[tlhIngan Hol] Time elements and *qaStaHvIS*, continuous and perfective aspect

[luis.chaparro at web.de]

Thank you, charghwI', for your clarifications and again SuStel for the exhaustive explanation.

SuStel:

>> Thank you for taking the time to *translate* it into the Spanish grammar! ¿Hablas español?
> Solo un poco.

¡Qué pena! It would be great to read your explanations in Spanish! :-)

>> That's the reason why something like *bIpawDI', qaStaHvIS wa' rep jIghItlhtaH* sounds for me, as Spanish speaker, really strange. I would interpret it probably as the third option, *When you arrive, I will be writing for an hour (I will start writing and do it for an hour)*,
> In English, you would  have to say When you arrive, I will write for an hour. I was confused about your meaning, because in English you don't say I will be writing to indicate an action that you just started; it means you're describing a moment in which writing was already happening.

I'm afraid the mixture of Spanish grammar and wrong English was not helpful.

>> 1. *-taH* always expresses continuous and imperfective aspect, so if I want to express perfective aspect I must use *-pu'* and give up *-taH*.
> Continuous and perfective are mutually exclusive in Klingon, yes. -taH describes the internal structure of an action as already happening before now and still happening after now (where "now" is the time of the sentence). -pu' describes a completed, whole action with no description of how the action unfolded over time. You have to figure out which of these things your sentence wants to express — or, if neither, to leave off any type 7 suffix.

I think I understand now much better how aspect works in Klingon. I just have two last questions:

1. Is this sentence right in English?: *She had been studying from morning to evening, so the next day she passed the exam with no problem*. If it's a correct sentence, wouldn't here the ongoing action of studying be presented as a whole with a beginning and an end and as complete before the action of passing the exam? Or do you say in English *She had studied* and therefore use *-pu'*?

2. English perfect tenses which aren't progressive (e.g. *had written*, *has written*, *will have written*) are usually translated into Klingon *-pu'* or *-ta'*, right?

Bonus question:

Sorry, I forgot to ask this at the very beginning of this thread: could *we europeans endure it* be translated as *wISIQ maH 'ewropngan* (as an apposition)?