Rover

The Rover is a special type of verb suffix, because it can move around between the other suffixes (i.e. it roves), except following a type 9 suffix. (1). There are no rover suffixes for nouns (2).

Overview

Suffix	meaning
-be'	not
-Qo'	don't!, won't!
-Ha'	undo
-qu'	emphatic

Negation

The suffix -be' negates what precedes it which means it is translated as not or don't. The suffix is not used when giving commands. One should use -Qo' instead. TKD mentions that "The suffix -be' cannot be used with imperative verbs." (3) which is a bit misleading. It does not mean that -be' cannot be used at all within imperatives, it just means that it is not used to say "don't". So the phrase yIleghbe'moH Cause him to not see follows the rules properly.

Negative imperative

When a command is given NOT to do something, as in "Don't touch", -Qo' is used instead of -be'. -Qo' always comes at the end unless followed by a Type 9 suffix, so can only appear once. Note that Qo' can be used as a standalone exclamation meaning "No! I won't! I refuse".

Undo

The suffix -Ha' reverts the meaning of a verb, but it does not always create the opposite meaning. It can sometimes be translated as "do verb incorrectly", like jatlhHa' "say something wrong". It always comes directly after the verb, before any other suffixes, so it can appear only once in a verb (double use makes no sense: yajHa'Ha'?)

This suffix can also be attached to adverbs, but not all of them.

Intensification

The suffix -qu' intensifies the verb or suffix it follows and is usually translated as "very".

Combining rovers

While there can only one suffix of each type, a verb may have multiple rover suffixes. TKD shows two examples of using -be' and -qu' on one verb:

• nuQawqu'be' "they have not finished us off"
• pIHoHvIpbe'qu' "we are NOT afraid to kill you"

See also

• verb suffixes

Type	Sort	Suffixes
1	Oneself/one another	-chuq, -'egh
2	Volition/predisposition	-nIS, -qang, -rup, -beH, -vIp
3	Change	-choH, -qa'
4	Cause	-moH
5	Indefinite subject/ability	-lu', -laH
6	Qualification	-chu', -bej, -ba', -law'
7	Aspect	-pu', -ta', -taH, -lI'
8	Honorific	-neS
9	Syntactic markers	-DI', -chugh, -pa', -vIS, -mo', -bogh, -meH, -'a', -jaj, -wI', -ghach
R	Rovers	-Ha', -Qo', -be', -qu'

References

1 , 3 : The Klingon Dictionary chapter 4.3.

2 : http://www.qephom.de/e/message_from_maltz_140624.html Email from Marc Okrand of 24 June 2014