<p>This answer is based largely on my copy of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Klingon_Dictionary" rel="noreferrer"><em>The Klingon Dictionary</em></a> (written by Marc Okrand, who created Klingon), which is reliable and good if you need a quick translation from English to Klingon or vice-versa. I'm going to cover most of the same ground <a href="https://conlang.stackexchange.com/a/31/35">as rotaredom's answer</a>, just in more detail.</p>
<p>The book notes that there aren't really any greetings in Klingon; they're simply unnecessary. Klingon as a language is somewhat utilitarian in its application, and exchanges typically start with a straightforward statement or query by one party. Saying the Klingon equivalent of &quot;How are you doing?&quot; when you just want to figure out the new ship's departure time is simply wasteful. One answer to your question, then, would be to simply avoid a greeting. The less you talk, the less time you take up. That said, if you want to truly greet someone, you have two options. . .</p>
<h2>Choice 1: Be utilitarian.</h2>
<p>This utilitarianism is why all Klingon &quot;greetings&quot; are just introductory phrases. <strong>&quot;nuqneH&quot;</strong> is the one that seems to be commonly used, as rotaredom said. Its translation is &quot;What do you want?&quot; &quot;Nuq&quot; itself can be treated as an interrogative sentence on its own, simply meaning &quot;What?&quot;<sup>1</sup>. It can also be used as the start of a sentence, such as</p>
<blockquote>
<p>nuq legh yaS</p>
</blockquote>
<p>which means</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What does the officer see?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Additionally, &quot;neH&quot; is used as a form of &quot;to want&quot; (though it also used as an adverbial, to mean &quot;only&quot;). Therefore, we have the compound &quot;nuqneH&quot;, properly an exclamation that stands by itself as a sentence.</p>
<h2>Choice 2: Use an honorific.</h2>
<p>The <em>Dictionary</em> notes that &quot;neS&quot; is the only honorific suffix in Klingon, used as part of larger words. For instance, <strong>&quot;qaleghneS&quot;</strong>, coming from &quot;qa&quot; (&quot;you&quot;), &quot;legh&quot; (&quot;see&quot;) and &quot;neS&quot;, translates to</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I am honored to see you.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This states a fact, and gets to the point. It <em>may</em> be used towards a superior, but this is not mandatory, and I don't think it's commonly used. If you wish to open the conversation with an inquiry, <strong>&quot;HIja'neS&quot;</strong> (which includes &quot;HIja&quot;, normally used as an affirmative) can work. Its translation is</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Do me the honor of telling me [about something].</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Again, use this when asking a superior something, but only if you really want to be respectful.</p>
<h2>Miscellaneous</h2>
<p>Though I have yet to see any of the following used as a greeting, I imagine you could modify them to create some sort of opening remark.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>&quot;bel&quot;</strong> is the verb for &quot;to be pleased&quot;, so when greeting someone, you could conceivably say &quot;jIbel&quot; (&quot;I am pleased&quot;, with &quot;jI&quot; for first-person). Likewise, &quot;Quch&quot; is the verb for &quot;to be happy&quot;. Using &quot;jIbel&quot; or &quot;jiQuch&quot; to indicate satisfaction upon meeting someone is a possibility.</li>
<li><strong>&quot;maj&quot;</strong> (&quot;Good&quot;) or <strong>&quot;majQa'&quot;</strong> (&quot;Well done&quot;) are exclamations used as praise. You could use these - preferably &quot;majQa'&quot; - when welcoming an inferior who has successfully completed a task, like blowing up an enemy spaceship.</li>
<li><strong>&quot;toH&quot;</strong> is another exclamation, meaning &quot;Well!&quot; or &quot;So!&quot; You would use this in, for instance, a sentence like
<blockquote>
<p>Well! I didn't expect to see you back alive.</p>
</blockquote>
</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p><sup>1 Appending &quot;Daq&quot;, to make &quot;nuqDaq&quot;, yields &quot;Where?&quot;</sup></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-07T01:55:09.290Z
2018-02-07T02:27:35.923Z
2020-06-18T08:37:27.510Z
HDE 226868
<p>According to <a href="http://www.klingonwiki.net/En/Hello" rel="noreferrer">klignonwiki.net</a>, there isn't an exact equivalent, but you do have a few options:</p>

<ul>
<li><p><strong>nuqneH</strong>: It's the only word that could literally be called a greeting, but literally it means, "What do you want?"  It's possible as a conversation starter, though. (Also indicated by <a href="https://www.kli.org/about-klingon/klingon-phrases/" rel="noreferrer">kli.org</a>.)</p></li>
<li><p><strong>qavan</strong>: Litterally, "Salute."  It's actually the imperative, meaning that it could come across sounding like an order.  It's a possibility, though, similar to the Greeks who greet one another with the imperative form of "Rejoice!"</p></li>
<li><p><strong>qaleghneS</strong>: Literally, "I am honoured to meet you."  It was used by Riker in <em>The Emissary</em>.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>All in all, probably the best supported one is <strong>nuqneH</strong>, which kli.org states is the Traditional Greeting.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-06T21:19:49.257Z
How reliable is klingonwiki.net as a source?
Rand al'Thor
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-06T21:20:48.807Z
@Randal'Thor good question: I don't know, but I'll add some more official sources.
anonymous2
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-06T21:13:31.727Z
2018-02-06T21:21:46.060Z
2018-02-06T21:21:46.060Z
anonymous2
<p>Klingons from <em>Star Trek</em> aren't very polite, and the language developed for them reflects that - they don't exactly have many <em>polite</em> ways to say things. The closest think I've found to a polite greeting is "<a href="http://star-trek.answers.wikia.com/wiki/Klingon_for_good_morning" rel="noreferrer">Nuq'nuh</a>", which translates to "What do you want?", which... isn't very polite, IMO.</p>

<p>Is there any way to <em>approximate</em> a polite greeting in Klingon?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-04T00:35:35.973Z
Incorrect about Marc Orkrand creating the Klingon language. James Doohan created the language. He created it for Star Trek the Motion Picture for the Klingon Battle Sequence with V'ger. This was the very first time we ever heard the Klingon language. Doohan also created the Vulcan Language again for Star Trek the Motion Picture. Prior to this we NEVER heard any alien languages we only heard English the excuse given was the universal translator a convient way of cutting production costs and time for the what today would be a very low budget show. My source of this information is from Doug Drexl
Freya Anderson
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-05T21:17:55.717Z
Doohan didn't "create" the language, Doohan made up some gibberish that sounded sufficiently alien. Okrand created an actual grammar and vocabulary.
Keith Morrison
<klingon>
How would you say "good morning" or "hello" politely in Klingon?
# How would you say "good morning" or "hello" politely in Klingon?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-02-06)

Klingons from *Star Trek* aren't very polite, and the language developed for them reflects that - they don't exactly have many *polite* ways to say things. The closest think I've found to a polite greeting is "[Nuq'nuh](http://star-trek.answers.wikia.com/wiki/Klingon_for_good_morning)", which translates to "What do you want?", which... isn't very polite, IMO.

Is there any way to *approximate* a polite greeting in Klingon?

**Tags:** klingon

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Incorrect about Marc Orkrand creating the Klingon language. James Doohan created the language. He created it for Star Trek the Motion Picture for the Klingon Battle Sequence with V'ger. This was the very first time we ever heard the Klingon language. Doohan also created the Vulcan Language again for Star Trek the Motion Picture. Prior to this we NEVER heard any alien languages we only heard English the excuse given was the universal translator a convient way of cutting production costs and time for the what today would be a very low budget show. My source of this information is from Doug Drexl  
> **username_2**: Doohan didn't "create" the language, Doohan made up some gibberish that sounded sufficiently alien. Okrand created an actual grammar and vocabulary.  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2018-02-07. Score: 11

This answer is based largely on my copy of [*The Klingon Dictionary*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Klingon_Dictionary) (written by Marc Okrand, who created Klingon), which is reliable and good if you need a quick translation from English to Klingon or vice-versa. I'm going to cover most of the same ground [as rotaredom's answer](https://conlang.stackexchange.com/a/31/35), just in more detail.

The book notes that there aren't really any greetings in Klingon; they're simply unnecessary. Klingon as a language is somewhat utilitarian in its application, and exchanges typically start with a straightforward statement or query by one party. Saying the Klingon equivalent of "How are you doing?" when you just want to figure out the new ship's departure time is simply wasteful. One answer to your question, then, would be to simply avoid a greeting. The less you talk, the less time you take up. That said, if you want to truly greet someone, you have two options. . .

## Choice 1: Be utilitarian.

This utilitarianism is why all Klingon "greetings" are just introductory phrases. **"nuqneH"** is the one that seems to be commonly used, as rotaredom said. Its translation is "What do you want?" "Nuq" itself can be treated as an interrogative sentence on its own, simply meaning "What?"1. It can also be used as the start of a sentence, such as

> nuq legh yaS

which means

> What does the officer see?

Additionally, "neH" is used as a form of "to want" (though it also used as an adverbial, to mean "only"). Therefore, we have the compound "nuqneH", properly an exclamation that stands by itself as a sentence.

## Choice 2: Use an honorific.

The *Dictionary* notes that "neS" is the only honorific suffix in Klingon, used as part of larger words. For instance, **"qaleghneS"**, coming from "qa" ("you"), "legh" ("see") and "neS", translates to

> I am honored to see you.

This states a fact, and gets to the point. It *may* be used towards a superior, but this is not mandatory, and I don't think it's commonly used. If you wish to open the conversation with an inquiry, **"HIja'neS"** (which includes "HIja", normally used as an affirmative) can work. Its translation is

> Do me the honor of telling me [about something].

Again, use this when asking a superior something, but only if you really want to be respectful.

## Miscellaneous

Though I have yet to see any of the following used as a greeting, I imagine you could modify them to create some sort of opening remark.

* **"bel"** is the verb for "to be pleased", so when greeting someone, you could conceivably say "jIbel" ("I am pleased", with "jI" for first-person). Likewise, "Quch" is the verb for "to be happy". Using "jIbel" or "jiQuch" to indicate satisfaction upon meeting someone is a possibility.
* **"maj"** ("Good") or **"majQa'"** ("Well done") are exclamations used as praise. You could use these - preferably "majQa'" - when welcoming an inferior who has successfully completed a task, like blowing up an enemy spaceship.
* **"toH"** is another exclamation, meaning "Well!" or "So!" You would use this in, for instance, a sentence like
  > Well! I didn't expect to see you back alive.

---

1 Appending "Daq", to make "nuqDaq", yields "Where?"


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2018-02-06. Score: 8

According to [klignonwiki.net](http://www.klingonwiki.net/En/Hello), there isn't an exact equivalent, but you do have a few options:

* **nuqneH**: It's the only word that could literally be called a greeting, but literally it means, "What do you want?" It's possible as a conversation starter, though. (Also indicated by [kli.org](https://www.kli.org/about-klingon/klingon-phrases/).)
* **qavan**: Litterally, "Salute." It's actually the imperative, meaning that it could come across sounding like an order. It's a possibility, though, similar to the Greeks who greet one another with the imperative form of "Rejoice!"
* **qaleghneS**: Literally, "I am honoured to meet you." It was used by Riker in *The Emissary*.

All in all, probably the best supported one is **nuqneH**, which kli.org states is the Traditional Greeting.

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: How reliable is klingonwiki.net as a source?  
> **username_4**: @username_5 good question: I don't know, but I'll add some more official sources.  

---

