[tlhIngan Hol] KLBC - How to say "I like to do/doing something"

[SuStel]

On 2/11/2017 8:34 AM, Aurélie Demonchaux wrote:
> Indeed the lack of tense can be a bit confusing sometimes and it's 
> taking me a bit of time getting used to.
>
> I'm still working to figure out also how it works with the verb suffixes.
>
> For example, in the 4 possible sentences below, do I get the exact 
> nuances right?
>
> jIvutpu’ ’e’ vIparHa’
> - I like that I cooked (at some point in the past)
> - I like that I have cooked (just now)
> - I like finishing to cook (maybe implying that this is when I can 
> finally eat ;)

"At some point in the past" implies past tense, which we know Klingon 
doesn't have. Instead, the *-pu'* tells us that "I cook" is a completed 
action. In English we can't separate tense and aspect, so the 
distinction is difficult for English-speakers to grasp.

*jIvutpu'
*/I cooked; I have cooked; I will have cooked
/I perform, performed, or will perform an act of cooking, and I now, 
did, or will complete that act.

The single word in no way tells you whether the action is past, present, 
or future. It means all of them and none of them at the same time, the 
same way that /blue/ means sky-blue and navy-blue and TARDIS-blue all at 
the same time.

*wa'Hu' jIvutpu'
*/yesterday I cooked; yesterday I had cooked/

*DaH jIvutpu'
*/right now I have cooked/

*wa'leS jIvutpu'
*/tomorrow I will have cooked/

Contexts like these are required to determine /when/ the cooking happened.

If you don't use an aspect suffix, you are explicitly talking about an 
action that is not completed (or continuous) in the moment your are 
describing.

*jIvut
*/I cook; //It's true that I cook things/

This also does not specify /when/ an action happened, which requires 
context:

*wa'Hu' jIvut
*/I cooked yesterday; it's true that I engaged in cooking yesterday/

*DaH jIvut
*/I cook now; at other times I may not have cooked, but it's true that I 
cook now/

*wa'leS jIvut
*/I will cook tomorrow; tomorrow I'll do some cooking/

You can make a similar comparison with the continuous suffixes.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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