Klingon text

ghotpu' qan, nuvpu' rop, puqpu' Qupqu' je jonbogh mIl'oD'e' rur DIS poH bIr.
nagh rur DIS poH bIr; naghvam yorDaq taHlaHbe' tI.
neb wIH, pachDu' jej joq rur DIS poH bIr.

meqvammo' pItlhob; majatlh: <<Supbogh DIS poH tuj loDHom Darur. yav DungDaq bImI'jaj. vaj nuleghjaj SoSlI' 'oHbogh pem Hov'e' 'ej HelIjDaq taHjaj tI 'IH.>>

Klingon interlinear

The root of each word is marked with the part of speech beneath it; things before this are prefixes (only on verbs) and things after this are suffixes (on verbs, nouns, and adjectives). I recommend a fixed-width font for this interlinear.

ghot-pu' qan, nuv-pu' rop, puq-pu' Qup-qu' je   jon-bogh mIl'oD-'e'
N        A    N       A    N       A       CONJ V        N
\-----------------------------------------------------------------/

rur DIS poH bIr.
V   N   N   A

nagh rur DIS poH bIr; nagh-vam yor-Daq taH-laH-be' tI.
N    V   N   N   A    N        N       V           N

neb wIH, pach-Du' jej joq  rur DIS poH bIr.
N   A    N        A   CONJ V   N   N   A

meq-vam-mo' pI-tlhob; ma-jatlh: "Sup-bogh DIS poH tuj loDHom Da-rur.
N              V         V       V        N   N   A   N         V
                                 \-------------------------/

yav Dung-Daq bI-mI'-jaj. vaj  nu-legh-jaj SoS-lI' 'oH-bogh pem Hov-'e'
N   N           V        CONJ    V        N       V        N   N
                                          \--------------------------/

'ej  He-lIj-Daq taH-jaj tI 'IH."
CONJ N          V       N  A

Klingon glossary

Nouns:
DIS             year
  DIS poH       time of year; season
Dung            area above
ghot            person
He              route, course
Hov             star
  pem Hov       daytime star; sun
loDHom          boy
meq             reason
mIl'oD          type of animal (sabre bear)
nagh            rock, stone
neb             beak, bill (of a bird)
nuv             person
pach            claw, talon
pem             daytime
  pem Hov       daytime star; sun
poH             period of time
  DIS poH       season
puq             child
SoS             mother
tI              vegetation
yav             ground
yor             exterior top

Noun suffixes:
-Daq            locative suffix: to, in, at, on
-Du'            plural marker (for body parts)
-lI'            your (singular) (object possessed is animate)
-lIj            your (singular) (object possessed is inanimate)
-mo'            because of ..., due to ...
-pu'            plural marker (for people capable of speech)
-vam            demonstrative marker: this
-'e'            topic marker; also (optionally) used to mark the head
                noun in a relative clause construction (e.g. from {yaS
                qIppu' puq} "the child hit the officer", we get {yaS
                qIppu'bogh puq} which is either "the officer whom the
                child hit" [raising the object of the clause] or "the
                child who hit the officer" [raising the subject of the
                clause]; {yaS'e' qIppu'bogh puq} is unambiguously "the
                officer whom the child hit" while {yaS qIppu'bogh puq'e'}
                is unambiguously "the child who hit the officer. yaS =
                officer; qIppu' = hit (perfective); puq = child)

Verbs:
jatlh           speak, say (when used to mark a quotation, the verb
                takes a prefix marking "no object"; the words spoken
                are simply placed afterwards)
jon             capture, seize, take
legh            see
mI'             dance, run in place, do calisthenics, exercise, do
                martial arts movements (any physical activity which
                results in no change other than, perhaps, the
                well-being of the person performing the action)
rur             resemble
Sup             jump
taH             continue, go on, endure, survive
tlhob           request, ask, plead
'oH             [in this text may be translated as] to be; is
                ({A 'oH B'e'} = B is [an] A)

Verb prefixes:
bI-             subject = you (singular); object = none
Da-             subject = you (singular); object = him/her/it
ma-             subject = we;             object = none
nu-             subject = he/she/it;      object = us
pI-             subject = we;             object = you (singular)
(none)          subject = he/she/it;      object = him/her/it/them
                subject = they;           object = them

Verb suffixes:
-be'            (negative marker)
-bogh           relative-clause marker
-jaj            may ...; let ... (expresses a wish or desire)
-laH            be able to

Adjectives: (these are considered verbs in the traditional Klingon
grammar)
bIr             cold
jej             sharp
qan             old (not young)
Qup             young
rop             ill, sick
tuj             hot
wIH             ruthless
'IH             beautiful, handsome

Adjective suffixes:
-qu'            very, extremely

Conjunctions:
je              and (joins nouns: {A B C je} = A and B and C)
joq             and/or (joins nouns: {A B C joq} = A and/or B and/or C)
vaj             so, then, thus, in that case, so that
'ej             and (joins sentences)

Klingon grammar notes

The basic sentence structure is O-V-S. Adverbials typically occur at the beginning of a sentence; this includes phrases describing the reason (noun or clause with {-mo'}) or location (noun with {-Daq}) of an action. It may be easiest to identify the verb in a sentence first, then any adverbials and sentence conjunctions that may be present; the remainder, in a simple sentence, will be object (before the verb) and/or subject (after the verb).

Verbs are marked with a prefix indicating both the subject and the object (a special case is the null prefix, which indicates 3rd person subject and 3rd person object except for the combination plural subject and singular object).

Adjectives come after the noun they modify. Nouns can modify one another in the sequence possessor-possessed (e.g. {puq} = child; {juH} = home; {puq juH} = the child's home / a child's home / a home of the child / the home of a child); any of the nouns in such a noun-noun construction may also be followed by adjectives or suffixes. There are no definite or indefinite articles.

Sentences are transformed into relative clauses by adding {-bogh} to the verb; the head noun of this clause can be either the subject or the object of the original sentence. If desired, the head noun can be marked explicitly with the noun suffix {-'e'}. (See also the glossary under {'e'}.)

Locative phrases deserve a bit of explanation: instead of prepositions, Klingon uses noun-noun constructions with the {-Daq} locative suffix on the secound noun. For example, from {raS} "table", {yor} "exterior top", and {Dung} "area above", we get {raS yorDaq} "at the table's exterior top = on top of the table" and {raS DungDaq} "at the table's area-above = over the table, above the table".

Smooth English translation

The cold season resembles a sabre bear which seizes old people, ill people, and very young children.
The cold season resembles a rock; on the upper surface of this rock, vegetation cannot endure.
The cold season resembles a ruthless beak and/or sharp talons.

For this reason we plead with you. We say: "You resemble a jumping hot season's boy. May you dance over the ground. Then may the daytime star which is your mother see us and may beautiful vegetation continue on your route."

Smooth English translation of mėrčchi

Winter is a wolf which takes the old, the sick, and the youngest.
Winter is a rock upon which no plant is able to grow.
Winter is a cruel beak and sharp claws.

Because of this, we pray to you, who are the bounding-along boy of spring. May you dance over the ground
So that the Sun which is your mother may look down upon us
And flowers grow up from the path you have taken.