Lower Sorbian to Cantonese: an ongoing event can belong to yesterday
Time and the shape of the event answer different questions
A Lower Sorbian account can tell the reader when something happened and whether it was continuing, completed or merely anticipated. Cantonese can likewise express these distinctions, but not by copying the source verb’s conjugation. Read the event together with its time reference before deciding what the target particles mean.
The CUHK Cantonese grammar materials illustrate 起緊 in a sentence about a block of flats still being built at an earlier time. The progressive expression describes the event as ongoing at that reference point. It does not move the building work into the present merely because the action is represented as continuing.
For a Lower Sorbian explanation of an old photograph, this affects the caption. A building that was still under construction when the photograph was taken is different from one that remains under construction today. Preserve the photograph’s time frame while assessing the target description of the work.
Stone distinguishes perfective and imperfective verbs in his Sorbian account, including the specifically Lower Sorbian pair braś and wześ for taking. His discussion shows that an aspectual distinction need not be expressed through one predictable prefix. The source’s event interpretation must be recovered from the actual verb and construction rather than guessed from word shape.
Experience is different from the most recent occurrence
The CUHK chapter separately illustrates 過 in a question about having ever eaten a particular chicken dish. That question concerns prior experience. It is different from checking whether somebody has eaten the meal currently waiting for them.
For a Lower Sorbian dinner conversation, establish which question the speaker actually asks. Someone can have tried the dish previously while not having eaten tonight’s serving. A translation preserving only the food name can therefore sound plausible while answering the wrong practical question.
The same distinction applies to travel arrangements. Prior experience of a place and a report about the present trip are different information. Retain any date, occasion or other source detail that selects a particular occurrence. Do not choose a target experiential construction solely because an event lies in the past.
A continuing activity can also be wanted for the future
CUHK illustrates 住 in a statement about wanting to accompany someone from now on. Its time frame points ahead, while the construction concerns a continuing relationship. This is another reason to separate the event’s time from the way the activity is presented.
For a Lower Sorbian message about future support, keep the intended duration and the commitment distinct. Wanting to remain alongside somebody does not establish that the support has already been provided. Likewise, a report of past accompaniment should not become a new promise simply because the target expression can occur in a future-oriented sentence.
Review a longer translation by marking the reference time for each event: the old photograph, the earlier experience or the proposed future activity. Then check what each target construction contributes at that point. A passage may change its time frame without abandoning an ongoing-event interpretation.
These comparisons concern Cantonese constructions written in Traditional Chinese characters. Similar-looking written forms in another Chinese variety do not establish the same usage. Keep the complete Cantonese expression and its surrounding time information together, so that the Lower Sorbian account retains both when the event belongs and how it unfolds.
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