Counting in Klingon

Language overview

Forty-two in Klingon The Klingon language (tlhIngan Hol) is a constructed language spoken by the Klingons in the Star Trek universe. Designed by the American linguist Marc Okrand from 1984 on, it is regulated by the Klingon Language Institute, which promotes the Klingon linguistics and culture. Beyond the Star Trek franchise, Klingon has achieved a worldwide recognition with for instance a translation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing, and an opera (’u’, by Eef van Breen, September 2010). Klingon is written in a special alphabet: the KLI pIqaD.

Klingon numbers list

  • 1 – wa’
  • 2 – cha’
  • 3 – wej
  • 4 – loS
  • 5 – vagh
  • 6 – jav
  • 7 – Soch
  • 8 – chorgh
  • 9 – Hut
  • 10 – wa’maH
  • 11 – wa’maH wa’
  • 12 – wa’maH cha’
  • 13 – wa’maH wej
  • 14 – wa’maH loS
  • 15 – wa’maH vagh
  • 16 – wa’maH jav
  • 17 – wa’maH Soch
  • 18 – wa’maH chorgh
  • 19 – wa’maH Hut
  • 20 – cha’maH
  • 30 – wejmaH
  • 40 – loSmaH
  • 50 – vaghmaH
  • 60 – javmaH
  • 70 – SochmaH
  • 80 – chorghmaH
  • 90 – HutmaH
  • 100 – wa’vatlh
  • 1,000 – wa’SaD
  • ten thousand – netlh
  • one hundred thousand – bIp
  • one million – ’uy’

Klingon numerals

Zero (0 ) in Klingon (Pagh)
0
One (1 ) in Klingon (Wa’)
1
Two (2 ) in Klingon (Cha’)
2
Three (3 ) in Klingon (Wej)
3
Four (4 ) in Klingon (LoS)
4
Five (5 ) in Klingon (Vagh)
5
Six (6 ) in Klingon (Jav)
6
Seven (7 ) in Klingon (Soch)
7
Eight (8 ) in Klingon (Chorgh)
8
Nine (9 ) in Klingon (Hut)
9

Klingon numbering rules

Now that you’ve had a gist of the most useful numbers, let’s move to the writing rules for the tens, the compound numbers, and why not the hundreds, the thousands and beyond (if possible).

  • Digits from zero to nine are specific words: pagh [0], wa’ [1], cha’ [2], wej [3], loS [4], vagh [5], jav [6], Soch [7], chorgh [8], and Hut [9].
  • The tens are formed by prefixing the suffix of ten (maH) by its multiplier digit: wa’maH [10], cha’maH [20], wejmaH [30], loSmaH [40], vaghmaH [50], javmaH [60], SochmaH [70], chorghmaH [80], and HutmaH [90].
  • The compound numbers are formed by stating the ten and the digit name separated with a space (e.g.: wa’maH wa’ [11], SochmaH vagh [75]).
  • The suffix for hundred is vatlh, and the suffix for thousand is SaD. Higher scale numbers suffixes are netlh [10,000], bIp [100,000], and ’uy’ (million, 106). The scale numbers multiples are formed by prefixing the scale suffix with the multiplier name, with no space (e.g.: chorghvatlh [800], vaghnetlh [50,000]).

Books

Star Trek: Conversational Klingon Star Trek: Conversational Klingon
by , editors Star Trek (2000)
[Amazon.com Amazon.com]

Klingon for the Galactic Traveler Klingon for the Galactic Traveler
by , editors Star Trek (1997)
[Amazon.com Amazon.com, Kindle - Amazon.com Kindle - Amazon.com]

The Klingon Dictionary The Klingon Dictionary
by , editors Star Trek (1992)
[Amazon.com Amazon.com, Kindle - Amazon.com Kindle - Amazon.com]

Articles

Marc Okrand Marc Okrand

After studying Native American languages, Marc Okrand taught linguistics courses at the University of California, then spent his career at the National Captioning Institute. In parallel, he has created the Klingon language for the Star Trek franchise, as well as the Atlantean language for Walt Disney Pictures.

Star Trek languages

Klingon, Romulan, and Vulcan.

Other supported languages

As the other currently supported languages are too numerous to list extensively here, please select a language from the full list of supported languages.