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Rex May - Baloo wrote: > > Aspect. So far, Ceqli has the progressive aspect with particle 'gi' > > Go soma. I read. Go gi soma. I am reading. > > And it sort of has aspect with the composite tenses: > > Go pa ja. I went. > Go pa pa ja. I had gone. > Go fu pa ja. I will have gone. I don't think the same particle should be used both for past tense and for perfect aspect. What if I want to express the perfect and ignore the tense? (Which Mandarin speakers do quite frequently.) Don't be thrown off by the fact that tense and aspect are so strongly intertwined in English. > Go pa fu ja. I was going to go. > Go fu fu ja. I will be going to go. "Going to" shows intention. It can just as well be replaced by "planning to". I don't think it's a kind of aspect. (To tell the truth, although "I will be going to go." feels correct, I can't really tell you how it differs from "I am going to go." And I have no idea how to say it in any other language.) > What other aspect is desirable? Mandarin has markers for progressive (duration) and perfect (completion). There is also repetition, but I have no experience with such a thing. I would guess that repetition can be handled well enough using appropriate adverbial phrases. -- Mike Wright http://www.CoastalFog.net ____________________________________________________________ "The difference between theory and practice is that, in theory, there is no difference between theory and practice; in practice, however, there is." -- Anonymous