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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 2/23/2022 7:07 AM,
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:luis.chaparro@web.de">luis.chaparro@web.de</a> wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:trinity-cc214cf5-2cea-4cf2-9593-3046129c105e-1645618075085@3c-app-webde-bap56">I
think I understand now much better how aspect works in Klingon. I
just have two last questions:
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">
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'*?</pre>
</blockquote>
<p><i>She had been studying from morning to evening</i> is the past
perfect progressive tense. It describes an action that is
continuous from morning to evening. It implies that studying at
some point prior to the time context had been ongoing. The past
perfect version of this would be <i>She had studied from morning
to evening.</i> I'm not sure if this is perfective.<i> </i>I
don't think so — it describes the same continuous action from
morning to evening. Not being progressive in English doesn't mean
it can't be continuous in Klingon.<br>
</p>
<p>In Klingon these would both be</p>
<p><b>po ram je qubbID HaDtaH ghaH, jaj veb vaj qaD Qappu' 'ej ngeD
qaD.</b></p>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:trinity-cc214cf5-2cea-4cf2-9593-3046129c105e-1645618075085@3c-app-webde-bap56">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">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?</pre>
</blockquote>
<p>Usually? Not really. It depends on how they are used. Perfective
is not expressed in English verbs.<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:trinity-cc214cf5-2cea-4cf2-9593-3046129c105e-1645618075085@3c-app-webde-bap56">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">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)?
</pre>
</blockquote>
<p>This is a common question that we don't have a good answer to. I
personally don't think so, at least not as a unit. I could imagine
<b>'ewropngan</b> being included parenthetically (<b>wISIQ maH,
'ewropngan</b> <i>we, Europeans, endure it</i>) but we don't
have any clear instances of parenthetical splices in Klingon.<br>
</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
SuStel
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://trimboli.name">http://trimboli.name</a></pre>
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