tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jun 13 20:03:49 2001

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RE: KLBC: the -taH suffix.

Uli said:

	I just came across one of my little dilemmas that I don't really get
in the TKD. 
	Perhaps it's because I'm not a native speaker of English. 

	Just what is meant with the continuous form? 
  

{-taH} is used to indicate that an event is on-going and continuous, rather
than a single discrete action.

Instead of thinking of a single English counterpart for {-taH}, it might
help if you think of a timeline representing the action.

If you use {-taH}, you are saying that an event is happening over a period
of time.
{nay'mey vISoptaH} could be used when you are eating several courses at a
banquet, and you aren't concerned with a stopping point.
On a timeline, this would be shown visually as a continuous line:

----------


The suffix {-lI'} also means that an event is continous, but emphasizes that
the event has a stopping point.
{nay'mey vISoplI'} could be used when you are eating several courses, but
you will stop (such as when you become full or when the food runs out).
You could draw this as a continuous line, which abruptly stops:

------|   


Without the suffixes {-taH} or {-lI'}, the event is a single action.
{nay' vISop} would refer to eating a dish at a banquet, without focusing on
a continuous process.
This would be a single point on a timeline:

  .    


Continuing with the timeline metaphor, we could take several examples from
Earth history:
"Earth's ozone layer deteriorates"
"Caesar ruled on Earth"
"A meteor collided with Earth"

For the first example, there is a continuous process, but no specific
stopping point. So we could say:
{SabtaH tera' muD} which we might translate in English "Earth's atmosphere
continues to decline"

For the second example, we can focus on Caesar's reign as a continuous
period of time, which ended with his death. So we could say:
{tera'Daq che'lI' *Caesar*} which we could translate as "On Earth Caesar was
in the process of ruling"

The last example is a single event, and not continuous. A meteor struck
Earth, then the action is done. So we could say:
{tera' ngeQ chunDab} which we could translate as "A meteor collided with
Earth"


The idea of "habitually" or "regularly" can be expressed with the adverb
{roD}.

Hopefully these different examples show how using {-taH}, {-lI'}, and
neither can be used to show different things. The type-7 verb suffixes are
probably what I have the most trouble explaining, so some of the other
grammarians here may also have some helpful explanations or hints for you.


- taD

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