In particular languages Grammatical tense

1 in particular languages

1.1 latin , ancient greek
1.2 english
1.3 other indo-european languages
1.4 other languages
1.5 austronesian languages

1.5.1 rapa
1.5.2 tokelau
1.5.3 wuvulu-aua


1.6 mortlockese

in particular languages
latin , ancient greek

latin traditionally described having 6 tenses (the latin tense being tempus, plural tempora):

present (praesens)
imperfect (praeteritum imperfectum)
perfect (praeteritum perfectum)
future (futurus)
pluperfect (plus quam perfectum)
future perfect (anterior futurus)

of these, imperfect , perfect can considered represent past tense combined imperfective , perfective aspect respectively (the first used habitual or ongoing past actions or states, , second completed actions). pluperfect , future perfect relative tenses, referring past relative past time or relative future time.

latin verbs conjugated tense (and aspect) mood (indicative, subjunctive, , imperative) , voice (active or passive). forms produced inflecting verb stem, endings depend on person , number of subject. of passive forms produced using participle conjugated auxiliary verb. details of forms, see latin conjugation.

the tenses of ancient greek similar, three-way aspect contrast in past: aorist, perfect , imperfect. aorist simple past , while imperfective denoted uncompleted action in past, , perfect used past events having relevance present.

the study of modern languages has been influenced grammar of classical languages, since grammarians, monks, had no other reference point describe language. latin terminology used describe modern languages, change of meaning, application of perfect forms in english not have perfective meaning, or words imperfekt , perfekt german past tense forms lack relationship aspects implied terms.

english

english has 2 morphological tenses: present or non-past, in goes, , past or preterite, in went. non-past references present, references future (as in bus leaves tomorrow). (it references past, however, in called historical present.)

constructions modal auxiliary verbs , shall reference future (although have other uses well); these described english future tense. less commonly, forms auxiliaries , (rarely) should described relative tense, future-in-the-past. (the same forms used conditional mood, , various other meanings.)

the present , past distinguished verb form, using either ablaut (sing(s) ~ sang) or suffix (walk(s) ~ walked). details, see english verbs.

english has continuous (progressive) aspect , perfect aspect; these produce 4 aspectual types: simple, continuous, perfect, , perfect continuous. each of these can combine tenses produce large set of different constructions, involving 1 or more auxiliary verbs participle or infinitive:

in contexts, particularly in english language teaching, tense–aspect combinations in above table may referred tenses. details of uses of these constructions, additional verb forms representing different grammatical moods, see uses of english verb forms.

other indo-european languages

proto-indo-european verbs had present, perfect (stative), imperfect , aorist forms – these can considered representing 2 tenses (present , past) different aspects. languages in indo-european family have developed systems either 2 morphological tenses (present or non-past , , past) or 3 (present, past , future). tenses form part of entangled tense–aspect–mood conjugation systems. additional tenses, tense–aspect combinations, etc. can provided compound constructions containing auxiliary verbs.

the germanic languages (which include english) have present (non-past) , past tenses formed morphologically, future , other additional forms made using auxiliaries. in standard german, compound past (perfekt) has replaced simple morphological past in contexts.

the romance languages (descendants of latin) have past, present , future morphological tenses, additional aspectual distinction in past. french example of language where, in german, simple morphological perfective past (passé simple) has given way compound form (passé composé).

irish, celtic language, has past, present , future tenses (see irish conjugation). past contrasts perfective , imperfective aspect, , verbs retain such contrast in present. classical irish had three-way aspectual contrast of simple–perfective–imperfective in past , present tenses.

persian, indo-iranian language, has past , non-past forms, additional aspectual distinctions. future can expressed using auxiliary, never in non-formal context.

in slavic languages, verbs intrinsically perfective or imperfective. in russian , other languages in group, perfective verbs have past , future tenses, while imperfective verbs have past, present , future, imperfective future being compound tense in cases. future tense of perfective verbs formed in same way present tense of imperfective verbs. however, in south slavic languages, there may greater variety of forms – bulgarian, example, has present, past (both imperfect , aorist ) , future tenses, both perfective , imperfective verbs, perfect forms made auxiliary (see bulgarian verbs).

other languages

finnish , hungarian, both members of uralic language family, have morphological present (non-past) , past tenses. hungarian verb van ( ) has future form.

turkish verbs conjugate past, present , future, variety of aspects , moods.

arabic verbs have past , non-past; future can indicated prefix.

korean verbs have variety of affixed forms can described representing present, past , future tenses, although can alternatively considered aspectual. similarly, japanese verbs described having present , past tenses, although may analysed aspects. chinese , many other east asian languages lack inflection , considered tenseless languages, although may have aspect markers convey information time reference.

for examples of languages greater variety of tenses, see section on possible tenses, above. fuller information on tense formation , usage in particular languages can found in articles on languages , grammars.

austronesian languages
rapa

rapa french polynesian language of island of rapa iti. verbs in indigenous old rapa occur marker known tam stands tense, aspect, or mood can followed directional particles or deictic particles. of markers there 3 tense markers called: imperfective, progressive, , perfective. mean, before, currently, , after. however, specific tam markers , type of deictic or directional particle follows determine , denote different types of meanings in terms of tenses.

imperfective: denotes actions have not occurred yet occur , expressed tam e.

example:

progressive: expressed tam e , denotes actions happening when used deictic na, , denotes actions witnessed still happening when used deictic ra.

example:

perfective: denotes actions have occurred or have finished , marked tam ka.

example:

in old rapa there other types of tense markers known past, imperative, , subjunctive.

past

tam marks past action. used matrix tam , more observed in past embedded clauses

imperative

the imperative marked in old rapa tam a. second person subject implied direct command of imperative.

for more polite form rather straightforward command imperative tam used adverbial kānei. kānei shown used in imperative structures , translated french “please”.

it used in more impersonal form. example, how speak toward pesky neighbor.

subjunctive

the subjunctive in old rapa marked kia , can used in expressions of desire

tokelau

the tokelauan language tenseless language. language uses same words 3 tenses; phrase e liliu mai au te aho tōnai literally translates come / me / on saturday, translation becomes ‘i coming on saturday’.

wuvulu-aua

wuvulu-aua not have explicit tense, rather tense conveyed mood, aspect markers, , time phrases. wuvulu speakers use realis mood convey past tense speakers can events have occurred. in cases, realis mood used convey present tense — indicate state of being. wuvulu speakers use irrealis mood convey future tense.

tense in wuvulu-aua may implied using time adverbials , aspectual markings. wuvulu contains 3 verbal markers indicate sequence of events. preverbal adverbial loʔo first indicates verb occurs before other. postverbal morpheme liai , linia respective intransitive , transitive suffixes indicating repeated action. postverbal morpheme li , liria respective intransitive , transitive suffixes indicating completed action.

mortlockese

mortlockese uses tense markers such mii , denote present tense state of subject, aa denote present tense state object has changed different, past state, kɞ describe has been completed, pɞ , lɛ denote future tense, pʷapʷ denote possible action or state in future tense, , sæn/mwo has not happened yet. each of these markers used in conjunction subject proclitics except markers aa , mii. additionally, marker mii can used type of intransitive verb.