Pronouns

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You have already seen how tlhIngan Hol uses prefixes to denote the subject and object of a sentence. Also, you know how to use a prefix to designate I, me, you, we or us in a sentence - qaleghneS It is an honour to see you, ghowIv choose us! and so on.

Klingon, however, has another way of defining subjects and objects - through separate pronouns.

English has a host of these pronouns - I, me, myself, you, him, her, it, us, them and so on - but tlhIngan Hol uses just eight:-

jIH	I, me
SoH	you
ghaH	he, him/ she, her
'oH	it
maH	we, us
tlhIH	you (plural)
chaH	they, them (beings capable of using language)
bIH	they, them (things incapable of using language)

Prefixes And Pronouns

For most sentences, you do not need to use both the prefixes and the pronouns. Just the prefixes alone are enough - qaHoH I will kill you is all you need; qaHoH jIH, SoH qaHoH and SoH qaHoH jIH all still mean I will kill you, but the pronouns are superfluous because the prefix conveys all the information the sentence needs.

Indeed, while you might not need to use the pronouns, you always have to use the appropriate prefixes.

So why do you need separate pronouns?

"I am a Klingon"

Declarative sentences of the "I am a X" / "He is a X" type are the reason why pronouns exist in Klingon. These sentences take the form

NOUN - PRONOUN Note that in some cases where there is a plural pronoun, or the verb is carrying a plural prefix, the plural suffixes -mey, -Du' and -pu' discussed in the previous lessons are not needed; they can be used, and the pronoun or prefix is all that you need to make the meaning clear, but they are not strictly necessary because the pronoun specifies the meaning of singular or plural.

However, if you are using a plural suffix and a pronoun - for instance, for emphasis - it is important that the plural suffix match the pronoun, and that the suffix be of the correct type:- jagh chaH they are enemies works, but *jaghpu' ghaH* is incorrect - as is *jaghmey chaH* unless you are referring to animals, or being poetic and describing enemies scattered all about.

tlhIngan jIH	I am a Klingon
tera'ngan jIH	I am a Terran
loD SoH	You are a man
jagh SoH	You are the enemy
loD ghaH	He is a man
be' ghaH	She is a woman
jup ghaH	He is a friend
jup ghaH	She is a friend
nuH 'oH	It is a weapon
nob 'oH	It is a gift
Sov 'oH	It is knowledge
Hol 'oH	It is a language
tlhIngan maH	We are Klingons!
juppu' tlhIH	You are friends
be' chaH	They are women
Dochmey bIH	They are things
latlh bIH	They are additional ones

"I am not a Klingon"

To state something that is not - e.g. "I am not a Klingon" - you attach the suffix -be' not to the end of the pronoun.

Using the same examples from the above table, you get the following examples:-

tlhIngan jIHbe'	I am not a Klingon
tera'ngan jIHbe'	I am not a Terran
loD SoHbe'	You are not a man
jagh SoHbe'	You are not the enemy
loD ghaHbe'	He is not a man
be' ghaHbe'	She is not a woman
jup ghaHbe'	He is not a friend
jup ghaHbe'	She is not a friend
nuH 'oHbe'	It is not a weapon
nob 'oHbe'	It is not a gift
Sov 'oHbe'	It is not knowledge
Hol 'oHbe'	It is not a language
tlhIngan maHbe'	We are not Klingons!
juppu' tlhIHbe'	You are not friends
be' chaHbe'	They are not women
Dochmey bIHbe'	They are not the things
latlh bIHbe'	They are not the additional ones

"Are you a Klingon?"

In the same way, when asking the question "Is X a Y?" or "Are X Y?" you attach the suffix -'a' to the end of the pronoun, giving such examples as:-

tlhIngan jIH'a'	Am I a Klingon?
tera'ngan jIH'a'	Am I a Terran?
loD SoH'a'	Are you a man?
jagh SoH'a'	Are you an enemy?
loD ghaH'a'	Is he the man?
be' ghaH'a'	Is she the woman?
jup ghaH'a'	Is he a friend?
jup ghaH'a'	Is she the friend?
nuH 'oH'a'	Is it a weapon?
nob 'oH'a'	Is it the gift?
Sov 'oH'a'	Is it knowledge?
Hol 'oH'a'	Is it a language?
tlhIngan maH'a'	Are we Klingons?
juppu' tlhIH'a'	Are you friends?
be' chaH'a'	Are they the women?
Dochmey bIH'a'	Are they the things?
latlh bIH'a'	Are they the other ones?

"Are we not men?"

Finally, if asking the question "Am I not ...?" or "Are you not ...?" you can combine the -be' and -'a' suffixes to form -be''a' which you then attach to the pronoun:-

tlhIngan jIHbe''a'	Am I not a Klingon?
tera'ngan jIHbe''a'	Am I not a Terran?
loD SoHbe''a'	Are you not a man?
jagh SoHbe''a'	Are you not the enemy?
loD ghaHbe''a'	Is he not a man?
be' ghaHbe''a'	Is she not the woman?
jup ghaHbe''a'	Is he not a friend?
jup ghaHbe''a'	Is she not the friend?
nuH 'oHbe''a'	Is it not a weapon?
nob 'oHbe''a'	Is it not a gift?
Sov 'oHbe''a'	Is it not knowledge?
Hol 'oHbe''a'	Is it not a language?
loDpu' maHbe''a'	Are we not men?
tlhIngan maHbe''a'	Are we not Klingons?
juppu' tlhIHbe''a'	Are you not friends?
be' chaHbe''a'	Are they not women?
Dochmey bIHbe''a'	Are they not the things?
latlh bIHbe''a'	Are they not the additional ones?

"The X is a Y"

One more way in which you can use pronouns is to state sentences of the form "The X is a Y," where X and Y are both nouns. In this case, since the subject and object are in the third person, the only pronouns which can be used for this kind of sentence are ghaH, 'oH, chaH and bIH.

The format of "The X is a Y" sentences is

Y - PRONOUN - X -'e'

with the suffix -'e' attached to the noun X.

Again, with these kinds of sentences, the -'a' and -be' are attached to the pronoun if you are saying "The X is not a Y" or asking "Is the X a Y?"

Please note that when using plurals in the X and Y positions in sentences like these the appropriate plural suffixes are needed.

jup ghaH loDHom'e'	The boy is a friend
be' ghaH SuvwI''e'	The warrior is a woman
jagh ghaH latlh'e'	The other one is the enemy
latlh ghaH jagh'e'	The enemy is the other one
nuH 'oH vay''e'	Something is a weapon
Sov 'oH Hol'e'	Language is knowledge
vay' 'oH Hol'e'	Language is something
nob 'oH'a' nuH'e'	Is the weapon a gift?
juppu' chaHbe' tlhInganpu''e'	The Klingons are not friends
tlhInganpu' chaHbe' be'nalpu''e'	The wives are not Klingons
Subpu' chaH tlhInganpu''e'	The Klingons are heroes
nobmey bIH nuHmey'e'	The weapons are gifts
nuHmey bIHbe''a' 'ay'mey'e'	Are the components not weapons?
'ay'mey bIH Dochmey'e'	Are the items components?
paqmey bIHbe' Dochmey'e'	The objects are not books.

A note on gender

The pronoun ghaH is the same for he, him as for she, her. If you must specify the gender of a person in such a statement, use the X - PRONOUN - Y'e' construction to specify the Y:-

tlhIngan ghaH He or she is a Klingon

tlhIngan ghaH be'nI''e' The sister is a Klingon

be'nal ghaH be'nI''e' The sister is the wife
("It is the wife who is the sister")

jagh ghaH loDnal'e' It is the husband who is the enemy

Pronouns - finishing touches

So that is how Klingon uses pronouns. This is something you will see appearing throughout the rest of the lessons, particularly in future lessons where there will be conversation pieces for you to follow.

This lesson has also introduced you to two new structures - how to say something in the negative, and how to ask closed questions - questions with a yes or no answer. Questions to which the answer could be HIja' Yes, ghobe' No or even jISovbe' I don't know.

You will meet the -'a' and -be' suffixes again, in the next lesson, when you learn that they can also be applied to the verbs you have seen in other sentences.

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