tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Jan 24 07:56:14 2006

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Re: -be' or -Qo'? I forget what the acronym was for the front... lol

Terrence Donnelly ([email protected]) [KLI Member] 

(I don't recall if this was answered or not by someone
else.
If so, forgive the repetition.)

As noted before, there is no tense in Klingon, so
{-Qo'}
can refer to any time, past, present or future.

The difference between the two suffixes is that {-be'}
is simple negation: "to not X", while {-Qo'} is a
refusal to do X: "to refuse to X". It introduces the
idea of volition.

Either suffix can express any tense, which you must
determine from context:

{wa'Hu' Suvbe' jagh} The enemy did not fight
yesterday.
{DaHjaj Suvbe' jagh} The enemy is not fighting today.
{wa'leS Suvbe' jagh} The enemy will not fight
tomorrow.

In all of the above, we have no explanation of why the
fighting did/is/will not happen, just the simple fact
of
non-fighting.

{wa'Hu' SuvQo' jagh} The enemy would not fight
yesterday.
{DaHjaj SuvQo' jagh} The enemy will not fight today.
{wa'leS SuvQo' jagh} The enemy will not fight
tomorrow.

The last two sentences look identical only because of
how we express refusal in English.  The Klingon could
also be translated

The enemy refused to fight yesterday.
The enemy refuses to fight today.
The enemy will refuse to fight tomorrow.

Note: you also use {-Qo'} and not {-be'} with
commands:
{yISuvQo'!} "Don't fight!"

-- ter'eS

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