: -*- html -*- updated: 2023-08-06T18:40:18+0200 created: 1998-02-26 author: zrajm year: 1998-2023 lang: en up: .. script: jquery-1.7.1.js A Quick Reference to Time Expressions in Klingon ================================================ * [Telling Time](#tell) * [Asking for the Time](#ask) * [Units of Time](#units) * [Present](#present) * [Past](#past) * [Future](#future) * [Years and Months](#year) * [Days of the Week](#week) * [Time of Day](#times) * [Other](#other) [tell] Telling Time ------------------- There are several ways of telling time in Klingon, though by far most complete and coherent system is the 24 hour “military time” described in [*Conversational Klingon*](../canon/1992-10-01-ck.txt) (1992) and [*TalkNow: Klingon*](../canon/2011-11-07-email.txt) (2011): > “Klingons have adopted the way most civilized planets in the galaxy tell > time; They have twenty-four hour days. ‘Zero hours’, means midnight; ‘twelve > hundred hours’, means noon; ‘nineteen hundred hours’ means seven p.m., and so > on. Klingons pride themself on punctuality, so it is important to be precise > when referring to time. Though Klingons are sometimes inaccurate, they are > never approximate.” [CK]

Enter a time here! ↴
{cha'maH wejvatlh vaghmaH Hut rep}	11:59pm

The formula is “*hour*[{vatlh}] *minute* {rep}” where *hour* is 0–23, and *minute* is 0–59. If *hour* is {pagh} <<(zero)>> you drop the {vatlh}. It looks like this in use:

Source is *TalkNow: Klingon,* except where otherwise noted.
{pagh rep}	<<(00:00) zero hours, midnight>> [CK] or <>
{pagh cha'maH vagh rep}	<<(00:25) 12:25 a.m.>>
{pagh vaghmaH rep}	<<(00:50) 12:50 a.m.>>
{wa'vatlh rep}	<<(01:00) one a.m.>>
{wa'vatlh vagh rep}	<<(01:05) five past one a.m.>>
{wa'vatlh wa'maH rep}	<<(01:10) ten past one a.m.>>
{javvatlh rep}	<<(06:00) six hundred hours, six o'clock in the morning>> [CK]
{wa'maH vatlh rep}	<<(10:00) ten a.m.>>
{wa'maH wa'vatlh rep}	<<(11:00) eleven a.m.>>
{wa'maH cha'vatlh rep}	<<(12:00) twelve hundred hours, noon>> [CK]¹ or <>
{wa'maH wejvatlh rep}	<<(13:00) one p.m.>>
{wa'maH loSvatlh wejmaH rep}	<<(14:30) fourteen hundred thirty hours>> or <<2:30 p.m.>> [KML]²
{wa'maH Hutvatlh rep}	<<(19:00) nineteen hundred hours>> or <> [CK]
{cha'maH wejvatlh rep}	<<(23:00) eleven p.m.>>

¹	Here assuming that “{cha'maH wa'vatlh rep}” in Conversational Klingon just got {cha'} and {wa'} swapped around.
²	Alan Anderson <caanders@netusa1.net> on the {tlhIngan-Hol} Mailing List, 20 May 1996.

In [*{HolQeD} 8:1*](../canon/1999-03-holqed-08-1.txt) (March 1999) *two different* ways of telling the time were described. The first system, used for interplanetary communication, is exemplified in the following phrases (if the context is clear, the word {tera'} <> may be left out, as in the last example below):

{tera' rep wa'}	<>
{tera' rep cha'maH}	<>
{tera' rep loS wejmaH}	<>
{rep cha'maH}	<<20 o'clock, eight o'clock p.m.>>

The second system is an informal way of answering the question {'arlogh Qoylu'pu'?} <> (lit. <>) In direct response to this question one may even drop the verb, and answer only {chorghlogh} <> (lit. <>).

{cha'logh Qoylu'pu'}	<>
{chorghlogh Qoylu'pu'}	<>

[ask] Asking for the Time ------------------------- Asking what time it is is an idiomatic phrase in almost all languages, and Klingon is no exception in this. There are basically two ways of asking: The one usually used in military contexts is {rep yIper!} <> or <> Outside of those situations the expression {'arlogh Qoylu'pu'?} is most commonly used (it literally means <> or <>) [[HQ 8:1](../canon/1999-03-holqed-08-1.txt)]

{rep yIper!}	<> [HQ 8:1]
{'arlogh Qoylu'pu'?}	<> (lit. <>) [HQ 8:1]
{mamejDI' 'arlogh Qoylu'pu'?}	<> (lit. <>) [HQ 8:1]

[units] Units of Time --------------------- In a sentence the time expression always come first, even before any adverbials. (Though there are some time words, e.g. {qen} <> and {tugh} <> etc. which themselves are adverbials.) We don't know exactly how [the Klingon units of time](../dict/?q=tag:time+tag:measure) compare our Terran units, but keeping that in mind, here is a list of time units in Klingon (largest first):

Klingon	English	Source
{DIS}	<>	[TKD]
{jar}	<>	[TKD]
{Hogh}	<>	[TKD]
{jaj}	<>	[TKD]
{rep}	<>	[TKD]
{tup}	<>	[TKD]
{lup}	<>	[TKD]

[present] Present ----------------- The word for <> is {DaH}, and the word for <> is {DaHjaj.} <> can also be expressed as {jajvam} <> -- which actually means <> or <> -- so {jajvam} may actually refer to last Thursday, if that happens to be the topic of the conversation. Note, however, that {DaHjaj} and {jajvam} are used in different ways. {DaHjaj} (but not {jajvam}) can be used as the time element in a sentence, while {jajvam} is more common in a noun position. (Though {DaHjaj} can also be used as a noun, especially in common phrases such as {DaHjaj gheD} <>.) [[News 1997-06-29](../canon/1997-06-29d-news.txt)] Since {-vam} above is a type 4 noun suffix (meaning <>), it can be used on any time unit: {DISvam} <> {jarvam} <> {Hoghvam} <> etc. [TKD 3.3.4] We have no indication that {DaH} can be used in this way, however, so a word like {^*DaHtup} might be possible to understand, but it is most likely ungrammatical.

Klingon	English	Source
{DaH}	<> (adv)	[TKD]
{'eQ}	<> (adv)	[{qepHom'a'} 2019]
{DaHjaj}	<> (n)	[TKD]

{DaH yIDIl!}	<> [TKD p.171]
{DaHjaj jI'oj.}	<> [CK 31:16]

[past] Past ----------- There are a couple of adverbials related to past time, namely {qen} <> and {ngugh} <> When one needs to be more specific there one can use {ben, wen} and {Hu'} to count <> and <>. There is also a word {ret} which is used to express that something happened some arbitrary time units ago. Here are the words:

Klingon	English	Source
{ben}	<> (n)	[TKD]
{wen}	<> (n)	[HQ 8:3]
{Hu'}	<> (n)	[TKD]
{ret}	<> (n)	[HQ 8:3]
{ngugh}	<> (adv)	[News 1999-11-05]
{qen}	<> (adv)	[News 1999-02-02]

The words {ben} <> {wen} <> and {Hu'} <> can be immediately preceded by any number to form a time expression, while {ret} <> must also be preceded by the name of a time period (e.g. <>, <> or somesuch). Here are some examples (underlining the words in the table above):

{cha'vatlh ben}	<>
{Hut wen}	<>
{wa'Hu' jIghung.}	<> [CK 30:59]
{cha' tup ret}	<>
{DungluQ tIHIv. ngugh Qongbe' chaH.}	<> or <> [HQ 8:4; News 1999-11-05]

It might be added that {ret} <> is not used when other words are available, as {ben} <> {wen} <> and {Hu'} <> are always preferred. [future] Future --------------- The adverbial {tugh} means <> but you can also specify how long ago it was that something happened using the following words:

Klingon	English	Source
{nem}	<> (n)	[TKD]
{waQ}	<> (n)	[HQ 8:3]
{leS}	<> (n)	[TKD]
{pIq}	<> (n)	[HQ 8:3]
{tugh}	<> (adv)	[TKD]

And here are some examples (with time expressions underlined):

{cha'vatlh nem}	<>
{Hut waQ}	<>
{wa'leS jIDoy'.}	<> [CK 31:34]
{cha' tup pIq}	<>
{tugh!}	<> [TKD 5.4]

As with {ret} <>, {pIq} <> is not used when other words are available; {nem} <> {waQ} <> and {leS} <> are always preferred. [year] Years and Months ----------------------- We have an example of how to write the year in the form of a copyright notice on the SkyBox trading cards, in which Marc Okrand translated the year <<1994>> into {tera' DIS wa'-Hut-Hut-loS}. This gives a pattern for writing years (which might be useful for large numbers, or series of numbers, as well -- e.g. telephone numbers). Saying the digits one after the other is also conveniently shorter than using the numeric elements for multiples of ten ({-maH, -vatlh} etc.). As for names of the months, we have no canon examples. Alan Anderson <caanders@netusa1.net> has suggested to the [tlhingan-hol mailing list](http://www.kli.org/tlhIngan-Hol/) (in 20 May 1996) that one should apply the same pattern as for years above, thus saying {tera' jar vagh} for the Terran month <>. [week] Days of the Week ----------------------- The Klingon week has six days. When Klingon have encountered cultures where the week is longer than their own, they use their traditional names until they run out and then number any remaining days, thus naming our <> {jaj wa'} <>.

Klingon	English
{DaSjaj}	<>
{povjaj}	<>
{ghItlhjaj}	<>
{loghjaj}	<>
{buqjaj}	<>
{ghInjaj} or {lojmItjaj}	<>
{jaj wa'}	<>

The longer form for <>, {lojmItjaj}, is used for formal occasions, on other occasions the two forms are heard about equally often. [{qepHom'a'} 2013] [times] Time of Day ------------------- There exist a bunch of words for describing the time of day:

Klingon	English	Source
{jajlo'}	<> (n)	[TKD]
{po}	<> (n)	[TKD]
{pem}	<> (n)	[TKD]
{pemjep}	<> (n)	[TKD]
{pov}	<> (n)	[TKD]
{choS}	<> (n)	[TKD]
{ram}	<> (n)	[TKD]
{ramjep}	<> (n)	[TKD]

> “Although Klingons tell time the way most of the rest of the galaxy does, the > Klingon day really goes from dawn to dawn, rather than from midnight to > midnight. You might think this could cause some confusion, but it is really > comparable to when a Terran says something like, ‘Thursday night, at three > o’clock in the morning’.” [CK] [other] Other ------------- Well, there are still some time related stuff that haven't been mentioned. Let's lump it all together under this heading.

Klingon	English	Source
{poH}	<> (v)	[TKD]
{poH}	<> (n)	[TKD]
{nI'}	<> (v)	[TKD]
{ngaj}	<> (v)	[KGT]

If you want to know more about how to tell time in Klingon, you may want to read the articles “[Maltz Online](../canon/1999-03-holqed-08-1.txt)” in *{HolQeD} 8:1* (pp. 7--12) and “[{matlh juppu' mu'mey}](../canon/1999-09-holqed-08-3.txt)” in *{HolQeD} 8:3* (pp. 2--4) written by Marc Okrand. [[eof]]