[tlhIngan Hol] qaStaHvIS and perfective

[SuStel]

On 3/9/2020 9:54 AM, mayqel qunen'oS wrote:
> I'm narrating a story about events which happened yesterday. I'm 
> looking back on completed events, so I use perfective.
>
> Suppose I write:
>
> {wa'Hu', qaStaHvIS wej rep, jIQuchpu'}
>
> What does it mean ? "yesterday, for the duration of three hours, I've 
> been happy" (i.e. my happiness lasted three hours), or does it mean 
> that during those three hours, I was happy only once (for a period of 
> time shorter than three hours, e.g. a minute, an hour etc) ? Or can it 
> mean too, that I was happy more than once, i.e. my happiness going 
> on-and-off ?

Don't say this. Say: *wa'Hu', qaStaHvIS wej rep, jIQuch.*

It's not about whether you're looking back on an event; it's whether 
you're describing an event as completed. Here, you're not describing 
your happiness as completed;  you're describing it as occurring during a 
particular time. That your happiness may have subsequently ended is 
irrelevant. You're describing the moment it was true, not the condition 
after it came to an end.

I'm not going to go into another conversation about what perfective 
might mean on verbs expressing qualities.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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