Zwangzug wrote:In Spanish, there's a different form of "to be" used for permanent and temporary conditions; you'd use a different verb to say "the book is red" and "I am tired". Could we use the "to be upon" construction for temporary conditions, and a different construction for inherent traits?
kadani wrote:I think there are adjectives where the metaphor might break. While it IMHO seems appropriate for anything living, it just feels bad to say that red is upon the book (nenvil zongas kuida). So we can maybe find a use for both constructions.
Miatato wrote:Maybe "to be upon" is for temporary physical or mental conditions. Perhaps more permanent states are expressed with verbs, along the lines of "the book reds" (or "is-red", as I'd normally render it for a literal gloss).
Return to The Language Factory
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest