KGT Page 170

[El Payaso Malo]

In Klingon for the Galactic Traveler, it says

It is ungrammatical to use Du- with a plural subject or nI- with a singular subject.

How is that possible? The plural never need be overtly stated and is done for disambiguation or emphasis. SuvwI', for example, means both "warrior" and "warriors." The use of Du- and nI- would therefore function as disambigulators. What am I missing?

[qurgh_]

Because it wouldn't make sense any other way:

Du- = he/she/it (do) you
nI- = they (do) you

Du- is a singular subject and nI- is a plural subject.

DuHoH - He/she/it kills you
nIHoH - They kill you

Plurals are optional, but they aren't only used for disambiguation and never used for emphasis (AFAIK). Plurals can be dropped when the context makes it obvious, but otherwise should be used. All these sentences are valid:

nIHoH SuvwI'pu' - The warriors kill you (prefix is plural, noun agrees)
nIHoH SuvwI' - The warriors kill you (prefix is plural, noun could be plural or singular, but must be plural to agree with prefix)
nIHoH SuvwI'mey - The scattered about warriors kill you (prefix is plural, noun agrees, concept is kind of wacky)
DuHoH SuvwI' - The warrior kills you (prefix is singular, noun agrees)

Here's an example of how a plural can be used to refine a sentence:

HoH SuvwI' - The warrior kills him/her/it/them, the warriors kill them (Can mean either)
HoH SuvwI'pu' - The warriors kill them

These sentences, however, are not valid:

*DuHoH SuvwI'pu' - The **unable to translate subject** kills you (prefix is singular, noun does not agree, ungrammatical)
*DuHoH SuvwI'mey - The **unable to translate subject** kills you (prefix is singular, noun does not agree, ungrammatical)
*nIHoH wa' SuvwI' - The **unable to translate subject** kills you (prefix is plural, noun is forced to be singular and so doesn't agree, ungrammatical)

[QoghtlhIH'u']

That is an excellent lesson in prefixes, qurgh!