[tlhIngan Hol] Pluralizing inherently plural nouns

nIqolay Q niqolay0 at gmail.com
Wed Aug 16 08:29:46 PDT 2017


On Wed, Aug 16, 2017 at 11:23 AM, mayqel qunenoS <mihkoun at gmail.com> wrote:

> Does adding the {-pu'} to the singular form of an inherently plural
> noun, as in the case of {mangpu'}, indicate "soldiers scattered all
> over the place" ?
>

No, why would it? {-pu'} doesn't have any notion of "scattered all about".
That's {-mey}.


> So, as I understand this - and someone correct me if I'm wrong - it
> isn't grammatically wrong to add a plural suffix, to an inherently
> plural noun; it is just that the resulting word/meaning is
> strange/awkward.
>

It sounds strange and awkward *because* it is grammatically wrong. It is,
in fact, possible for Klingons to say things that are not 100%
grammatically precise. That section of TKD is about such grammatical
errors, specifically the ones commonly made by children.


> The use of {bIH} with {ngopmey}, isn't grammatically wrong.
>

It is grammatically wrong, but the main error is the {ngopmey}, not in the
verb agreement. If {ngopmey} were an acceptable plural word, {bIH} would be
the proper word to go with it.
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