) 1998-09-22(?) 2001-08-17 2001-08-18 2001-08-18 2001-08-17 2001-08-17 2001-08-17 2001-08-17

Words Found Only in the Main Text

Klingon veng waDIch ta tlhIngan Hol Sep yoS veng waDIch Sep voSpegh Sep English First City (capital of Kronos) (n) standard dialect (n) region, country (n) area, district (within a country) (n) First City region (n) Vospeg region (n) Source KGT p.10,17 KGT p.15 KGT p.16 KGT p.16 KGT p.16 KGT p.16

Klingon SaQej Sep HuD beQ yoS Qotmagh Sep Qotmagh ruqevet ruqevet ghevchoq Sep taqev chotwI ghawran meqrovaq puq Hol mumey Doy mumey ghoQ

Source Sakrej region (n) KGT p.17,24 Flat Mountain district (in the Sakrej region) (n) KGT p.17 Krotmag region (n) KGT p.17 Krotmag (name) KGT p.17 Rukevet (city in the Gevchok region) (n) KGT p.17,30 Rukevet (name) KGT p.17 Gevchok region (n) KGT p.17 Takeev (city or region) (n) KGT p.22 murderer (n) KGT p.25 Gowron (name) KGT p.25,26,197,198 Mekrovak (region) (n) KGT p.29 baby talk (chilrens language) (n) KGT p.34 tired words (used to refer to older Klingons language) (n) KGT p.35 slang, fresh words (mostly used by younger Klingons) (n) KGT p.35 slang, fresh language (mostly used by younger Klingons) Hol ghoQ KGT p.35 (n) tlhIngan yejquv Klingon High Council (n) KGT p.36 tlhIngan Hubbeq Klingon Defense Force (n) KGT p.38 raghomquv High Command (n) KGT p.38 Qugh Kruge (name) KGT p.41 ghIrIlqa Grilka (name) KGT p.41 mogh Mogh (name) KGT p.41,197 qoleq Kolek (name) KGT p.41 tlhach mumey argot, jargon (n) KGT p.45 vIq combat (n) KGT p.47,50 aqtu Aktuh (name) KGT p.49 HIvneS honor-attack (suicide mission) (v) KGT p.49 HubneS honor-defend (suicide mission) (v) KGT p.49 Suvchu fight to the death (v) KGT p.49 Haychu duel to the death (v) KGT p.49 tlhaa Klaa (name) KGT p.52,198 cheng Chang (name) KGT p.52 qeng Kang (name) KGT p.52 qImlaq Kmlak (name) KGT p.53 yaS waDIch first officer (on a ship) (n) KGT p.53 yaS chaDIch second officer (on a ship) (n) KGT p.53 nISwI bej disruptor rifle (n) KGT p.56 nISwI DaH disruptor banks (n) KGT p.56 DaH bank (of weapons) (n) KGT p.56 nISwI tIH disruptor beam (n) KGT p.56

English

Klingon pubej peng

English

phaser rifle (n) torpedo, missile (n) warhead (n) (correct spelling?, jornub in K-E, jorneb in Ejorneb K) yanwI swordfighter (n) tajHommey retractable small blades on a dk tagh knife (n) moQ spiked pommel of a dk tahg knife (n) DuQwIHommey small spikes on the dk tahg pommel (n) Ho etlh serrated blade (e.g., kutluch) (n) qutluch tay Kutluch ceremony (n) QIn pup plain spearhead (single sharp point) (n) QIn vagh spearhead with multiple points (n) chuHchu hit with a thrown spear (v) nentay chaDIch Second Rite of Ascension (n) yoDegh shield oneself (v) bomwI singer (n) qonwI songwriter (n) jaqmoH embolden (v) QoQ jan musical instruments (n) baS In bell (percussion instrument made of metal) (n) Sor Hap In percussion instrument made of wood (n) DIr In drum (percussion instrument with a streched animal skin) (n) Subpu vaS Hall of Heroes (n) ghItlhwI stylus, writing implement, person who writes (n) naHjej thistle (n) naHnagh pit (of fruit) (n) HuchQeD economics (n) meq reason, logical thinking (n) temporary words (ungrammatical expression used for mumey ru impact) (n) pabHa misfollow (rules), follow (rules) wrongly (v) nentay waDIch First Rite of Ascension (n) paghDIch zeroth (about something that has not occured) (num) HochDIch allth, final, last (num) paghlogh zero times, never (emphatic) (adv) Hochlogh all times, always (emphatic) (adv) betleH obe Order of the Batleth (n) tIvIS Tvis (name) barot Barot (name) HejwI robber (n)

Source KGT p.56 KGT p.56 KGT p.57 KGT p.61 KGT p.61 KGT p.61 KGT p.61 KGT p.61 KGT p.62 KGT p.64 KGT p.64 KGT p.64 KGT p.65 KGT p.67 KGT p.71 KGT p.71 KGT p.71 KGT p.74 KGT p.75 KGT p.75 KGT p.75 KGT p.79 KGT p.79 KGT p.88 KGT p.89 KGT p.148 KGT p.154 KGT p.176 KGT p.176 KGT p.177 KGT p.177 KGT p.177 KGT p.178 KGT p.178 KGT p.182 KGT p.182 KGT p.182 KGT p.191

Klingon HIjwI lurSa beetor vIqSIS HuS atrom martaq qamor qor

English delivery person (n) Lursa (name) BEtor (name) Vixis (name) Huss (name) Atrom (name) Martok (name) Kahmor (name) Kor (name)

Source KGT p.191 KGT p.197 KGT p.197 KGT p.197 KGT p.197 KGT p.197 KGT p.198 KGT p.198 KGT p.198

Words Found Only in the KlingonEnglish Dictionary Part

Klingon English jornub warhead (of a torpedo) (n)

Words Found Only in the EnglishKlingon Dictionary Part

English Klingon warhead (of a torpedo) (n) jorneb