What is Tense?
tense (noun): a verb-based method used to indicate the time, and sometimes the continuation or completeness, of an action or state in relation to the time of speaking.
The concept of tense in English is a method that we use to refer to time - past, present and future.
We cannot talk of tenses without considering two components of many English tenses: time and aspect. In simple terms...
Time expresses:
- past - before now
- present - now, or any time that includes now
- future - after now
Aspect can be:
- progressive - uncompleted action
- perfective - completed action or state
The following table shows how these components work together to create some basic tenses.
| time | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| past | present | future | ||
| simple (no aspect) | sang | sings | will sing | |
| aspect | progressive | was singing | is singing | will be singing |
| perfective | had sung | has sung | will have sung | |
(Some say that simple tenses have "simple aspect", but strictly speaking simple tenses are simply unmarked for aspect.)
The progressive aspect produces progressive or "continuous" tenses: past continuous, present continuous, future continuous.
The perfective aspect produces perfect tenses: past perfect, present perfect, future perfect.
And the two aspects can be combined to produce perfect continuous tenses: past perfect continuous, present perfect continuous, future perfect continuous.
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