Sangheili (language)/Silver

Sangheili is a constructed language created for the Halo: The Television Series co-created by linguists David J. Peterson, creator of the Dothraki language used in Game of Thrones, and Carl Buck. Both conlangers began jointly developing the Sangheili language nearly three years prior to the series premiere. By early 2022, Carl Buck estimated they had crafted close to 250 Sangheili words, those being base words and not variations of verbs and nouns. Actress Charlie Murphy learned to speak Sangheili for her role as Makee on the show and was noted to have done a phenomenal job capturing the emphasis, pitch and pronunciations of the alien language.

Peterson posts transcripts for the words and their translations in a series of posts on Archive of Our Own, accessible here. See also David Petersons records here and his additional informative Tweets archived here.

Overview

Sangheili, the language featured in the show, is an ergative–absolutive language spoken by the Sangheili, as well as generally inside the Covenant, an alien alliance that worships the Halo Array. The language is a lightly inflectional head-final language with distinctive vowel length and ejectives.

Sangheili uses Standard American Romanization. Ejective consonants are written with a following apostrophe, and the r is the tap [ɾ]. The language has long vowels, represented by a doubled vowel, and occasionally has geminates, also written doubly. Likely the most challenging aspect of the phonology are the consonants with a velar release. These are written as if they began with a consonant cluster, but they occur at every point of articulation—namely, pkh [pˣ], tkh [tˣ], kkh [kˣ], and qkh [qˣ], and even the fricative (or fricative-ending) consonants skh [sˣ], shkh [ʃˣ], and chkh [tʃˣ]

Basic Sangheili Primer

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Phonology

Sangheili features a significantly larger number of phonemes, including 42 consonant phonemes and 8 vowel phonemes. In contrast, English typically encompasses approximately 24-25 consonant phonemes and about 14 vowel phonemes.

Sangheili consonant phonemes

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Stops	(p), b, p′ p, b, p′	(t), d, t′ t, d, t′		(k), g, k′ k, g, k′	(q), q′, *ɢ q, q′	ʔ ′
Affricates	px pkh	tx, (ts), tsx, dz, ts′ tkh, ts, tskh, dz, ts′	(tʃ, tʃx, dʒ, tʃ′) ch, chkh, j, ch′	kx kkh	qx qkh
Fricatives		s, sx, z s, skh, z	(ʃ, ʃx, ʒ) sh, shkh, zh	x~χ, ɣ~ʁ kh, gh		h h
Approximants		l, ɾ l, r	j y	ɰ w
Nasals	m m	n n	ɲ n	ɳ ng	ɴ n

Sangheili vowel phonemes

	Front	Central	Back
High	i, iː I, ii		u, uː u, uu
Mid	(e) e		(o) o
Low		a, aː a, aa

• Certain sounds that are found in proper names among the Sangheili, which are not part of Sangheili phonology, are treated as approximations resulting from human attempts at Latinizing these names. Because there are no [f], [θ], or [v] sounds in the language, names like Thel 'Vadamee and Fal 'Chavamee are English approximations of T'elo Badami and P'alo Chabami, respectively, in Sangheili.

Grammar and Morphology

Pronouns

Sangheili includes an inclusive/exclusive distinction in its First Person plural pronouns ("riin" for "you and us" " and "jaari" for "us and not you"). The Sangheili language also recognizes both animate and inanimate entities, but the Third Person singular pronoun "mu" makes no gender distinction between "he" (masculine) and "she" (feminine), acting neutral as "it/itself".

	Singular	Plural
		Inclusive	Exclusive
First Person	jan	riin	jaari
Second Person	k'e	k'iri
Third Person Animate	mu	muuri
Third Person Inanimate	tkha	tkhaari

Case Particles / Postpositions

These case particles are placed after a noun to indicate the role they play in a sentence. The ergative and absolutive are grammatical. The vocative case is used for direct address, while the rest pertain to locative functions.

Type	Particle	Use
Absolutive	-	-
Ablative	ga	Indicates movement from a source or starting point of an action. This particle expresses the idea of "away (from)" or "of."
Adessive	ni	Indicates the location or position of an object or a person in relation to another object or place. It expresses the notions of "near, by, at, on, with, or upon."
Allative	oni	Indicates movement toward a location, destination, or recipient of an action. This particle expresses the ideas of "to, onto, at, for, or of."
Elative	ba	Indicates a separation or departure from a place or a starting point. This particle expresses the idea of "out of" or "from."
Ergative	o	Used after a noun to mark it as the subject of a transitive verb (a verb with an object).
Illative	zhi	Indicates direction or movement toward a location or place. It expresses the idea of "into" or "onto."
Inessive	me	Indicates being in a certain place or object. It expresses the ideas of "inside, within, or along side."
Vocative	ghu	Used to address or gain someone's attention directly. "Hey, Oh, O ye..."

The locative cases are analogous to the following English prepositions:

• Ablative: wele ga “from the ship”
• Adessive: wele ni “on the ship”
• Allative: wele oni “to the ship”
• Elative: wele ba “out of the ship”
• Illative: wele zhi “into the ship”
• Inessive: wele me “in the ship"

In contrast to English, which has dedicated possessive pronouns ("my," "your," "his," "her") and a possessive ('s), Sangheili lacks dedicated possessive cases for nouns, instead using other cases for possession depending on the nature of the possessive relationship.

Examples:

• K'uucho oni zhuro - would be “the warrior’s weapon” or better yet "the weapon TO the warrior". This would presumably mean the weapon is one the warrior owns.

• K'uucho ni zhuro - would also be “the warrior’s weapon” or better yet "the weapon ON the warrior". This would imply that the weapon is one the warrior just picked up.

• K'uucho oni nejo ga zhuro - "the weapon FROM the father TO the warrior". This would indicate that the warrior has their father's weapon.

• K'uucho me ik'o - "the warrior's eye(s)" or "the eye(s) IN the warrior". This suggests the warrior still has theirs.

• k'uucho ba ik'o - "the warrior's eye(s)" or rather "the eye(s) OUT OF the warrior". This suggests the warrior has regrettably lost theirs.

Verb Tenses

Sangheili has 8 tenses, but the meanings of those tenses vary depending on whether the verb is stative or dynamic.

Verb Tenses	Dynamic Verbs	Stative Verbs	Suffix
Bare	Imperative (An action is issued as a command or order)	Present (A state or condition is provided as a fact or general truth)	None (---)
Reduplicative	Imperfect (An action is ongoing or continuous)	Emphatic (A state or condition is emphasized)	Varies
Inceptive	Inceptive (An action has begun)	Inchoative (A state or condition is beginning)	-(i)khi
Completive	Perfect (An action has concluded)	Cessive (A state or condition has ended)	-(i)tan
Declarative	Present (An action is occurring)	Probabilitive (A state or condition holds an element of probability)	-(i)jo (irregular -cho)
Witnessed	Emphatic (A witnessed action is emphasized)	Past (A past state or condition is referred)	-(i)ji (irregular -chi)
Overheard	Uncertain (An action has an element of uncertainty)	Possibilitive (A state or condition carries past uncertain possibilities)	-(i)jen (irregular -chen)
Prospective	Future (An action will come in the future)	Future (A state or condition will occur later)	-(i)jaga (irregular -chaga)

Sangheili Negation and Question forms:

	Dynamic Verbs	Stative Verbs	Suffix
Negative	Reverse action	Contrary state	-eya
Yes or No Question	-	-	-jahe (irregular -chahe) and is attached to a reduced set of 4 tenses: Bare, Reduplicative, Inceptive, and Completive.

Demonstratives

Type	Adjective	Singular	Plural	Adverb
Proximal (near the speaker)	ne - this	ine - this	niri - these	nis - here
Medial (neither near nor far)	zo - that	uzo - that	zuri - those	zus - there
Distal (far from the speaker)	tkha - it, that (there)	athka - that (over there)	tkhaari - those (over there)	tkhaas - over there, yonder
Unknown (indicating uncertainty)	ba	aba	baari	baas
Negative (indicating absence)	ii - not, none	ngajo - no one, nobody		ngamaas - nowhere

Sangheili lines by David Peterson

* Denotes a word's spelling has not been confirmed.

Samples

Jan David *ngitkha.	My name is David.
*Haait'u ga k'utkho!	From strength, fight! or Fight with strength! (Used by Sangheili as both a greeting and a farewell.)
Jan o moa ba ngani rotkho *p'onji.	I will eat a moa burger. or I will eat moa flesh.
Ch'inji, k'utkho ba kkhosa k'entan ch'anoq'o sangheli et'ojo T'elo Badami oni.	Taken, from a sangheili swordsman of great nobility named Thel 'Vadamee who chose to flee rather than fight.
Q'iitu. Et'o zwari. Maasa gwiri k'e o jan ni changongo oni jayatan.	Mercy. Welcome. It's been a long time since you've visited my chambers.

Sangheili war chant : The Ballad of Kel 'Darsam

A poem was crafted for the series inspired by the Ballad of Kel 'Darsam in Joseph Staten's short novel, Halo: Shadow of Intent. In the show, this ballad is sung as a Sangheili war chant. These are only the first eight lines of a lengthier poem.

English	Sangheili
Born of woman, fathered by Deity, Kel ‘Darsam was a pillar of piety,	Dzana bojo ba, aamu nejo ba, K’elo Daasamu moq’aaji, ch’anaani,
Brave and noble, strong and wise, he sought only justice and no other prize,	Dzima ze oq’o, haala ze khoya, gaibaat’u ba q’a bak’ontu maaroji,
He battled with monsters, slew terrible beasts, to make his lands safe and to guarantee peace,	Mu o ghashank’o dzuk’uuchi, matkhaji; tkhaati’ni baat’u, dzukhunt’u waqkho’ni,
But jealous were others, who envied his grace, a rival Kaidon sought his rival’s disgrace,	Q’a k’unjo’ mu’m ch’apkhaat’u ghamaaziji, K’aidon o mu juutkhoma maaroji,
But a cowardly fighter, disgraced and defeated, took aim at the two as they finally retreated,	Q’a juutkhaat’u ba nuju k’uucho o muuri ni welekkhosa ni dzushkhaatan,
Kel ‘Darsam fell, spear in his back, down to the rocks where the waves did crack,	Mu ni baan me luk’a o K’elo Daasamu mogha ni gakha oni ts’aatan,
But as Kel was falling, the sun was arising, the first rays of Urs halted ‘Darsam’s demising,	K’elo ni ts’aha ni has o ruuekhi tkhazhi Daasamu ba q’ii pkhadatan,
The light found him godly with noble intention, and embraced him as kin and confirmed his ascension.	K’iis o aamu ni mu maaroji, tkhazhi tkha o tkhet’a oni mu juuch’iitan.

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Vocabulary

Transcribed words

The following words were transcribed phonetically and showcased in Episode 4 of the TV series.

• [qˣe.p'os] - "qkhep'os" : needler
• [saŋ.'ɣe.li.sˣu] - "sangheliskhu" : Sanghelios
• [saŋ.ɣe.li] - "sangheli" : Sangheili
• [xo.bu] - "khobu" : shoot
• [ki:.'gia:.ra] - "kiigiaara" : Kig-Yar
• [ɣa.ˈʃaŋ.k'o.] - "ghashank'o" : demon
• [o.' q'o.ga.xa] : "oq'ogakha" : Keystone
• [tʃ'aŋ.'ga.go.mo] - "ch'anggagomo" : Halo
• [tʃ'aŋ.go.no] - "ch'anggono" : shield
• [sˣu.tʃo] - "skhucho" : Down
• [do.tʃo] - "docho" : Up

Basic Nouns / Names

• Ch'adomo : Spartan(s)
• Ch'ambuujo : Hierarch(s)
• Ch'anggagomo : Halo, The Halo Ring
  • Qkhado Ch'anggagomo : The Sacred Ring, The Holy Ring
• Ch'awaruutu : The Journey
  • Oq'o Ch'awaruutu : The Great Journey
• Domo : Human(s)
• Gaik'inat'u : Prophet of Regret, regret
• Ghashank'o : Demon, Master Chief
• Hirajo : Blessed One
• Juukhojo : Prophet(s)
• Q'iitu : Prophet of Mercy, mercy
• Maduriga: Madrigal
• Mak'ii : Makee
• Oq'ogakha : Keystone
• Sangheli : Sangheili
• Shak'o : The Path, the way
• Shandi : The Covenant, alliance
• T'iiwajo : Heretic(s)

A

• aamu : god(s), deity(ies)
• akke : hand

B

• baan : spine or back, behind
• baashi : ceremony
• bak'ontu : justice
• bambit'a : (v.) to promise something to someone, to hold in reserve or specially something for someone (derived from the verb: bit'a)
  • bambit'agha : promise
• banghaina : (v.) to sense, to pick up on (derived from the verb: ghaina)
• bank'utkho : (v.) to defend, to resist (derived from k'utkho, bank'utkho literally means "to fight with the back" and by metaph. extension, "to fight back")
• bekkhajo : creature, animal
• bit'a : (v.) to bear, to carry, to hold
• bojo : mother(s)

C

• ch'aamosik'o : (v.) to better understand, to comprehend (derived from the verb: mosik'o)
• ch'ana : (v.) to read
• ch'anaani : pillar
• ch'anghutkho : combat, skirmish
• ch'anik'o : (v.) to see
  • ch'anik'otan : saw
  • ch'anik'oji : seen
• ch'anoq'o : great nobility
• ch'anu : head
• ch'apkhaat'u : grace
• ch'imo : (v.) to take, to get, to gather, to collect
• ch'in : (v.) to take, to seize (ch'in literally means stab ~ stabbing)
• chkhan : all, whole, endless
  • chkhan ba : all by
  • chkhan ni : over all

D

• daagha : (v.) to worry
• diibe : where (conjunction), in/to a particular place, at/from which (See also: ghaadi)
• dokkhat'u : kindness
• duje : (v.) to molt
• dzana : woman, mortal female
• dzima : brave
• dzumu : to be sharp
• dzuk'uuchi : battled
• dzukhunt'u : dominance

E

• et'ojo : swordsman(men)
• eya : no, or to negate something (if added at end of a verb)

G

• gadi : lower mandible
• gaibaat'u : fortune, riches
• gaiduje : (v.) to sully, to dirty, to pollute (derived from the verb: duje)
• gaikhawa : (v.) to guess, to predict (derived from the verb: khawa)
• gakha : rocks, stones
• ghaadi : where, in what place or position (See also: diibe)
• ghaazhi : [causal conjunction] (Because..., So..., For..., And if..., When...)
• ghaina : (v.) to hear
• ghajaya : (v.) to return, to come back
• ghamaaziit'u : jealousy
• ghaq'aaga : map
• ghashango : (v.) to accompany, to follow to join
• ghashank'o : demon, monster
  • baghashank'o : little demon
• ghunu : (v.) to destroy
• guulo : master(s)

H

• haala : strong
  • haali : stronger
• hira : bless, praise
• hodu : wait, pause
• hunt'u : radiation, radiance

I

• iiku : (v.) to know (information), to be familiar with
• ik'o : eye(s)
• ikhi : now, presently
  • ikhi ga : right now, right away
  • ikhi jaya : come quickly, come now
  • ikhi baazhi : previously

J

• jaja : perhaps
• jan : [First Person Singular] : I, me
• jaya : (v.) to come, to arrive
  • jayaleya : can not arrive
  • jayatan : arrived
  • ruujaya : come quickly
• juq'u : to join, unite
• juuch'in : (v.) to accept, to adopt, to embrace (derived from the verb: ch'in)
• juukhawa : (v.) to claim (derived from the verb: khawa)
• juun : upper mandible
• juunduje : (v.) to make look good, act good, perform well (derived from the verb: duje)
• juutkhaat'u : defeat

K

• k'aidon : kaidon
• k'e : [Second Person Singular] : you, your
• k'iis : light
• k'iisho : luminary
• k'ung : both
• k'unjo : others, the rest
• k'utkho : (v.) to fight
• k'uucho : warrior(s), fighter(s)
• khaayagha : profit, benefit
• khaayajo : someone of worth, value, or importance
• khawa : (v.) to say
• khebit'a : (v.) to have, to possess, to retain (derived from the verb: bit'a)
• khech'imo: (v.) to retrieve, to get and bring back, to reclaim (derived from the verb: ch'imo)
• khekhawa : (v.) to respond (derived from the verb: khawa)
• kheluuga : artifact, relic
• khis : mongrel
• khobu : (v.) to fire (from a weapon), to shoot
  • khobuuya : hold fire, cease firing
• khoya : wise
• khuut'a : brother(s), kin
• kkhaaya : (v.) to be worthy of
  • kkhaayeya : not worthy, hardly worth
• kkhagadza : correct, affirmative, that's right
• kkhosa : (v.) to flee

L

• la'ajo : twin, partner, counterpart
• lakhi : to rise up, to ascend
• loshkho : to show
  • loloshkho : reveal
• luk'a : spear
• luuka : blood

M

• maaro : (v.) to find, to look for, to seek
  • maarotan : found
  • q'amaaro : keep looking, continue looking
• maasa : time, period, length of event
• maaziit'u : revenge
• maikhu : tool, device
• matkha : (v.) to kill, to slay
  • matkhaji : killed, slew
  • matkhaya : do not kill
• mech'imo : (v.) to take with, to bring, to obtain (derived from the verb: ch'imo)
• mech'in : (v.) to cut
• mejaya : (v.) to prepare, to get ready
  • mejayajo : preparing
  • mejayaq'u : get equipped
• moduje : (v.) to lose track of (derived from the verb: duje)
• mobaat'u : revelation
• mobit'a : (v.) to recall, to remember, to think back on/to (derived from the verb: bit'a)
• mogha : waves, surge
• moq'aa : (v.) to be pious
  • moq'aaji : pious, devout
• moq'aajo : zealot(s)
• mos : brain, mind
  • me mos ba : like, as, just as
• mosik'o : (v.) to think, to understand
  • mosik'weya : do not understand
• mosone : counsel, advice
• mot'onguut'u : vindication
• mu : [Third Person singular] him/her, himself/herself, it/itself
• muuri : [Third Person plural] they, them

N

• nasa : bit much, much too, far too
• nejo : father(s)
• ngajo : nobody, no one
• ngani : need to, must, will
• nizhi : also, in addition, about, as well
• nuju : weak, cowardly
• nujut'u : weakness

O

• ogha : foot
  • ogha ni : near, close
• oq'o : great, glorious, noble
• oq'otu : glory

P

• p'ikhe : creature, animal
• pkha : [an auxiliary used for emphasis or to convey a sense of urgency]
• pkhada : (v.) to stop, to halt, to cease

Q

• q'unqa : (v.) to forget, to forgive
  • q'unqijaga : will forget
• q'a : but
• q'ii : dead, death, demising
• qkhaat'u : holiness
• qkhado : holy, sacred
• qkhan : enemy(ies)
• qkhe : [interjection] oh

R

• riikhe : as a group, collectively
  • riikhe ni : together, all together
  • riikhe oni : regroup, rally together
  • riikhe zi : among, in company
• riin : us, we
• rotkho : flesh, skin, hide
• ruq'a : fire
• ruq'echkha : (v.) to burn, to shine, to illuminate
• ruq'ota : (v.) to burn, to scorch
• ruuk'ina : (v.) to attack
• ruut'sag : (v.) to light, to kindle, to ignite

S

• shaadat'u : loyalty
• shkhoot'u : sign, signal
• satkha : (v.) to be certain, to be sure

T

• t'iis : word
• t'ighaina : (v.) to hear and understand, to read one another (derived from the verb: ghaina)
• t'ikhawa : (v.) to speak, to chat (derived from the verb: khawa)
• t'isqukho : (v.) to let go, to let loose, to set loose
• t'iswaqkho : (v.) to permit, to allow, to sanction (derived from the verb: waqkho)
• t'ulu : bone
• tkha : [Inanimate Third Person] it(s)
  • tkhaari : those, them
  • tkhaas : that
  • tkhazhi : then, and then
• tkhahan : (v.) to finish, to conclude
• tkhet'a : species, people, kin, nest
• tkhunga : (v.) to send, to deliver
• tkhungat'u : herald, bearer
• tkhuyujo : ancients, forerunner(s)
• tonguu : (v.) to meet
• ts'ukho : (v.) to be
  • ts'uutsukho : (reduplication) : (v.) to be emphatically true
  • ts'ukhi : come to be, turn out to be, was
• ts'uuchaga : yes, will be, shall be
• ts'uutsughaleya : impossible, cannot be possible
• tskha : to do

U

• uro : claws
• uuri : very much, nearly, fairly, quite
• uutu : evil

W

• waaka : gift, offering
  • gawaaka : sacrifice
• waqkho : (v.) to give, to grant, to offer
• warut'o : go, forward, charge (inspired by wort from the games)
  • q'awarut'o : continue on, onward
• wele : ship, vessel
• welekkhosa : (v.) to retreat (derived from the verb: kkhosa)

Y

• yodu : soon

Z

• zhuro : weapon(s)

Uncertain Vocabulary

The following words do not appear frequently in Peterson's translations.

• banechkha : (v.) to release, to let go of
• bap'umo : source, origin
• dunga : world
• gazhumaaka : alert
• has : sun
• kkhago : ring
• lushkho : star
• nga : nothing
• ngitkhagha : controls
• p'umo : start, beginning
• res : to die
• ruubaabaacho : intruder(s)
• zhaan : day