[tlhIngan Hol] *-moH* with verbs of state / quality

[Will Martin]

I think this is a really important point that is not universally understood by Klingon speakers. There is no rule that says you MUST use EVERY suffix that could possibly apply during ever utterance. You use suffixes like English uses helper words. They are optional, unless the meaning that the suffix adds is essential to your motive for communication or is grammatically important to the structure of the sentence. Clipped Klingon even drops prefixes, which ARE grammatically required for well-expressed Klingon.

So, if you want to bring your listener’s attention to a state of change, you need {-choH}. You don’t have to agonize over every verb, wondering if it should have {-choH} on it.

If getting the sequence of events or the timing of events clear is important, then Type 7 can be really important, but is otherwise not required. If expressing humility before a greater power authority is important, leaving out Type 8 could be fatal, but it is otherwise optional.

Think of it like a plural suffix on a noun. If plurality is not important or if it’s obvious from context, you don’ need the plural suffix, though it’s not wrong to use it even if it is obvious or unimportant (so long as the noun isn’t actually singular). Most suffixes in Klingon are like this, unless it is critical to the overall grammatical construction, like {-moH} or any Type 9 suffix (unless the verb has such a strong association with a specific suffix like {-Daq} that the direct object is assumed to be a location even without {-Daq}).

This is to say, that if someone leaves off a non-essential, but applicable suffix, you don’t score Klingon points for wagging your finger at them, especially if the target of your finger is Dr. Marc Okrand. While there are errors in canon, some suffix omission is simply an example of the optional character of most suffixes most of the time.

> On Nov 16, 2021, at 9:12 AM, SuStel <sustel at trimboli.name> wrote:
> 
> On 11/16/2021 8:05 AM, luis.chaparro at web.de <mailto:luis.chaparro at web.de> wrote:
> ...
> 

> Lacking -choH does not mean that a change of state does not take place; it simply means you're not expressing one. Say'moH doesn't mean maintain being clean, although it might be used for that. It means the subject is the cause of being clean.
> 
> -- 
> 
> SuStel
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