Klingon Sentences, Clauses, etc
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1.
Word Order
It's my theory that Klingon is supposed to be exactly opposite of English as far as how it is spoken. When I'm writing in Klingon, I sometimes have to start from the back of a Klingon sentence and work my way to the front. Look at this, even the noun suffixes are made so it's exactly opposite of how something would be said in English:
tuqHommeyqoqma'Daq
Klingon transliteration: House,small,plural,so-called,our,in
Intended English meaning: In our so-called small houses
Klingon switched the english around. Just read the Klingon transliteration (House,small,plural,so-called,our,in) from right to left and you get the English. So it shouldn't surprise anyone that Klingon was constructed with the sentence structure OVS, the opposite of English SVO.
OBJECT - VERB - SUBJECT
2.
Simple Sentences
For example: (be' woman, puq child, legh he/she sees him/her)
......puq legh be' The woman sees the child
......be' legh puq The child sees the woman
The words are exactly the same in both sentences. The only way to find out who is looking at whom is through the word order. And of course, the prefix on the verb must be the correct one. (jIH pronoun: I, me)
......be' vIlegh jIH I see the woman
.......................(vIlegh I see him/her/it)
......jIH mulegh be' The woman sees me
.......................(mulegh He/she/it sees me)
Usually pronouns are not used in the above types of sentences, because the verb prefix illustrates the object/subject. Pronouns can be used, of course, for emphasis if you want. But the verb will do just fine:
......be' vIlegh I see the woman
......mulegh be' The woman sees me
Imperative (command) sentence order is the same as regular order.
......peng yIghuS Fire the torpedo!
.......................(peng torpedo, yIghuS fire it!)
......juppu'lI' tIQaH Help your friends!
.......................(juppu'lI your friends, tIQaH help them!)
Any other noun in the sentence comes first. Usually these nouns have a Type 5 suffix.
......pa'Daq ghIgh wIlegh We see a necklace in the room
.......................(pa'Daq in the room, ghIgh necklace, wIlegh we see it)
......HaStamo' QongvIp puqpu' Because of the movie, the children are afraid to sleep
.......................(HaStamo' Because of the movie [lit: visual display], QongvIp they are afraid to sleep, puqpu' children)
3.
Compound Sentences
TO BE CONTINUED
Source:
Okrand, Marc. 1992. The Klingon Dictionary. New York: Pocket Books, Simon & Schuster Inc.
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