tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jul 13 23:41:35 1998
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-pu'
- From: "Anthony Appleyard" <[email protected]>
- Subject: -pu'
- Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 07:41:01 GMT
- Organization: Materials Science Centre
- Priority: normal
Please what <is> the correct use of the verb suffix {X-pu'}? TKD says only
that it means that the action X is complete. But the pabpo' told me off for
using -pu' repeatedly for continuous narration of past events (when I was
describing a scuba diving holiday in the Red Sea), although all the events
that I referred to were completed.
Is it correct to use X-pu' wherever an English speaker would use the perfect
tense (or its combined forms such as pluperfect and future-perfect)?
My current instincts when narrating past events are to use one -pu' and then
plain verbs, and to use another -pu' only where I jump back in time. Is that
correct usage?