Some more examples of {-qu’} (emphatic) on action verbs (i.e. not qualities): nom yIghoSqu' Maximum speed. (ST5 notes) maHeghbejqu' It's certain death. (ST5 notes) qIrq wItlha'taHqu' Where Kirk goes, we follow. (ST5 notes) qara'qu' That's an order. (ST5 notes) naDev Dochvetlh qemqu' I really mean it this time! Bring that here! PK (pet command) tIqIpqu' 'ej nom tIqIp Hit them hard and hit them fast. TKW bIQapqu'meH tar DaSop 'e' DatIvnIS To really succeed, you must enjoy eating poison. TKW batlh maHeghbej 'ej yo' qIjDaq vavpu'ma' DImuv. pa' reH maSuvtaHqu' Then we die with honor and join our fathers in the Black Fleet where we battle forever. (Anthem) jIlujqu' I lose in a big way". KGT pInaDqu' tuqlIj wInaDqu' je Glory to you and your house. ("We praise you highly; we also praise your house highly") KGT jar DamaSqu'bogh yIngu' What/which is your favorite month? (st.k 12/12/96) ("Identify the month that you very much prefer!") laS veghaS HIltonDaq «Hov leng: yIjeSchu'» qaSchoHmo', bIlopqu'meH HIlton yIghoS Come celebrate the grand opening of “Star Trek: The Experience” at the Las Vegas Hilton. (STX) bIHeghqu' You will die well (PB 142-143) nom leng Hun nom lengqu' lut Stories travel faster than a khrun (PB 130-131) Hay'chu' luneHqu' vaj pe'vIl joqqu' cha' tlhIngan tIqDu' Both Klingon hearts beat, at their strongest, in lust for blood. (PB 167) -- Voragh From: SuStel On 7/31/2017 11:00 AM, André Müller wrote: SuStel, you used -qu' on jatlh to express not intensity of the action or state the verb is describing (e.g. "speak a lot" or "speak loudly" or "speak really well" which would have been possible interpretations for me), but as an emphasis marker, like SPEAKING (as opposed to anything else), sort of like topicalizing a verb. Is there canonical evidence for this usage? I'm currently in Myanmar and didn't bring my TKD, so I can't check it easily now. But this usage strikes me as odd. Usually so-called "intensifiers" cannot do this in languages, but I don't know how Okrand described -qu' exactly. From TKD: -qu' emphatic This suffix emphasizes or affirms whatever immediately precedes it. I'll simplify the quotation of the examples given. yIHaghqu' study him/her well nuQaw'qu'be' they have not finished us off The roving nature of -qu' can be seen in the following set: pIHoHvIpbe'qu' we are NOT afraid to kill you pIHoHvIpqu'be' we are not AFRAID to kill you pIHoHqu'vIp'be' we are not afraid to KILL you The first word above might be used after an enemy challenged the b4ravery of the speaker. The second might be followed by an explanation such as, "We are not willing to kill you because we require your services." The third word would be used to emphasize killing, as opposed to some other form of punishment. -- SuStel http://trimboli.name