Questions: Why?

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Often, the question why? crops up in a conversation:-

Why did the Klingon enter the room?

Why did the woman kill that enemy?

Why are you studying Klingon?

The word for why? in Klingon is

qatlh

qatlh comes at the beginning of a sentence, before the object - verb - subject construction and usually before other similar words (called adverbials) such as DaH now and naDev here.

Some examples:-

jagh Suv tlhIngan	The Klingon is fighting an enemy
qatlh jagh Suv tlhIngan	Why is the Klingon fighting the enemy?
loDvetlh DaHoHta'	You killed that man
qatlh loDvetlh DaHoHta'	Why did you kill that man?
naDev be'nal	Here is the wife
qatlh naDev be'nal	Why is the wife here? (Also: What is the wife doing here?)
ghung	They are hungry
qatlh ghung	Why are they hungry?
tlhIngan Hol DaHaD	You study Klingon
qatlh tlhIngan Hol DaHaD	Why do you study Klingon?

In all cases, the object-verb-subject construction is not changed; qatlh just goes before it.

For other such words, and words such as nom quickly, SIbI' suddenly and pe'vIl forcefully, there is a lesson, Adverbials, coming soon.

Next: Because, due to.

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