TKD
chapter
3.3.5

Type 5 noun suffixes

Type 5 noun suffixes are syntactic markers, and can only be attached to nouns:

Suffix	meaning
-Daq	locative
-vo'	from
-mo'	due to, because of
-vaD	for, intended for
-'e'	topic

General

A noun marked with a type 5 suffix is placed at the beginning of a clause, but not necessarily at the beginning of a sentence (see word order). A noun marked with -Daq, -vaD, or -vo' can not be the subject or object of a verb, so it has to go before the object-verb-subject phrase:

[bIQongtaHvIS,] Duj ngo'Daq taj vIjejlI'moH.
[While you were sleeping,] I was sharpening the knives on the old ship.

[vavwI' wISuchpa',] mIvlIj QIpvo' bo yIteq.
[Before we visit my father,] remove the feather from your stupid helmet.

[Sogh jIb chIplu'DI',] be'nI' mIpvaD yIlIH.
[As soon as the lieutenant gets her hair trimmed,] introduce her to your rich sister.

Combined with numbers

When a word is combined with a number, the type 5 suffix is attached to the number:

Qo'noS wa'Daq baHta'...
...fired on Kronos One. (Chang in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)

nImbuS wejDaq ejDo' 'entepray' ngeHlu'pu'
The starship Enterprise has been dispatched to Nimbus III. (Vixis in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)

Topic marker

The suffix -'e' can be used for multiple situations. In TKD, it is described as a topic marker (1) but in a later interview, Okrand confirmed that it is actually a focus marker. (2)

stress

The suffix can be added to mark a noun in order to emphasize it. (3)

bImoH SoH'e'.
YOU, and only you, are ugly

relative clauses

It can be used to mark which part of a sentence is important, especially in cases which may be ambiguous otherwise. ^{[citation needed]}
In both of the following sentences, the targ is the subject (the one who sees) and the man is the object (being seen). If this entire relative clause is used as an object or a subject, the topic marker makes clear which of the two nouns is the one we talk about:

SoptaH loD leghbogh targh'e'. The TARG, which sees the man, is eating.

SoptaH loD'e' leghbogh targh. The MAN, which the targ sees, is eating.

To-Be-Sentences

The suffix is also used in ➞ to-be-constructions.

Other suffix types

Type	Sort	Suffixes
1	Size/Importance	-'a', -Hom, -oy
2	Number	-pu', -Du', -mey
3	Qualification	-Hey, -qoq, -na'
4	Possession/Specification	-wIj, -lIj, -vam, -vetlh
5	Syntactic Markers	-Daq, -vo', -mo', -vaD, -'e'