tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Aug 06 09:37:29 1999
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RE: KLBC: COntinuous Verbs
- From: "Andeen, Eric" <[email protected]>
- Subject: RE: KLBC: COntinuous Verbs
- Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 09:38:16 -0700
jatlh b'ragh:
> If you have the verb jach (scream)...
> to make it continuous (screaming)
> it would be jachtaH
Careful. The continuous suffix <-taH> is often translated as an English
progressive (?) tense, but that does not make them the same thing.
What <-taH> means is that at time of the sentence (past/present/future), the
action of the verb is continuous. It's not a one time event, like a single
shot from a gun. It is going on for the whole duration of some time period.
There is a related suffix <-lI'> that is very similar to <-taH>, but is used
when the action is progressing toward a goal or a known stopping point. For
example, if I were studying a textbook for a final exam, I would say <paq
vIHaDlI'>. If I am studying Klingon, though, I would say <tlhIngan Hol
vIHaDtaH>, since I don't plan to stop studying it anytime soon. Similarly, I
would say <yuQ bavlI' Duj>, but <yuQ bavtaH tengchaH>.
> What if you then want to say I scream?
> Would that be jIjachtaH?
If you just let out one or two screams, you would say <jIjach>. If you are
talking about a time period and screaming the whole time, you would say
<jIjachtaH>.
> And if so, how would you differentiate between
> I scream, and I am screaming?
What is the difference between the two in English?
<jIjach> tends to get translated as "I scream" and <jIjachtaH> as "I am
screaming", but depending on your context, either Klingon phrase could work
for either English phrase and vice versa.
pagh
Beginners' Grammarian
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