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DaHjaj Hol 110828 – verbs as adjectives (part 2) #tlhIngan #tlh

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Hello, and welcome. You’re listening to DaHjaj Hol, your daily dose of Klingon language. I’m your host, Lawrence Schoen.

Today we’ll finish up the discussion we began last Sunday, specifically how to use stative verbs to modify nouns. You already know most of it, really. Basically, you place the desired verb after the noun and it works like an adjective would in English. You can even add most verb suffixes to color the verb with more precise shades of meaning, for example, while loDpu’ ghung would be hungry men, loDpu’ ghungqu’ would mean very hungry men, whereas loDpu’ ghungqu’ba’ would be obviously very hungry men and so on.

There’s one exception to the use of suffixes on stative verbs used this way, and it only kicks in if the noun the stative verb is being used on has a Type 5 noun suffix.

If there’s a Type 5 noun suffix in play, then the verb is limited to only the Rover suffix –qu’. No other verb suffixes can be applied to the verb when it is being used adjectivally on a noun with a Type 5 noun suffix.

Further, in this situation, the Type 5 noun suffix does not attach to the noun, but rather to the verb! If the verb has no suffix, the Type 5 noun suffix immediately follows the verb. If the verb has a suffix (and in this case that suffix could only be –qu’), then the noun suffix follows the verb suffix.

Yes, this may be the most confusing rule in Klingon. Fortunately, we have some examples:

Duj bIrDaq
on the cold ship

nov qanqu’vo’
from the very old alien

megh ‘up’e’
as for the disgusting lunch

Now let’s see how those same noun phrases might function in sentences:

Duj bIrDaq SoSlI’ vIghom
I met your mother on the cold ship

nov qanqu’vo’ betleH Datlhap
you took the bat’leth from the very old alien

megh ‘up’e’ jISoplaHbe’ ‘ej jabwI’ HoH HoD
as for the disgusting lunch, I couldn’t eat, and the captain killed the waiter


Mastery of this rule will put you far ahead of most students of Klingon. Learn not only how to construct it, but always be ready for its occurrence. It can be easy to spot, once you know the particulars: you’re looking for a verb that has a Type 5 noun suffix on it. Once you’re comfortable with your suffixes, this will leap out at you. Congratulations, you’re opening new worlds of grammar. qo’mey poSmoH Hol.

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