Delimitative aspect

The delimitative aspect is a grammatical aspect that indicates that a situation lasts only a certain amount of time. It is sometimes called durative aspect.

In Polish, stałem i gadałem I stood and chatted contrasts with postałem i pogadałem I stood and chatted for a while (the prefix po- marking the delimitative aspect in this example).

Delimitative aspect in Chinese is often marked by reduplication of the verb. For details see Chinese grammar§Aspects.