tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Oct 21 12:25:05 1994
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Re: -taH
- From: Mark J. Reed <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: -taH
- Date: Fri, 21 Oct 94 14:48:11 EDT
ghItlh Heidi Wessman:
\ Entiendo el espanol. (un poquito) Usando otro lengues ayuda. (Esta
\ correcto? Olvido mi espanol.)
Yo tambien he olvidado mucho de mi espan~ol, pero creo que el siguiente
tiene bastante razo'n:
En espan~ol, no se puede usar el participe de presente (-*ndo) como un
sustantivo. Para cambiar un verbo hasta un sustantivo, se necesita usar el
infinitivo. Por ejemplo, <<usando>> no puede servir como el subjeto de su frasa;
debe usar <<usar>>.
(Translation: Spanish doesn't have a gerund. You can't use the present
participle form of a verb as a noun - you have to use the infinitive. For
example, "usando" can't be the subject of your sentence; you need to use
"usar".)
It is probably helpful to relate -taH to the use of present participle in
Spanish, because in Spanish the present participle is used much less often than it is
in English, and it serves to emphasize the continuous nature of the action.
The distinction between preterit and imperfect in Spanish is also a good guide
to whether or not to use -pu' on verbs when talking about "past tense" action -
if you would use the preterit in Spanish, it makes sense to use -pu' in
tlhIngan Hol, and if you would use the imperfect, it makes sense to leave
off the -pu'. The same reasoning applies in both cases, although this is not
necessarily a hard and fast rule.
But also keep in mind that verbs in tlhIngan Hol, regardless of the presence or
absence of aspect markers, are not restricted by time, while the preterit and
imperfect in Spanish are restricted to the past tense. A verb with -pu' could
refer to an action that was completed at some particular point in the past
(simple past) or had been completed at some indefinite point prior to a
specified point in the past (past perfect) or has been completed at some
unspecified point before the present (present perfect) or will have been
completed by some point in the future (future perfect), depending on context.
--
Mark J. Reed
Email: [email protected] - Voice: +1 404 315 6296 x158 - Fax: +1 404 315 0293
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