tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Dec 09 16:17:11 1996

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RE: KLBC: aspect and things

December 09, 1996 8:38 AM, jatlh 'olIva':

> I'm still not sure I understand this. Doesn't "rIntaH" just mean "it is 
> accomplished", or something similar? So if I do something, can't I just
> report, "rIntaH", to say that I have accomplished it?

Sure!  But there's another way to use {rIntaH}.  Reread TKD pp. 41-42.

> > > > > SoS *credit card* vIlo'ta'. chaw'.
> > > > > I used my mother's credit card. She permitted it.

> But if I just said <vIlo'>, that could have meant that I'm doing it, or am
> going to do it, couldn't it? How do you think I should have said it, to
> get across the idea that the transaction has been completed (or even
> accomplished)?

If that's what you really want to get across, then you've said it correctly.  
Let me try to demonstrate the difference:

SoS Huch vIlo'.
I used mother's money.  (I have chosen to translate this into the past tense, 
because it makes sense for what you were trying to say.)

SoS Huch vIlo'ta'.
As of the time in question, the act of me using mother's money was completed 
intentionally.

See the difference?

-- 
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 96941.7

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