MO sent an email to Qov about this once, confirming that {tu'lu'} is becoming a fixed phrase. You can find the text here: http://www.klingonwiki.net/En/ThereIs

In this sense, {tu'be'lu'} is what you get if you're being proper (or pedantic, depending on the listener's attitude towards casual speech constructions), and {tu'lu'be'} is what you get if you conceive of {tu'lu'} as a single fixed unit in its own right, rather than as a combination of verb + suffix.

I'm not sure if {-lu'be'} on its own has a well-defined meaning. (One of these days, if I get the opportunity, I'd like to ask about whether {-be'} can be used with various suffixes like {-lu'} and the aspect suffixes, and what those constructions would mean.)


On Fri, Jan 12, 2018 at 9:41 AM, Steven Boozer <sboozer@uchicago.edu> wrote:
The only two examples of {tu'be'lu'} I'm aware of are:

  QuvlIjDaq yIH tu'be'lu'jaj
  May your coordinates be free of tribbles! (PK)

  vaSvamDaq tuq veng je quvvaD Heghqangbogh SuvwI' tu'be'lu''a'
  Is there nobody in this hall prepared to die for the honor of your tribe and city? (PB)

{tu'lu'be'} is used in all the other examples (and there are many).

--Voragh

----------------------------------------Original Message-----------------------------------
From: Lieven L. Litaer

Please anyone correct me if I'm wrong, but this is how I remember this:
This question has been asked AND answered before at least once, but I don't have the answer at hand. But I can answer shortly:

- There IS a difference between the two.
- There are canon examples that show the difference.

Am 12.01.2018 um 15:00 schrieb mayqel qunenoS:
> I can't understand why some people use {tu'lu'be'} instead of {tu'be'lu'}.

Another possible reason is that {tu'lu'} has grown to an expression on its own ("there is") and the {-be'} negates this expression.

{tu'lu'be'}
It is not the situation that somebody discovers.
The situation that somebody discovers is negated.

{tu'be'lu'}
It is the situation of not discovering. The subject is not defined.
It is negated that it discovers, but with indefinites subject.

Does that make sense at all? Just tell me if it's more confusing than before :-)

--
Lieven L. Litaer
aka the "Klingon Teacher from Germany"
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