tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Apr 11 08:24:25 1996
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Re: jI'It
William H. Martin wrote:
>
> According to Alan Anderson:
> >
> > jeHwI' writes:
> > >>Do you mean that as of yesterday the book had arrived, or that the
> > >>book actually arrived yesterday?
> > >
> > >At the time of that writing, the book had actually arrived yesterday.
> >
> > wejpuH. This isn't *either* of the meanings I expected, and it doesn't
> > help to pin down what really happened. "Had arrived" says the arrival
> > was already finished at the time in question, and the time in question
> > is "yesterday" in your sentence. I must conclude that either the book
> > arrived sometime before yesterday, or you don't completely understand
> > "perfective" in either Klingon *or* English.
> >
> > It appears that you translated "the book had arrived yesterday" correctly.
> > However, even in English this is hard to understand. My question remains:
> > Did you mean that the book arrived *while* yesterday occurred, or did you
> > mean that it had *already* arrived when yesterday occurred?
>
> wa'Hu' paw paq.
> wa'Hu' pawpu' paq.
> qaSchoHDI' wa'Hu' paw paq.
> qaSlI'DI' wa'Hu' pawpu' paq.
> qaSpu'DI' wa'Hu' pawpu' paq.
>
> I think you are fixating on an extreme, pure interpretation of
> {-pu'} as perfective. It is different from the simple past
> tense, but in this instance, it does not have to indicate that
> the arrival of the book must have occurred before yesterday
> started. It can mean that the book arrived while the writer was
> at work and when he got home yesterday, the book HAD arrived.
> The event of the completion of the arrival occured during the
> day, and since it happened when he wasn't there, it fits that
> he could use the perfective to refer to it.
>
> I personally would not use the perfective if I was there when
> it arrived and I signed for it, or I would use the perfective
> if I got home and saw that it had arrived while I was away,
> since I have proof that it HAD arrived, but I don't have proof
> that it arrived during the day. Maybe it had arrived day before
> yesterday and I just didn't notice until yesterday. I can't be
> sure. But I CAN be sure that it HAD arrived yesterday.
>
> > -- ghunchu'wI' batlh Suvchugh vaj batlh SovchoH vaj
>
> charghwI'
> --
>
> \___
> o_/ \
> <\__,\
> "> | Get a grip.
> ` |
I don't care what you have to say. Write again and die. Die Die Die!
Adam walk Claire so I fuck care