tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Mar 26 10:21:21 1996
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: KLBC: Hab SoSlI' Quch
>Date: Mon, 25 Mar 1996 20:39:07 -0800
>From: [email protected] (Faber)
>Okay, I think I understand, so "Your tribble is dead" would be *Hegh yIHlIj*?
Not completely. "Hegh yIHlIj" means "your tribble dies" or "your tribble
died" or "your tribble will die." To get "your tribble is dead," you need
something more like "your tribble has died" which is "Heghpu' yIHlIj." The
-pu' suffix indicates perfective aspect, meaning that the action (in this
case, the dying) has finished taking place by the time under discussion
(which may be past, present, future, or unspecified). "Hegh yIHlIj" may be
referring to the past tense, but then it means "your tribble died" with the
action happening *at* the time under discussion (the time under discussion
is the past).
I hope I haven't confused things.
~mark