tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Nov 11 15:24:10 2009

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Re: Yet another newbie!

David Trimboli ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

Krenath wrote:
> If I'm understanding it properly, 'oH and 'oHtaH may be analogous to  
> the verbs "ser" and "estar" in Spanish.
> 
> 'oH and ser talk about what something is when that aspect is somewhat  
> permanent.
> 
> 'oHtaH and estar talk about what something is *currently* when that  
> aspect is expected to be able to change, such as a location
> 
> Sound about right?

I wouldn't go that far. We should probably just take the {-taH} 
literally: {'oHtaH} means something like "it continuously is." 
"Continuous" is not the same as "currently," and it does not mean 
"permanently," although permanent things tend to be continuous things.

Using pronouns as verbs is an area of Klingon where there are clearly 
more subtle things going on than we have been given rules for. The best 
we can expect to reproduce ourselves is a rough emulation. A Klingon 
grammarian would probably pull his hair out from frustration (or more 
likely pull OUR hair out instead).

-- 
SuStel
tlhIngan Hol MUSH
http://trimboli.name/mush

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