tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Sep 28 14:10:58 1997

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A time question



I've been thinking about the ubiquitous {qaStaHvIS}.

We know that simple time stamps give the adverb (noun?) of time at the
beginning of the phrase, without any marking, eg. {DaHjaj ram qagh vISop}.
'Tonight I will eat ghagh.'; {benmey law' maqIHchuq} 'We met many years ago.'

To express _duration_, we've always used phrases with {qaStaHvIS}, like
{qaStaHvIS poH nI' qagh vISopbe'} 'I haven't eaten ghagh for a long time.'

Recently qoror suggested the phrase {nI'taHvIS poH} for {qaStaHvIS poH nI'},
which I liked a lot and immediately started using myself.  My question is, 
could this formula be extended?  How about 

{puStaHvIS tup} for a few minutes
{law'taHvIS jaj} for many days
{nI'ta'DI' poH} after a long time
{law'ta'DI' DIS} after many years
{law'pa' tup} before many minutes had passed,

and so forth.  Any comments?

-- ter'eS

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Corridor/2711



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