The Pronoun net And How To Use It

The Pronoun net that

Now it's time to look at the special pronoun net.

The Klingon Dictionary - 6.2.5. Sentences As Objects

This is what we know about the use of net from The Klingon Dictionary, 6.2.5.:-

- net refers to the previous sentence as a whole.

- net is used primarily, not exclusively, with verbs of thinking or observation (such as know, see).

- net is always treated as the object verb, and the verb always takes a prefix indicating a third-person singular object.

- What is a single sentence in English is often two sentences in Klingon.

- net is used only under special circumstances.

Now let's see what those special circumstances are.

The Klingon Dictionary continues ...

When the verb of the second sentence has a third-person subject (that is, the pronominal prefix is 0) but the intended meaning is one or someone, rather than he, she, it or they, net is used instead of 'e'.

The two examples given are:-

qama'pu' DIHoH net Sov	One knows we kill prisoners.
Qu'vaD lI' net tu'bej	One certainly finds it useful for the mission.

The first sentence,

qama'pu' DIHoH

means We kill prisoners. When the second part is added,

net Sov One knows that

it implies common knowledge that the speaker's group kills prisoners.

In the same way, when you take apart

Qu'vaD lI' net tu'bej

One certainly finds it useful for the mission.

the first part, Qu'vaD lI' reads it is useful for the mission (Qu'vaD for the mission, lI' it is useful), and net tu'bej reads One certainly finds that or One certainly observes that.

The full net tu'bej construction might also be translated One will certainly find that ... or One will certainly observe that ..., using will here in English only insofar as it allows the translation to flow more smoothly. There is nothing in the Klingon sentence to indicate the future tense.

No other examples are given in The Klingon Dictionary, but here are some net constructions you can try out.

net tu'	One finds that ...
net tu'ba'	One obviously finds that ...
net tu'bej	One certainly finds that ...
net Sov	One knows that ...
net Sovba'	One obviously knows that ...
net Sovbej	One certainly knows that ...
net Har	One believes that ...
net Harba'	One obviously believes that ...
net Harbej	One certainly believes that ...
net yaj	One understands that ...
net yajba'	One obviously understands that ...
net yajbej	One certainly understands that ...
net jatlh	One says that ...
net jatlhba'	One obviously says that ...
net jatlhbej	One certainly says that ...

The net jatlh construction can be translated into English as They say that ... or It is said that ... in the same way that net Har can be translated as It is believed that ... or They believe that ...

Some examples:-

Sanchaj luqotlhbej qoHpu' net tu'	One finds that fools certainly deserve their fate
luHoHlaH pagh net jatlh	They say that he cannot be killed ("They say that nobody can kill him")
potlh Qu'vam net yaj	One understands that this mission is important
maHvaD ramqu' qama'vetlh net leghlaHbej	One can certainly see that that prisoner is utterly insignificant to us
puj jaghvetlh net leghlaHbej	One can certainly see that that enemy is weak

Next time: In the next lesson, we look at those compound sentences which require neither 'e' or net.