Use Unknown Subjects

Indefinite subject

This unit is all about the type 5 verb suffix -lu', called the indefinite subject suffix.

This suffix indicates that the subject or actor is unknown, indefinite, irrelevant, or general. We often indicate this in English by using generic subjects like, one, someone, or they.

For example, loD choplu'pu' would mean Someone has bitten the man, They have bitten the man, or One has bitten the man.

Prefixes

The use of verbal prefixes in connection with this suffix is a bit unusual.

The prefix is chosen as if the patient or the one the verb happens to were the subject and as if the object were he, she, it. For example, it bites you (when speaking to one person) is Duchop, but when using -lu' to say, one bites you, Du- is not used but instead Da- — the form used for you (one person) do something to it: Dachoplu' one bites you; someone or something bites you; they bite you.

Thus, we have:

vI…lu' one … me
Da…lu' one … you
…lu' one … him/her/it
wI…lu' one … us
bo…lu' one … you all
lu…lu' one … them

Updated prefix chart

Earlier in this course you were given a prefix chart which only included the basic pronominal prefixes. The following version of the chart has added in the imperative prefixes and the reflexive and reciprocal forms using the suffixes -'egh and -chuq. This version of the chart also has an extra line at the bottom which shows how the prefixes are combined with the -lu' suffix to indicate the indefinite subject.

Passive voice

To avoid expressing who is doing the action, English sometimes use the passive voice, such as The man was bitten. The English passive voice is used to emphasize what would normally be the object of a sentence by placing it in the subject position. As we indicated earlier, loD choplu'pu' would mean Someone has bitten the man, but it can also be translated into the English passive voice, The man was bitten. You may find that it is often more natural to translate the Klingon indefinite subject and this course often uses the English passive voice.

However, the Klingon indefinite subject is not the same as the English passive voice. The difference will be clearest when translating sentences that do not have an object. Such sentences cannot be translated using the English passive voice as the English passive voice relies on having a patient or one that the verb happens to that can be moved to the subject position of the sentence. If the Klingon sentence has no object, then the English sentence cannot move it to the front to create a passive sentence. There is no way to reword, "One does not sleep while guarding a prisoner," into the passive voice.

Because the English passive voice reverses the position of the subject and object, this can sometimes seem like a simple way to translate a standard Klingon sentence.

The targ bites the man.
loD chop targh.
The man is bitten by the targ.

Also note that the use of the Klingon prefixes also seems to do something similar to reversing and also now seems to match the English passive voice:

vIHo'lu'. One admires me. / I am admired.
DatoDlu'. One saves you. / You are saved.
qagh HoHlu'. One eats serpent worm. / Serpent worn is eaten.
wIHIvlu'. One attacks us. / We are attacked.
bongejlu'. One infects you all. / You all are infected.
yIHmey luHoHlu'. One kills tribbles. / Tribbles are killed.

Be aware that the subject and object are not actually reversing in the Klingon sentence the way they do in English. If there is a patient or one the verb happens to, then it will still appear in the object position in the Klingon sentence, as in yIHmey luHoHlu' "Tribbles are killed." In the Duolingo exercises, pay attention for when you are given an English passive voice sentence and must translate it with the Klingon indefinite subject.

tu'lu' there is

Now you can also understand the forms tu'lu' for there is and lutu'lu' there are: they are based on the verb tu' find, observe.

So pa' puq tu'lu' there is a child there literally means one finds a child there or a child is found there. And pa' puqpu' lutu'lu' there are children there literally means one finds children there or children are found there.

Note that it is not uncommon for Klingons to leave off the lu- prefix in casual conversation, even if the object is plural. It seems that perhaps tu'lu' is beginning to become a set form and is often used by Klingons to mean either "there is" or "there are". However, in this course, you will be expected to use proper ta' Hol and will usually be marked wrong for using a plural object with tu'lu' unless it is from a well known phrase that is always said that way.

-lu' and -laH

For reasons that make most sense to Klingon grammarians, it is not possible to combine the suffixes -lu' and -laH to create meanings such as one can see me; I can be seen or one cannot find them; they cannot be found. -lu' and -laH are both type 5 verb suffixes, so one or the other of those suffixes can be on a given verb but not both at once.

If such a meaning is desired, one way to express it is with a locution such as muleghlaH vay' someone can see me or chaH tu'laH pagh nobody can find them with an explicit subject vay' someone or pagh nobody.