Verb Suffixes

Klingon Grammar 1

Course 1 · Chapter 6 · Verb Suffixes

Klingon has no helping verbs such as can, must, started to or has. Where English adds a word, Klingon adds a suffix to the verb. A single verb can end up carrying a whole phrase's worth of meaning. This chapter introduces the main suffixes and the rule that governs their order; Chapter 7 completes the set.

The idea in a box

A verb is prefix + root + suffixes. The suffixes come in nine ranked groups, and when you use more than one, they must appear in rank order: group 1 before group 2, and so on.

The Suffix Groups

Marc Okrand divided the verb suffixes into nine groups ("types"), numbered by the position in which they appear. This chapter covers the first seven in outline:

Rank	Idea	Suffixes
1	reflexive, reciprocal	-'egh (oneself), -chuq (each other)
2	need, will, readiness	-nIS (need to), -qang (be willing to), -rup (be ready to), -beH (be prepared for), -vIp (be afraid to)
3	change, resumption	-choH (begin to, become), -qa' (resume, again)
4	cause	-moH (cause to)
5	indefinite subject, ability	-lu' (one, someone; Chapter 7), -laH (can, be able to)
6	degree of certainty	-chu' (perfectly), -bej (certainly), -ba' (obviously), -law' (it seems)
7	aspect	-pu' (has done), -ta' (has accomplished), -taH (is doing, continuing), -lI' (is progressing)

Groups 8 and 9, and the "rover" suffixes that do not belong to a numbered group (such as -be' and -qu'), are the subject of Chapter 7.

Using One Suffix

Most verbs carry one suffix at a time. Remember that the prefix (Chapter 4) comes first and names the subject and object:

# prefix + root + suffix
vIlegh              I see it
vIleghlaH           I can see it         (ability, group 5)
vIleghnIS           I need to see it     (need, group 2)
vIleghpu'           I have seen it       (aspect, group 7)
vIleghtaH           I am seeing it       (continuing, group 7)
vIleghchoH          I begin to see it    (change, group 3)

DaSop               you eat it
DaSopnIS            you need to eat it
DaSopqang           you are willing to eat it

There is no tense in Klingon (Chapter 4). -pu' means the action is finished and -taH that it is in progress, but neither says when: vIleghpu' can be "I saw it" or "I have seen it". Time words supply the rest.

Stacking Suffixes: The Rule of Rank

When a verb needs more than one suffix, you pick the groups you need and write them in group order. The result is a long word that is built, not memorised:

vIleghnIS             vI- + legh + nIS               I need to see it
vIleghnISpu'          vI- + legh + nIS + pu'         I needed to see it / have needed to see it
vIjatlhlaH            vI- + jatlh + laH              I can speak it
vIjatlhlaHpu'         vI- + jatlh + laH + pu'        I have been able to speak it
vIjatlhchoHlaH        vI- + jatlh + choH + laH       I can begin to speak it

Read each word from the left. After the prefix and root, every suffix adds one idea, and the ranks (2, 3, 5, 7) rise as you go. Writing -pu' before -laH, for example, breaks the rule, because aspect (rank 7) must be last. The strict order is the same idea as the fixed noun-suffix order in Chapter 3, and it is one of the main features that make Klingon agglutinative in the sense of Introduction to Linguistics 4.

A Cause and a Change

Two of the suffixes change the meaning of the verb more deeply. -moH adds a causer: yaj "understand" becomes yajmoH "make understand", i.e. "explain". -choH marks the start of a change: with a state verb such as QaQ "be good" it gives QaQchoH "become good". Because these are higher in rank than ability and aspect, they come first: yajmoHlaH "can explain".

Comparison: Hungarian

Hungarian also adds a suffix to the verb where English uses can, and the order of parts is similar:

Meaning	English	Hungarian	Klingon
I see it	I see it	látom	vIlegh
I can see it	I can see it	láthatom	vIleghlaH

In both Hungarian and Klingon the ability is a suffix added to the root. The two differ in that Hungarian puts the person ending at the very end, while Klingon puts the person information at the front, in the prefix, so that the suffix is last.

Watch out: the order is by rank, not by meaning

It can feel natural to put suffixes in the order of the English words, but Klingon ignores that. "I needed to be able to see it" is not built from the English word order: the ranks (-nIS 2, -laH 5, -pu' 7) fix it. Keep the capitals too: -nIS has a capital I and S, -laH and -taH end in a capital H.

Hands-On Exercises

Exercise 1

Build the verb for each, using legh "see", Sop "eat", Sam "find", jatlh "speak": (a) "I can see it"; (b) "you need to eat it"; (c) "I have seen it"; (d) "I am willing to find you"; (e) "I can speak it".

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Exercise 2

Take each word apart into prefix, root and suffixes, give the rank of each suffix, and translate: (a) vIleghnIS; (b) DaSampu'; (c) vIjatlhlaHpu'; (d) qaSamqang; (e) yajmoHlaH.

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Exercise 3

Put the suffixes -pu', -laH, -nIS and -choH in the correct order after the root legh (with the prefix vI-), translate the result, and explain why vIleghpu'laH would not be allowed. Then give the Hungarian equivalent of "I can see it" and say what it shares with the Klingon.

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Chapter 6 Quick Reference

Verb = prefix + root + suffixes in rank order (nine groups)
2: -nIS need, -qang willing · 3: -choH begin/become, -qa' resume · 4: -moH cause
5: -lu' indefinite subject, -laH can · 6: -chu', -bej, -ba', -law' certainty
7: -pu' perfective, -ta' accomplished, -taH continuing, -lI' progressing
No tense: aspect says finished or in progress, not when
Hungarian also uses a suffix for "can": láthatom ~ vIleghlaH

Coming next

Klingon Grammar 1, Chapter 7 finishes the verb suffixes: the indefinite subject -lu', negation -be', the suffixes that turn verbs into nouns and clauses, and the special suffixes that stand outside the rank system.