Suffixes -'egh and -chuq

This lesson introduces the "Type 1" verb suffixes.

The suffixes taught here indicate that the subjects of the verb somehow affect themselves or each other.

-'egh indicates that the subject of the verb affects itself (or the subjects affect themselves). For example, from legh (see), one could form legh'egh torgh "Torg sees himself" or legh'egh puqpu' "the children see themselves" (perhaps in a mirror).

-chuq indicates that the subjects of the verb affect each other. It only makes sense if the subject is plural: "we, you, they". For example, leghchuq puqpu' would mean "the children see each other" — that is, each child sees another child.

In more technical terms, the suffix –'egh makes a verb reflexive, while the suffix –chuq makes it reciprocal.

Plurals

As you have already seen, forming plurals is about as easy as in English — where the basic rule is "just add -s". You may also remember that in Klingon, the plural ending depends on whether the noun is a being capable of language or a body part.

Beings capable of language take -pu' (tlhIngan "a Klingon", tlhInganpu' "Klingons").

Body parts take -Du' (and will be introduced later).

Everything else takes -mey (nagh "a rock", naghmey "rocks").

Note that Klingons do not generally consider robots (no matter how smart or independent) to qualify as "beings capable of language". Thus robots usually (and in this course, always) use the plural suffix -mey: one qoq, several qoqmey.

(If you, the one taking this course, are a language-using robot, we apologize for any perceived slight this simplification may inflict.)

Plural suffixes are optional in Klingon, so "the Klingons" could be translated as tlhInganpu' but also as tlhIngan.

The special case of mang

The word mang "soldier" is introduced in this skill and as a being capable of language uses the plural mangpu'. A note should be made that this is not the simple plural it appears to be. There is a separate word, negh which is used to refer to a group of "soldiers" as a whole. The plural word mangpu' has an implication that you are talking about each individual soldier in the group. Thus mangpu' might be translated as "each of the soldiers". For purposes of this lesson the simple plural "soldiers" will also be accepted.

Some more names

While you'll still see Torg (male) and Mara (female) in the course, this unit also introduces a few more names for variety.

A few of these are female: beylana, ghIrIlqa', luqara' (B'Elanna, Grilka, Lukara)

Most of them are male: DuraS, ghawran, martaq, mogh, molor, moratlh, qeylIS, wo'rIv (Duras, Gowron, Martok, Mogh, Molor, Morath, Kahless, Worf).

More names will come later in the "People" skill.