tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Sep 07 20:00:10 1997
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: Return to school
- From: Qov <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: Return to school
- Date: Sun, 7 Sep 1997 20:00:01 -0700 (PDT)
At 04:38 PM 9/7/97 -0700, Dawut wrote:
> [peHruS wrote]:
>> I suggest for "I went back to school yesterday" {wa'Hu' DuSaQDaq
>> jIghojqa'}.
>> This translates literally as "I started studying again at school
>> yesterday."
Actually it's "started learning again." Study is {HaD}.
>Although this may be covered with the use of {wa'Hu'}, I would still use
>a suffix like {-pu'} or {-ta} on {jIghojqa'} to indicate that the
>action was completed.
>
>jIghojqa'ta'
>
>I do not claim to be more correct, I merely offer what I would have
>done.
You are now ready to learn the difference between *tense* which indicates
whether the action of the verb takes place before after or during the time
the sentence is being told, and *aspect*, which in Klingon tells you whether
the action of the verb is ongoing or complete >at the time being considered
by the sentence<. Klingon does not have verb affixes indicating tense.
Instead we use time markers. Some examples:
cha'Hu' targhwIj vISay'moH -- I washed my targ two days ago.
wa'leS targhwij vISay'moH -- Tomorrow I'm going to wash my targ.
DaHjaj targhwIj vISay'moH -- Today I washed/wash/will wash my targ.
In the last example, without more information, you simply DON'T KNOW. If it
mattered, the speaker would say something like:
DaH targhwIj vISay'moHta' -- Now I have washed my targ. or
DaH wej targhwIj vISay'moHta' -- Now I haven't yet washed my targ.
Note that this DOES NOT mean that the v9 perfective suffix {-ta'} indicates
past. I could also say:
cha'leS targhwIj vISay'moHta' -- Two days from now I will have washed my targ.
The time that the action of the verb {Say'moH} takes place isn't really known.
I may have just washed my targ. I may be washing it as I speak this
sentence. I may be putting the unpleasant annual task off until tomorrow.
But two days from now, the time being considered by the sentence, the task
will be done. Perfective aspect.
wa'Hu' targhwIj vISay'moHta' -- Yesterday I had [already] washed my targ.
I might have washed the targ yesterday, and be talking about some point in
yesterday after his bath. I might have washed it three days ago.
An excellent canon example:
ghorgh tujchoHpu' bIQ -- When will the water be hot?
The time the getting hot takes place is *after* the sentence is asked, in
the future, but the action of the verb (getting hot) is complete at the time
being considered by the sentence, the time being asked for. More literally,
it asks "When will the water have changed to being hot." (It *could* also
mean 'when did the water get hot?' but generally one would only care if it
hadn't happened yet)
Therefore, your sentence:
>jIghojqa'ta'
while being a valid sentence, means "I had resumed learning," and is not
appropriate for translating "I went back to school."
Just remember that aspect tells you nothing about when the action took place
relative to when the sentence is told, it only tells you about the
completion or continuity of the action at the time the sentence is set.
Make sense?
jIghojqa'ta'
>>Qov stated that all verbs other than {neH} require a sentence-as-object
>>construction. This is not accurate. Verbs of speaking act as does
>>{neH}, in directly conjoined phrases. All other verbs take the
>>sentence-as-obejct construction.
>
>Although you are correct that verbs of saying (say, tell, ask, etc.) do
>not require the use of {'e'} or {net}, but I do not see how this relates
>to your sentence regarding studying at school.
That was an example of two things we have a lot of on the tlhIngan Hol list:
nitpicking and drifting off topic. People are supposed to change the subject
line when they change the topic, but they don't always.
Qov ([email protected])
Beginners' Grammarian