tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jan 19 21:36:21 2004
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Re: "ser" and "estar" (to be)
>ghunchu'wI':
>>>...Doesn't anyone remember how to ask where the bathroom is?
>>>
>>> nuqDaq 'oH puchpa''e'
>>>
>>>TKD's appendix also includes {nuqDaq 'oH Qe' QaQ'e'}.
ja' Voragh:
>Hmm... I had obviously forgotten about these two! (Can anyone think of any
>others?)
>
>Interestingly, they both contain {nuqDaq 'oH} "where is". I wonder if the
>absence of {-taH} has to do with the fact the speaker does not know the
>location, and thus cannot say where it (continuously) is or isn't.
I always rationalized it by observing that bathrooms and restaurants have a
location as part of their basic existence. They don't move around, so
their "being somewhere" is more a fact of nature than an ongoing state.
A porta-potty or hot dog vendor's cart would be different.
-- ghunchu'wI'