Klingon Noun affixes
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1.
Klingon has several types of nouns.
----Simple Nouns: Simple words, just like in English.
--------Example: DoS Target
----Compound Nouns: Are made up of 2+ nouns (like English "Earthworm" or "password"
--------Example: jolpa' Transport room (jol = transport beam, pa' = room)
----Verbs with -wI' : Any verb with the suffix -wI' means "one who does"
--------Example: baHwI' Gunner (baH = to fire) (-wI = one who does)
2.
Suffixes
Klingon nouns may be followed by one or more suffixes. If there are 2+ suffixes, they must occur in a specific order. Their are 5 types of suffixes, with Type 1 coming directly after the noun; Type 2 coming after type 1, etc and Type 5 being at the end. As an example:
NOUN-1-2-3-4-5
Also, for example if no suffix of Type 1 is used but a type 3 is, then the Type 3 suffix comes after the noun. If a type 5 suffix is the only one being used, then that would come right after the noun. It's only after 2 or more suffixes are used that the order has to be used.
2.1
Type 1: Augmentative/Diminutive
These suffixes indicate that the noun is great or small.
-'a' : Augmentative (makes the noun great)
bIQ Water --- bIQ'a' Ocean
Qagh mistake --- Qagh'a' Major error
Hegh death --- Hegh'a' Massacre, Genocide (this is not an official translation - just for example purposes)
-Hom : Diminutive (makes the noun smaller)
Qagh mistake --- QaghHom minor error
be' woman --- be'Hom girl
2.2
Type 2: Number
As in English, a singular noun has no suffix indicating that it is singular. "Book" refers to one book, likewise in Klingon nuH weapon refers to one weapon. However, in Klingon, the lack of a plural suffix does not always always mean the noun is singular. In Klingon, a noun without a pulral suffix might actually refer to more than one entity. Plurality can be indicated by a plural pronoun or a verb prefix instead of a suffix.
HoD vImojpu' I became a Captain (HoD captain | vImojpu' I became it)
HoD DImojpu' We became Captains (HoD captain | DImojpu' We became them)
HoD jIH I am a captain (jIH I)
HoD maH We are captains (maH we)
Luckily for students of klingon, it's not wrong to attach a plural suffix to a noun that refers to more than one thing, even when it's already indicated by something else (verb, pronoun) and really isn't needed. Therefore, both HoD maH and HoDpu' maH mean We are Captains (-pu is a plural suffix, I'm getting to that). There are three types of noun suffixes for Klingon, depending on what you are saying is plural.
-pu' plural for beings capable of using language
This suffix is used to indicate plural for anything that can use language (Klingons, Humans, Aliens, etc) but not anything else
HoD Captain ---- HoDpu' Captains
yaS Officer --- yaSpu' Officers
-Du' Plural for body parts
This suffix is used for the body parts of beings (whether they can use language or not, doesn't matter)
qam foot --- qamDu' feet
DeS arm --- DeSDu' arms
-mey plural for any noun
This suffix can mark that any noun is plural
Duj Ship --- Dujmey Ships
HuD mountain --- HuDmey mountains
This suffix can also be used with nouns which are capable of language (IE: the nouns that use -pu') - but when used with those nouns, it gives the notion of "scattered all about" in meaning. Example:
be' woman
be'pu' women
be'mey women all over the place
However, the -mey suffix cannot be used with body parts.
Finally, there are some nouns in Klingon which are already plural in meaning, and do not use any suffix
cha Torpedoes
ray' targets
chuyDaH thrusters
negh Soldiers
The singulars of these words look nothing like their plural counterparts:
peng torpedo
DoS target
vIj thruster
mang soldier
The singulars can be used with the -mey suffix, but it will give the "scattered all about" notion.
pengmey torpedoes all over the place
DoSmey targets scattered all about
One last thing: Apparently plural nouns are used with singular pronouns. For example, cha yIghuS! Ready the Torpedoes! uses the verb prefix yI, the command form used with singular objects, even when the object cha torpedoes has a plural meaning.
2.3
Type 3: Qualification
Type 3 suffixes indicate how sure a speaker is to the legitimacy/reality of the noun... Or at least, that's what it means in complicated terms.
-qoq so-called
This suffix shows that the noun is being used in an ironic fashion, or that the noun is not likely to be legitimate. As an example, rojqoq so-called peace is different than saying roj peace because it indicates the speaker does not really believe that peace will happen, or is not likely to last.
-Hey apparent
This suffix means that the speaker is not 100% sure that a certain thing is actually that thing, but is pretty sure. For example, if something comes over the radar of a Klingon ship and the officer infront of the Radar assumes (but is not sure) that the object on the radar is a Hov star, he will refer to the object as HovHey an apparent star instead of just a Hov star
-na' definite
This is the opposite of -Hey. It is used when there is no doubt in the speaker's mind of what he talks about. When the Klingon officer above is 100% sure that the Radar has found a star, he would probably alert everyone to the prescence of Hovna' a definite star, undoubtedly a star
2.4
Type 4: Possession/Specification
This is the largest class of suffixes because it is made up of the posession and demonstrative suffixes. First, there are suffixes used to describe an object which is close/far to the speaker, or the subject of the conversation. In simple terms, "this and that"
-vam this
Just as in English, this suffix indicates that the noun is either nearby or is the topic in the speaker's conversation.
pa'vam this room (Near me)
HoDvam this captain (who we've been talking about)
(Note: pa' = room, HoD = captain)
And of course, when used with a plural noun, -vam is translated as these: pa'meyvam these rooms
-vetlh that
This suffix is the counterpart of -vam, and it indicates that the noun is not nearby or not the topic of the conversation
pa'vetlh that room (over there)
HoDvetlh that captain (instead of the one we were just talking about)
When used with a plural noun, -vetlh is translated as those: HoDpu'vetlh those captains
Also, there is no "a", "an", or "the" in Klingon. The context of the sentence determines the difference most times. In this guide, "the" and "a" are added just to make the English sound normal.
Possessive suffixes:
-wIj my ------------------ -maj our
-lIj your ------------------ -raj your (pl)
-Daj his/her/it's --------- -chaj their
For example, juH home occurs in juHDaj his home , juHchaj their home, juHwIj my home, etc
There is also a set of suffixes that are used when the thing being possessed has the ability to use language. It only occurs in first and second person:
-wI' my ------------------ -ma' our
-lI' your ------------------ -ra' your (pl)
For example, la'wI' My commander and mochma' Our superior (officer)
2.4.1
Genetive: One noun possessing another
In order to say that one noun owns/possesses another (Ex: the Captain's ship) no suffix is used. The two nouns are said in "possessor-possessed" order.
-----Ex: HoD Duj Captain's ship (literally, Captain Ship)
This order is also used to translate phrases into "of the" in English, such as "Ship of the Captain". More examples of this will occur below in Section 2.7
2.5
Type 5: Syntax markers
The fifth and final type of noun markers in Klingon indicate what the noun is doing in the sentence. These include the English "for", "in", "from", "because of", etc
-Daq locative (in/at/to/on)
This suffixe indicates that something is happening to, at, on, in the noun. The exact meaning varies depending on the context
DujDaq yIjaH! --- (Duj ship, yIjaH Go!) = Go to the ship
pa'Daq jIHtaH --- (pa' room, jIHtaH I am) = I am in the room
Those two examples use verbs in them (which are in a totally different section; well, it will be if I ever add a Klingon verb page to Wiki). Again, the exact translation of -Daq varies with the meaning of the sentence.
In Klingon there are some verbs whose meanings already indicate locative notion, for example ghos proceed towards/approach. With the verb ghos, the locative doesn't need to be used.
-vo' from
This suffix is like -Daq, but is used when an action is taking place in a direction away from a noun.
Dujvo' yIjaH! --- (Duj ship, yIjaH Go!) = Leave the ship!
Literally, "Go from the ship!".
-mo' because of, due to
The use of this suffix will be explained by this example:
ropmo' Hegh Because of the disease, he died
The noun ropmo' means due to disease and Hegh means he dies / he died, so we know it was because of his disease that he died.
-vaD for, intended for
This suffix tells us that the noun is somehow beneficiary of the action, or is intended for something.
KahlessvaD maSuv (Kahless is the name of a ruler, maSuv we fight) = We fight for Kahless!
The word "KahlessvaD" means "For Kahless", so the fighting is being done for him.
Qu'vaD Say'ta' Duj (Qu mission, Say'ta' is cleaned, Duj ship) = The ship is cleaned for the mission
Likewise, the ship above is somehow intended to be used in the mission
-'e' topic
This is the last suffix for this guide, and is used to emphasize that the noun which it is attached to. In English, we do the same thing by saying the word emphatically. Compare:
Duj vIneH I want the ship
Duj'e' vIneH I want the SHIP (and not anything else)
Duj'e' vIneH (alternate translation) It's the SHIP that I want, nothing else
2.6
Examples of nouns with suffixes.
As stated, when a noun has more than one suffix they must occur in a specific order. It is very rare for a noun to be followed by one of each of the five suffixe types but it does happen from sometimes. Here are some examples of nouns with suffixes. These will be centered on the page for simplicity:
DuH'a'meyna'vammo' Because of these undoubtedly great possibilities
| DuH'a'meyna'vammo' | ||
|---|---|---|
| DuH | (noun) | Possibility |
| -'a' | (type 1) | Augmentative |
| -mey | (type 2) | plural |
| na' | (type 3) | definite/undoubtedly |
| -vam | (type 4) | this |
| -mo' | (type 5) | Because of |
yuQHomvetlhvo' From that small planet
| yuQHomvetlhvo' | ||
|---|---|---|
| yuQ | (noun) | planet |
| -Hom | (type 1) | Diminutive |
| -vetlh | (type 4) | that |
| -vo' | (type 5) | from |
DajqoqlIjDaq On your so-called ship
| DajqoqlIjDaq | ||
|---|---|---|
| Daj | (noun) | Ship |
| -qoq | (type 3) | so-called |
| -lIj | (type 4) | your |
| -Daq | (type 5) | Locative (on) |
Examples with complex nouns:
DIvI'may'Dujmeyvam These Federation battle cruisers
| DIvI'may'Dujmeyvam | ||
|---|---|---|
| DIvI'may'Duj | (noun)td> | Federation battle cruiser |
| -mey | (type 2) | plural |
| -vam | (type 4) | this |
baHwI'Hey An apparent gunner
| baHwI'Hey | ||
|---|---|---|
| baHwI' | (noun) | gunner |
| -Hey | (type 3) | apparent |
2.7
The noun-noun construction.
In Klingon, when two nouns follow each other (N1-N2), the combination can be translated as N2 of the N1 or N1's N2. For example, baHwI' gunner and pegh weapon, when they follow each other (baHwI' pegh) may be translated as The gunner's weapon or the weapon of the gunner. Remember, if you just want to say "his weapon", you must use a possessive suffix.
When one uses the noun-noun construction, both nouns can take Suffix types 1-4. However, only the second noun can take type 5 suffixes. Here are some examples:
mangvam HIp The uniform of this soldier
| mangvam HIp | ||
|---|---|---|
| mang | (noun) | soldier |
| -vam | (type 4) | this |
| HIp | (noun) | uniform |
Dujmaj pa'Daq In the rooms of our ship (In our ship's rooms)
| Dujmaj pa'Daq | ||
|---|---|---|
| Duj | (noun) | ship |
| -maj | (type 4) | our |
| pa' | (noun) | room |
| -Daq | (type 5) | locative (in) |
Well, that concludes the Klingon noun section.
If any Klingon speaker wants to add onto this page, by all means.
-Nero (yInjaj Holmaj!)
Source:
Okrand, Marc. 1992. The Klingon Dictionary. New York: Pocket Books, Simon & Schuster Inc.
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