These expressions stand as sentences in their own right.
ghobe' No. (response to a question)
Ha' Let's go! Come on!
HIja' or HISlaH Yes. (response to a question)
lu' or luq Yes. Okay. I will.
maj Good. (expressing satisfaction)
majQa' Very good. Well done.
nuqneH What do you want? (greeting)
pItlh Done!
Qo' No. I won't. I refuse.
SuH or Su' Ready!
toH Well! So!
wejpuH Charming. (used only ironically)
'eH Ready!
HIja' and HISlaH yes seem to be used interchangeably.
SuH, Su', and 'eH all mean that the speaker is about to give a command. They are comparable to the "Ready!" at the beginning of a race: "Ready! Set! Go!" SuH and Su', but not 'eH, can also be used to indicate that the speaker is ready to do something or that arrangements have been made for something to happen. Some speakers of Klingon pronounce SuH as if it were SSS, almost like the English expression for "be quiet": shhh!
pItlh is used for It's done! I've done it! I've finished! All done! etc.
The expression toH is roughly equivalent to English aha!
Also included in the category of exclamations are Klingon curses. As it turns out, cursing is a one art among Klingons. It is not always clear how to use the curses, but some are certainly epithetical (used for name-calling), while others seem to have a more general application. A few curses are listed below
Epithets | General invective |
petaQ | va/Qu'vatlh |
toDSaH | ghay'cha' |
taHqeq | baQa' |
yIntagh | Hu'tegh |
Qovpatlh | QI'yaH |
ghuy'cha' |
The invective va is actually just a shortened form of Qu'vatlh. Note also that the adverbial jay' intensely is invective in force (Section 4.0.0).