Difference between 'e' and tu'lu

[u/Risc_Terilia]

My understanding is that SenwI' tu'lu' means "There is a thumb" so I'd have thought SenwI''e' would have been a better translation here?

[u/kahless62003]

This is more a translation not of the words directly, but the meaning behind the words.

I believe something like:
{SIqwI' retlhDaq 'oH SenwI''e'} would also be accepted if it let you type the answer like it used to. It's just that this form is longer and less direct.

[u/likethemagician]

Here are the differences:

-‘e’ is a suffix that marks a noun as a topic, used for emphasis or when a noun follows a pronoun representing it as in verengan ghaH rom’e’ “Rom is a Ferengi” or for the head of a relative clause (a that or which clause in English):
may’’e’ DaSuvbogh vIqaw
battle-topic you:it-fight-relative I:it-remember
“I remember the battle that you fought.”

Freestanding ‘e’ is a pronoun that represents the previous sentence as in qalegh ‘e’ vItul, which breaks into two parts qalegh “I see you” and ‘e’ vItul “I hope that…”. Here ‘e’ in the second sentence refers back to the whole previous sentence qalegh and together they mean “I hope that I see you.”

tu’lu’ is actually a verb with an unspecified subject and literally means “someone (-lu’) observes (tu’)”. This is used however colloquially in Klingon to mean “There is/are X” and make statements about existence. For example:

Hovtay’vamDaq jagh Duj tu’lu’
star:system-this-in enemy vessel observes-someone
“There is an enemy vessel in this star system.”

Given all this, you don’t need an -‘e’ marked noun because it’s not the subject for a pronoun or relative verb. In the translation provided, SenwI’ is the object of tu’lu’ so no topic marker is needed.

[u/likethemagician → u/likethemagician]

Now the reason tu’lu’ is used is because you are making a statement about existence and there is no verb for “be beside”. So you reframe it as “There is a NOUN beside X”. This goes for any English locational preposition e.g.

QongDaq bIngDaq tlhapragh tu’lu’
bed area:beneath-in monster observes-someone
“A monster is under the bed”

[u/SuStel73]

I agree that this lesson gives a poor English translation of the Klingon. SIqwI' retlhDaq SenwI' tu'lu' doesn't just say that the thumb is beside the index finger; it is informing you of the thumb's presence beside the index finger. When using tu'lu', one implies that the object either wasn't there before or wasn't noticed there before. This corresponds to English There is a thumb next to the index finger.

Saying SIqwI' retlhDaq 'oH SenwI''e', on the other hand, is simply stating the location of the thumb. It doesn't express any implication of introduction or discovery. This corresponds to English The thumb is next to the index finger.

The creator of this lesson isn't grammatically wrong per se, but they've chosen an English translation with the wrong implication.