tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Sep 27 04:34:16 2000

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RE: KLBC questions


geH'pu said:

> How would one frase a question in klingon.  I know forinstance that in
> french you could add est-ce que to the begining of your sentence.  is
> there anything like that in klingon or would you have to change the word
> order?
> 
Making a yes/no question in Klingon is simple and doesn't require changing
the word order. To do so, you add the verb suffix {-'a'} to the end of the
verb in your statment.

For example, suppose you want to ask "Does the targ eat?"
First, {Sop targh} is the statement "The targ eats."
So, to turn it into a yes/no question, you would add {-'a'} to the verb
{Sop}:
{Sop'a' targh} "Does the targ eat?"

Be careful that you don't confuse the type-9 verb suffix {-'a'} with the
type-1 noun suffix {-'a'}.  The verb suffix {-'a'} is used for making yes/no
questions. The noun suffix {-'a'} is used for describing nouns as more
important. Look at the difference between these sentences:
{Sop targh} "The targ eats."
{Sop'a' targh} "Does the targ eat?"
{Sop targh'a'} "The great targ eats."
{Sop'a' targh'a'} "Does the great targ eat?"

If you want to phrase a question that requires an explanation, rather than
yes/no, you need to use one of the question words (such as {nuq}, {'Iv},
{ghorgh}, etc.) You can find these explained in TKD on pages 68-70. If you
have any questions about how any of these words are used, or if you want to
practice using questions in Klingon, feel free to ask.


> P.S. I think I want My name to be geH'pu it isn't suposed to mean any
> thing but if it means something realy stupid you might want to alert me
> to that.  My freinds at school have started to call me that since I have
> picked up klingon and I think it sounds nice.
> 
> 
geH'pu is fine, since you can use whatever name you want. Klingon names are
sometimes written differently on Star Trek then they are in the Klingon
language. For example, 'Worf' is used on the tv show, but since there's no
{f} sound in Klingon, it's pronounced {wo'rIv} in Klingon.
Similarly, in Klingon, there isn't a plain {g} sound, but there is a {gh},
which is sort of a gargled g sound. Also, following Klingon spelling
patterns, the {'} wouldn't fall between {H} and {p}. So geH'pu would
probably rendered as {gheHpu'} when spoken in standard Klingon. However, you
can keep it as geH'pu or change it as you see fit.

- taD

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