tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Jun 19 09:11:19 1997

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Re: mughmeH qeq



> > peHruS typed:
> > > Let's see how you all translate this:  
> > > SIS rIntaHDI' pumpa' nagh'a' qaSpu'
> > > loS jaj
> > > 
> > I read it as
> > "When the last drop of rain has fallen,
> > it will be four days until the great rock falls."
> > 
charghwI' corrects me:
> But what about qaSpu'? The perfective indicates that four days
> had happened, have happened, or will have happened. You are
> using simple future tense in "it will be four days".
> 
hmmm.. I said "it will be four days UNTIL..." thinking that would
be equivalent to "four days will have passed BEFORE..." and there
you have your perfective;

however, I agree with the following: 
> The sentence has a time setting. That time stamp is {SIS
> rIntaHDI'}. When the action of raining had become complete. So
> the tense of this sentence is pegged to the moment that it
> stopped raining (or if it is still raining, the moment it stops
> raining).
> 
and thus with charghwI's analysis of the sequence of actions.
But then the whole sentence doesn't make any sense to me anymore.
(Which is fine, I guess :)

HomDoq



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