tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Apr 30 15:44:38 1995

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Re: KLBC: Present tense of verbs

yoDtargh wrote:
> {jIjatlh} can mean:  I speak, I am speaking, I do speak, I will speak, I 
> will be speaking, I spoke, I was speaking.

I must disagree with our esteemed Beginner's Grammarian.  My opinion is that
{jIjatlh} means:  I speak, I do speak, I spoke, I did speak, I will speak.
The phrases "I am speaking" or "I was speaking" or "I will be speaking" imply
to me a continuous action, and thus would be translated {jIjatlhtaH}.  If I
am delivering a speech, then {jIjatlhlI'} "I am in the process of speaking."
As yoDtargh said, tense is not indicated by the verb; but I believe he erred
when he included "I AM speakING" as a meaning of {jIjatlh}.

-- ghunchu'wI'

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