Afrikaans to Klingon Latin: sal and het do not become tense endings
Time is not encoded like an Afrikaans auxiliary
Afrikaans uses temporal het and modal sal in constructions that help locate an event in past or future time. Klingon verbs lack that English-style or Afrikaans-style tense system. The KLI example yaj can refer to understanding in different timeframes according to context. Do not invent a target tense ending merely because the source contains het or sal.
For a plan or report, retain a useful timestamp in the Afrikaans source. Tomorrow and yesterday are not optional details if they distinguish the event. Klingon places a timestamp toward the beginning of the clause, so moving it to an Afrikaans-looking final position can damage the target’s organization rather than improve fluency.
Ek and jy can be encoded in a prefix
The KLI lesson distinguishes jI- for I with no object and bI- for singular you with no object. An Afrikaans sentence can change its subject pronoun while leaving a simple present verb unchanged; the corresponding Klingon predicate may need a different prefix. The participant relation must be interpreted before a target form is reused.
Check whether the action has an object as well as who performs it. A prefix learned in a sentence without an object is not automatically suitable for a line directed at another participant. Translate the whole source proposition rather than treating a Klingon prefix as a decorative equivalent to a separate Afrikaans pronoun.
A descriptive noun phrase is not a full assertion
The documented Duj tIn means a big ship, with a stative verb following its noun. Afrikaans ’n groot skip and die skip is groot likewise distinguish naming a described object from asserting its property, but their word order does not prescribe the Klingon arrangement.
For a caption or title, decide which of those functions the source performs. Do not insert a separate target equivalent of is into every description, and do not assume a short Klingon noun phrase expresses the entire statement the ship is big. A convincing-looking sequence of known vocabulary can still change the grammatical purpose of the line.
Latin case and apostrophes are part of the notation
Klingon’s Latin writing conventions use internal capitals and apostrophes that should be preserved rather than normalized through Afrikaans sentence case. The target is a writing system for another language, not a stylized source spelling. Keep the Latin variant distinct from pIqaD output when consulting a learner’s reference.
For a final check, trace time, subject–object prefix, and description versus assertion through the target. If a relative clause appears, identify which noun it describes before approving a polished interpretation. Keep the Afrikaans meaning with a saved line so a later change of speaker, object, or timeframe triggers a complete translation rather than a local edit to an unfamiliar affix.
Language references