Questions and Commands

Klingon Grammar 1

Course 1 · Chapter 8 · Questions and Commands

So far every sentence has been a statement. Speakers also ask and order, and Klingon marks both with machinery you already know: a suffix for the question, a special set of prefixes for the command, and the rover -Qo' for "don't". This chapter also uses the verb order from Chapter 5, because Klingon question words do not move to the front the way English ones do.

The idea in a box
A yes/no question is the ordinary sentence with -'a' on the verb. A question word sits where the answer would sit. A command uses its own prefixes (yI-, HI-, pe- and others).

Yes/No Questions: -'a'

To ask a yes/no question you take the statement unchanged and add -'a' to the verb. The suffix belongs to group 9, so it is the last suffix on the verb and no rover can follow it (Chapter 7).

tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh You speak Klingon. tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh'a' Do you speak Klingon? (Chapter 1) DIboQnIS We need to assist them. DIboQnIS'a' DI- + boQ + nIS + 'a' Do we need to assist them? vIleghlaH I can see it. vIleghlaH'a' Can I see it?

The ranks are respected: in DIboQnIS'a' the need suffix (group 2) comes first and the question suffix (group 9) last. Compare how other languages do the same job. English changes the word order (Do you speak …?) and Hungarian uses intonation or a particle. Esperanto puts the word ĉu at the front, and Japanese puts ka at the end. Klingon is the odd one out in making the question part of the verb.

Answering

The answers are the words you learned in Chapter 1: HIja' "yes" and ghobe' "no". You can also answer by repeating the verb, positively or negated with -be':

tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh'a'? Do you speak Klingon? HIja'. Yes. ghobe'. No. tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhbe'. I do not speak Klingon.

Question Words

Klingon question words are separate words. The surprising rule is that a question word doesn't move to the front of the sentence, as English who and what do. It stays in the place where the answer would go, and only the adverbs (where, when, why, how) go first, where an adverb would go in a statement.

KlingonMeaningEsperantoHungarian
nuqwhatkiomi
'Ivwhokiuki
nuqDaqwherekiehol
ghorghwhenkiammikor
qatlhwhykialmiért
chay'howkielhogyan
'arhow many, how muchkiommennyi

The word nuqDaq is nuq with the locative suffix -Daq from Chapter 3, which is "at what", and nuqneH in Chapter 1 is nuq "what" followed by neH "want": a question with no extra marking. Because there is a question word, there is no -'a': the suffix is only for yes/no questions.

Now use the word-order rule. 'Iv can stand in the object slot or the subject slot, and the slot tells you which:

# object + verb + subject; the question word fills the slot being asked about 'Iv qIp object = who "It hits whom?" (Whom does it hit?) qIp 'Iv subject = who "Who hits it?" nuq Dalegh object = what "What do you see?"

This is a direct result of the object–verb–subject order. In English, who and what both go to the front and the word order of the rest changes; in Klingon the sentence keeps its shape and the question word simply replaces the missing piece.

Commands

A command is addressed to "you", so Klingon has a separate set of prefixes for it. They mark the person addressed together with the object, as in Chapter 4:

AddresseeObjectPrefixExample
you (one)none, or ityI-yIQong "sleep!"; yIlaD "read it!"
you (one)meHI-HIlegh "look at me!"
you (one)usgho-
you (one)themtI-
you (several)nonepe-peQong "sleep!" (to several)

There is no tense and no pronoun in a command, as in English. The word order is the same as in a statement, so the object, if named, comes first: Duj yIlegh "look at the ship!" The suffixes of Chapters 6 and 7 can be used too: yIQongqa' is "go back to sleep!", with the group 3 suffix -qa'.

Don't! The Rover -Qo'

A negative command does not use -be'. It uses the rover -Qo', which is used in the same way (after the verb or a suffix, never after group 9):

yIQong Sleep! yIQongQo' yI- + Qong + Qo' Don't sleep! yIQongqa' yI- + Qong + qa' Go back to sleep! # in a statement, -Qo' means refusal, not a command vIlon I leave it vIlonQo' I refuse to leave it (indicative: the subject refuses)
Watch out: question words stay put, and -'a' is only for yes/no
Putting 'Iv or nuq at the front out of habit changes who does what: qIp 'Iv and 'Iv qIp are different questions. Also don't add -'a' to a sentence that already has a question word, and don't use -be' for a negative command: it must be -Qo'.

Hands-On Exercises

Exercise 1

Turn each statement into a yes/no question, then write a short and a full answer: (a) DaSopnIS "you need to eat it"; (b) vIleghlaH "I can see it"; (c) tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh "you speak Klingon". Explain why the -'a' must come last.

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Exercise 2

Translate: (a) 'Iv qIp; (b) qIp 'Iv; (c) nuq Dalegh. Then say in what way the Klingon placement of who and what differs from English, and give the Esperanto and Hungarian words for "who".

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Exercise 3

Write the Klingon for: (a) "Read it!" (laD "read"); (b) "Sleep!" (Qong); (c) "Don't sleep!"; (d) "Go back to sleep!"; (e) "Look at me!" (legh); (f) "Sleep!" said to several people. Which prefix does each use?

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Chapter 8 Quick Reference

  • Yes/no question: add -'a' (group 9, last); answer HIja' / ghobe'
  • Question words: nuq what, 'Iv who, nuqDaq where, ghorgh when, qatlh why, chay' how, 'ar how many
  • A question word takes the place of the answer; adverbs go first; no -'a' with a question word
  • Command prefixes: yI- (none/it), HI- (me), gho- (us), tI- (them), pe- (several)
  • Don't!: -Qo', not -be'
Coming next
Klingon Grammar 1, Chapter 9 joins sentences: clauses with -bogh, -chugh, -pa', -vIS, -DI' and -mo', and the conjunctions that link whole sentences.