I find {qen cha’ vIghro’ mIllogh vIleghpu’} worthy of contemplation as I continue to try to improve my understanding of the difference between tense, which Klingon lacks, and the perfective, which Klingon has.
Were I writing it, I would have either used {qen} or {-pu’}, but not both because right now, seeing the picture is a completed action, and “recently” the action was taking place, with no significance placed upon the completion of the action of seeing. The rest of the post follows with either the statement that I recently saw the pictures, or I have seen the pictures, but “I recently had seen the pictures” seems unnecessarily restrictive in terms of setting the time context of what follows.
You are interpreting the Klingon grammar according to your English translation, not according to the actual meaning of the Klingon.
You are using English past perfect tense with the adverb recently. Past perfective means that, at a point in the past, the state caused by an action even further back in the past was relevant. Recently I had seen the pictures: at a point in the recent past, my act of seeing that was even further in the past was relevant. (vp is the viewpoint of the sentence, the point at which you are placing your perspective of the sentence.)
Recently I had seen the pictures.
PAST >-----^----------------RECENTLY---------------NOW--------------------> FUTURE
see vp
That's not what qen mIlloghmey vIleghpu' means. Klingon doesn't have any perfect tenses; it doesn't have an "action in the past is relevant to the time context" tense. The -pu' is perfective, not perfect. In general, perfective aspect is used to express an action as a unit, indivisible in its flow over time. In Klingon, this is expressed as an action being completed. From whatever viewpoint the sentence or context sets up, the action is already done. The viewpoint is not the same as the time context of the action itself. qen mIlloghmey vIleghpu' means that at a recent point in the past, I performed the act of seeing, and I am further expressing my viewpoint (vp) of that act as from a point when it was already done.
qen mIlloghmey vIleghpu'
PAST >------------RECENTLY---^---------------------NOW--------------------> FUTURE
legh vp
The job of -pu' is not to tell you that a past action is still relevant (perfect); it is to tell you that you are taking a viewpoint that looks on an action as completed.
tugh mIlloghmey vIleghpu'
PAST >----------------NOW-----------------SOON----^-----------------> FUTURE
legh vp
This sentence means Soon I will have seen the pictures, and it means that seeing the pictures will take place soon, and I am viewing this action from a point after it's done.
If you fail to use a -pu' or a -taH, then you are saying that the viewpoint is in the middle of the action.
qen mIlloghmey vIlegh
PAST >------------RECENTLY-------------------------NOW--------------------> FUTURE
legh
vp
This means that you're not viewing the action from a point at which it's completed; you're expressing the action as it is occurring.
The difference between this and using -taH is that with -taH the action continues before and after the viewpoint:
qen mIlloghmey vIleghtaH
PAST >------------RECENTLY-------------------------NOW--------------------> FUTURE
<----legh---->
vp
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