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In the first episode, "Winter is Coming", of Game of Thrones, after the wedding of Daenerys and Khal Drogo there's the following dialogue:
Khal Drogo (Seeing Daenerys' tears): No.
Daenerys: Do you know the common tongue?
Khal Drogo: No.
Daenerys: Is "no" the only word that you know?
Khal Drogo: No.
What is the meaning of this conversation? What does it convey?
Note: NO SPOILERS please - I have just watched the 1st episode.
It highlights the predicament the Dany has found herself in. All her life she has been a political pawn in her brother's ambitions and plans, and her arranged marriage to Drogo is only the latest. Khal Drogo is an imposing man who comes from a culture that seems barbarian to Dany, yet the man is now her husband whether she likes it or not. Dany had always dealt with these matter passively, blindly accepting her fate in fear of her brother's wrath. So she tries to make the best of it and to try to at least get to know her new husband in an effort to humanize him. Her attempts fail (for now) as she finds that they have very little in common, not even language. Khal Drogo becomes even more alien in her eyes, which serves to remind Dany of how deeply she has sunk.
It's been a long time since I've seen it, but I think it's more or less just trying to highlight that Daenarys was pushed into a completely different world, married to man she can't even have a conversation with.
Can't we take it literally, it just means that Khal Drogo does not know Common tongue well enough to have a conversation. If you manage to watch rest of the season 1, you will realize that Daenerys had to learn Dothraki language and integrate herself into Dothraki culture.
