Tenses
In grammar, tense is a category that locates a situation in time, to indicate when the situation takes place. Tense is the grammaticalisation of time reference, often using three basic categories of "before now", i.e. the past; "now", i.e. the present; and "after now", i.e. the future. The "unmarked" reference for tense is the temporal distance from the time of utterance, the "here-and-now", this being absolute-tense. Relative-tense
indicates temporal distance from a point of time established in the
discourse that is not the present, i.e. reference to a point in the past
or future, such as the future-in-future, or the future of the future (at some time in the future after the reference point, which is in the future) and future-in-past or future of the past (at some time after a point in the past, with the reference point being a point in the past).
Not all languages grammaticalise tense, and those that do differ in
their grammaticalisation thereof. Languages without tense are called tenseless languages and include Burmese, Dyirbal and Chinese.[2]
Not all grammaticalise the three-way system of past–present–future. For
example, some two-tense languages such as English and Japanese express
past and non-past, this latter covering both present and future in one
verb form, whereas others such as Greenlandic and Quechua
have future and non-future. Four-tense languages make finer
distinctions either in the past (e.g. remote vs. recent past), or the
future (e.g. near vs. remote future). The six-tense language Kalaw Lagaw Ya
of Australia has the remote past, the recent past, the today past, the
present, the today/near future and the remote future. The differences
between such finer distinctions are the distance on the timeline between
the temporal reference points from the present.
Etymology
Tense comes from Old French tens "time" (now spelled temps through deliberate archaisation), from Latin tempus "time".[3] The adjective "tense" is unrelated, being a Latin loan from tensus, the perfect passive participle of tendere "stretch".[4]
Tense marking
Tense is normally indicated by a verb form, either on the main verb
or on an auxiliary verb. The tense markers are normally affixes, but
also stem modification such as ablaut or reduplication can express tense
reference, and in some languages tense can be shown by clitics. Often combinations of these can interact, such as in Irish, where there is a proclitic past tense marker do
(various surface forms) used in conjunction with the affixed or
ablaut-modified past tense form of the verb. Languages that do not have
grammatical tense, such as Chinese, express time reference through adverbials, time phrases, and so on.
Other uses of the term tense: tense, aspect, and mood
In many language descriptions, particularly those of traditional European linguistics, the term tense
is erroneously used to refer to categories that do not have time
reference as their prototypical use, but rather are grammaticalisations
of mood/modality (e.g. uncertainty, possibility, evidentiality) or aspect (e.g. frequency, completion, duration). Tense differs from aspect in showing the time reference, while aspect
shows how the action/state is "envisaged" or "seen" as
happening/occurring. The most common aspectual distinction in languages
of the world is that between perfective (complete, permanent, simple, etc.) and imperfective (incomplete, temporary, continuous, etc.).
The term tense is therefore at times used in language descriptions to represent any combination of tense proper, aspect, and mood, as many languages include more than one such reference in portmanteau TAM (tense–aspect–mood)
affixes or verb forms. Conversely, languages that grammaticalise aspect
can have tense as a secondary use of an aspect. In many languages, such
as the Latin, Celtic and Slavic languages, a verb may be inflected for
both tense and aspect together, as in the passé composé/passé simple (historique) and imparfait of French. Verbs can also be marked for both mood and tense together, such as the present subjunctive (So be it) and the past subjunctive (Were it so), or all three, such as the past perfect subjunctive (Had it been so).
Tense in languages of the world
Latin and Ancient Greek
The word tempus was used in the grammar of Latin
to describe the six "tenses" of Latin. Four are absolute tenses, of
which two are combined tense–aspect categories, marking aspect in the
past, while two are relative tenses, in showing time reference to
another point of time:
- Praesens ( present)
- Praeteritum imperfectum (= imperfective past, i.e. a combined tense–aspect)
- Praeteritum perfectum (= perfective past, i.e. a combined tense–aspect)
- Futurus (= future)
- Plus quam perfectum (= relative past, i.e. a past that refers to the past of a reference in the past)
- Anterior Futurus (= relative future, i.e. a past that refers to the past of a future point)
The tenses of Ancient Greek are similar, though having a three-way aspect contrast in the past, the aorist, the perfect and the imperfect. The aorist was the simple past which contrasted with the imperfective (uncompleted action in the past) and the perfect, the past form that had relevance to the present.
The study of modern languages has been greatly influenced
by the grammar of these languages, seeing that the early grammarians,
often monks, had no other reference point to describe their language.
Latin terminology is often used to describe modern languages, at times
erroneously, as in the application of the term "pluperfect" to the
English "past perfect", the application of "perfect" to what in English
more often than not is not "perfective", or where the German simple and
perfect pasts are called respectively "Imperfektum" and "Perfektum",
despite the fact that neither has any real relationship to the aspects
implied by the use of the Latin terms.
English
See also: English verbs and English clause syntax
English, like the other Germanic languages, Japanese, Persian, and so on, has only two morphological tenses, past and non-past (alt. present–future). These are distinguished by verb form, by either ablaut or suffix (sings ~ sang, walks ~ walked). The non-past may be used to reference the future ("The bus leaves tomorrow").
| Tense | Simple | Perfect | Continuous/Progressive |
|---|---|---|---|
| nonpast past |
-Ø/-s -ed, -t, ablaut, etc. |
has/have -en, -ed, ablaut, etc. had -en, -ed, ablaut, etc. |
am/is/are -ing was/were -ing |
| nonpast past |
go, goes went |
have/has gone had gone |
am/is/are going was/were going |
Other languages
In general Indo-European languages
have either two-tense systems like English (e.g. the German languages,
Persian, etc.) or three-tense systems of past–present–future (e.g. the
Latin, Slavic and Celtic languages), with finer categorisations made by
the use of "compound tenses" using auxiliary verbs, as with English to be going to, French venir de, and so on. Such compound tenses often have a combined aspectual or modal meaning, as in to be going to, which focuses on the modalility of intended/obvious future based on present evidence.
Other tensed languages of the world are similar, or mark tense in a
variety of ways, often with TAM affixes where tense, aspect and mood are
expressed by portmanteau affixes - as is often the case also in
Indo-European languages.
Many languages, such as Irish, also mark person and number as part of
the TAM suffix, such as the first, second and third person singular
marking of Munster Irish. Examples of tense systems in languages of the
world are the following:
Germanic Languages:
German: Past – Non-Past : In many dialects the former perfect form has replaced the preterite as the marker of the past tense, except for "fossilised forms".
Dutch: Past – Non-Past
Danish: Past – Non-Past
German: Past – Non-Past : In many dialects the former perfect form has replaced the preterite as the marker of the past tense, except for "fossilised forms".
Dutch: Past – Non-Past
Danish: Past – Non-Past
Celtic Languages:
Irish: Past – Present – Future
The past contrasts perfective and imperfective aspect, and some verbs retain a perfective-imperfective contrast in the present. In Classical Irish/Gaelic, a three-way aspectual contrast of simple-perfective-imperfective in the past and present existed.
Irish: Past – Present – Future
The past contrasts perfective and imperfective aspect, and some verbs retain a perfective-imperfective contrast in the present. In Classical Irish/Gaelic, a three-way aspectual contrast of simple-perfective-imperfective in the past and present existed.
Latin Languages:
Italian: Past – Present – Future
The present covers definite non-past, while the Future covers the probable non-past.
Italian: Past – Present – Future
The present covers definite non-past, while the Future covers the probable non-past.
Indo-Iranian Languages:
Persian: imperfective vs perfective past - non-past
Some verbs retain the imperfective-perfective contrast in the non-past.
Persian: imperfective vs perfective past - non-past
Some verbs retain the imperfective-perfective contrast in the non-past.
Slavic Languages:
Bulgarian: perfective vs imperfective past – perfective vs imperfective present – future
Macedonian: perfective vs imperfective past – present – future
Russian: past (perfectness shown through grammatical aspect) - present - future
Serbian: perfective vs imperfective past vs aorist vs pluperfect - present - future
Bulgarian: perfective vs imperfective past – perfective vs imperfective present – future
Macedonian: perfective vs imperfective past – present – future
Russian: past (perfectness shown through grammatical aspect) - present - future
Serbian: perfective vs imperfective past vs aorist vs pluperfect - present - future
Uralic Languages:
Finnish: past – non-past
Hungarian: past – present – future
Finnish: past – non-past
Hungarian: past – present – future
Korean Languages:
Korean: past – present – future
Korean: past – present – future
Japanese Languages:
Japanese: past – non-past
Japanese: past – non-past
Turkic Languages:
Turkish: pluperfect – perfective vs imperfective past – present – future
Turkish: pluperfect – perfective vs imperfective past – present – future
Papuan Languages:
Meriam Mìr: remote past – recent past – present – near future – remote future
All tenses contrast imperfective and perfective aspect.
Meriam Mìr: remote past – recent past – present – near future – remote future
All tenses contrast imperfective and perfective aspect.
Pama-Nyungan Languages:
Kalaw Lagaw Ya: remote past – recent past – today past – present – near future – remote future; one dialect also has a "last night" tense
All tenses contrast imperfective and perfective aspect.
Kalaw Lagaw Ya: remote past – recent past – today past – present – near future – remote future; one dialect also has a "last night" tense
All tenses contrast imperfective and perfective aspect.
Grammaticalisation of tenses
Many languages do not grammaticalise all three categories. For instance, English has past and non-past ("present"); other languages may have future and non-future.
In some languages, there is not a single past or future tense, but
finer divisions of time, such as proximal vs. distant future,
experienced vs. ancestral past, or past and present today vs. before and
after today.
Some attested tenses:
- Future tenses.
- Immediate future: right now
- Near future: soon
- Hodiernal future: later today
- Vespertine future: this evening[citation needed]
- Post-hodiernal: after today
- Crastinal: tomorrow
- Remote future, distant future
- Posterior tense (relative future tense)
- Nonfuture tense: refers to either the present or the past, but does not clearly specify which. Contrasts with future.
- Present tense
- Still tense:[citation needed] indicates a situation held to be the case, at or immediately before the utterance
- Nonpast tense: refers to either the present or the future, but does not clearly specify which. Contrasts with past.
- Past tenses. Some languages have different past tenses to indicate how far into the past we are talking about.
- Immediate past: very recent past, just now
- Recent past: in the last few days/weeks/months (conception varies)
- Nonrecent past: contrasts with recent past
- Hodiernal past: earlier today
- Matutinal past: this morning[citation needed]
- Prehodiernal: before today
- Hesternal: yesterday or early, but not remote
- Prehesternal: before yesterday
- Remote past: more than a few days/weeks/months ago (conception varies)
- Nonremote past: contrasts with remote past
- Historical Past: shows that the action/state was part of an event in the past
- Ancestral past, legendary past
- General past: the entire past conceived as a whole
- Anterior tense (relative past tense)
