[tlhIngan Hol] x nuq vs nuq x & 'Iv x vs x 'Iv

David Holt kenjutsuka at live.com
Sat Oct 12 04:21:52 PDT 2019


De'vID:
> What's the difference between "What is this?" and "This is what?"
> What's the difference between "Who are you?" and "You are who?"

bara'qa':
Indeed.. I don't see no difference between them two options.

English uses a copular verb and allows the equated parts to be mostly reversible.  Klingon uses pronouns as both subject and verb.  In a question like, {nuq mI'lIj} there is no word acting as verb.  It's more equivelent to a terse, "What number?" - not a grammatical question, but understood well enough.  We can argue all day over whether it is clipped, coloquialism, or intentional ungrammaticality, but in any case, it's not formal grammatical ta' Hol.
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