tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Feb 27 11:25:57 2007

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Re: Topic (was: Re: Dilbert Comic in Klingon for February 9, 2007

Doq ([email protected])



jatlh Qugh: cha' ben chotobchoH'a'?

jang matlh: ghobe'. wa' ben'e' qatobchoH.

Doq

On Feb 27, 2007, at 1:41 PM, McArdle wrote:

> The major difference I see between {qatoy'taH wa'ben 'e' vItagh}  
> and {wa'ben qatoy'choH} is the {-taH}.  I read my version as  
> something like "I began to serve you continuously one year ago."  I  
> think that this would be understood by default as implying "... and  
> I still serve you", and that to make it mean anything else (e.g.,  
> "... and I stopped serving you six months ago") would require extra  
> verbiage of some sort.
>
>   But, as this whole discussion makes abundantly clear,  
> interpretations vary.  I'm afraid I never understood why {wa'ben'e'  
> qatoy'taH} didn't imply something like "A year ago I was serving  
> you [... but not any more]".  Maybe it's just me, but turning the  
> timestamp into the topic of the sentence seems to imply that  
> there's a contrrast coming, even if it's only implied.
>
>   qavan
>
>   mIq'ey
> Doq <[email protected]> wrote:
>   There's nothing wrong with {qatoy'taH wa'ben 'e' vItagh}, though  
> it basically says the same thing as {wa'ben qatoy'choH} and is less  
> concise. It does have one problem in terms of expressing "I have  
> served you for the past year." What you are actually saying is, "A  
> year ago, I began serving you." That says nothing about now. Are  
> you still serving? I guess context will have to provide that  
> information, since it would work just as well if someone was  
> committed to service for a month and someone asked, "When did you  
> start your month of service?" {wa'ben qatoy'choH.}
>
> [etc.]
>
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