Re: The cost of time

William Annis wrote:
>
> In English one "spends" time.  Sometimes you pass time.
>
> It just occured to me I have no way in Vaior to say "I spent much of
> today reading."
>
> How do other languages handle this idea?  I'm thinking mostly about
> natlangs, but conlangs that have avoided the monetary associations
> would be interesting to me, too.
In Finnish it is theoretically possible to translate it almost literally -
"(Minä) kulutin suuren osan tästä päivästä lukien" meaning "I spent a big
part of this day reading" but that would hint at a tedious day when you have to
try to "spend" the time somehow. Instead of "minä kulutin" (I spent) a better
structure could be used: "minulta kului". "Minulta" is the ablative of "minä"
and "kulua" is practically the same verb as "kuluttaa" but now the subject is
the time that passes (of me) and it doesn't have an object. "Kulua" also means
'to wear out'. I'll give you a horrible demonstration how it works: "Minulta
kului suuri osa tästä päivästä lukemiseen", literally, "Today it wore out
for me a big part of the day to reading."

- Tero