tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Nov 15 08:54:06 2007
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Re: Klingon WOTD: qar (verb)
> >> Klingon word: qar
> >> Part of Speech: verb
> >> Definition: be accurate
jatlhHa' Voragh:
> > Never used in canon.
Quvar:
>What about {..., qar'a'?}, what young Klingon speakers tend to use way too
>often? (KGT)
Doh! I had {qar'a'} listed in a separate article in my dictionary and so
missed it. (I've now added the cross-reference!) Why I didn't think of it
is another question! Probably incipient senility, qar'a'?
{qar'a'} "Isn't it? Isn't that so? Right?"
TKD 179: Tag questions (ending a statement with a question such as
"right?" or "isn't that so?") are formed by using the verb {qar} "be
accurate" plus the suffix {-'a'} "interrogative". This word either follows
the verb or else comes at the end of the sentence.
De' Sov qar'a' HoD
De' Sov HoD qar'a'
The captain knows the information, right? TKD
'IH qar'a'
It's beautiful, isn't it? CK
'IH jaj qar'a'
Beautiful day, isn't it? PK
KGT 34-35: One good illustration of this involves the tag question--that
is, the construction in which a statement is followed by a question such as
"right?" In Klingon, a tag question is formed by adding {qar'a'}
(literally, "Is it accurate?") either after the verb or at the end of the
sentence: {qarDaSnganpu' HIvpu' tlhInganpu' qar'a'?} or {qarDaSnganpu'
HIvpu' qar'a' tlhInganpu'?} ("The Klingons have attacked the Cardassians,
right?"). The tag question is found in the speech of all Klingons to one
degree or another, but it is found quite a bit more frequently in the
speech of younger Klingons. Indeed, some members of the older generation
have accused teenage Klingons of adding {qar'a'} to the end of virtually
every sentence they utter.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons