Grammatical tense

The tense [ˈtɛmpʊs] (Latin for time span, time, period, plural tempora [ˈtɛmpɔra]) is a grammatical category which - relative to a real or assumed point in time of speech S - indicates the temporal position of the situation denoted by the sentence. Many languages distinguish as tenses the past, present and future tenses, but systems with fewer or with more distinctions also exist. The tense usually appears as the inflectional form of a verb, the tense. The anchoring to the speech situation (deixis) is characteristic of the category tense and forms the main difference to the category aspect (which is concerned with temporal properties of the situation in itself, such as perfection).

Theory

Tense as only grammatical category versus time in the physical sense

In grammar, tense is spoken of in the sense of a grammatical category. The tense is to be distinguished from time in the physical sense. The grammatical tense can also express modal aspects (cf. future tense).

Tense as a grammatical form and the meaning of the tense

A distinction must be made between the tense as a grammatical form and the meaning, the function of the tense. The Duden recommends that the terms taken from Latin grammar should be understood in German only "as pure names (zu) verstehen".

Thus, in German, the future is actually expressed more by the grammatical form of the present tense than by the grammatical form of the future I (cf. Futur); nevertheless, the present tense is prototypically regarded as the present form and the future I as the future form.

Relativity to the single language time system

The meaning of the tenses depends on the time system of the respective language. Therefore, one should be warned against a simple transfer of the usage in German to other languages.

The time of speech as the relevant temporal reference point

The time of speaking is one dimension of deixis. The deictic expressions refer to the individual dimensions of the perceptual space in which the speaker and the listener, who are in a speech action, are enclosed. The speaker and listener involved in the communication (personal deixis) are reciprocally located at a place of speech (local or place deixis) in which a time of speech (temporal or time deixis) can be derived by the sequence of events and in which objects can be referred to are embedded (object deixis). Temporal deixis means a deictic expression that refers to the temporal dimension of the speech situation, e.g. now, then, today, yesterday.

While the person deixis or place deixis act spatially, the temporal pointing function is linear, where the action time or time relation can be anterior, simultaneous or posterior in relation to the speech time. The "time axis" necessary for the temporal pointing function can be explained with three further reference points; these are the point of speech S, i.e. the moment of utterance, the point of event E, i.e. the location of the event which is to be designated on the time axis, and the point of reference R, i.e. the point from which the event is situated.

The tense as a temporal reference to the moment of speech

The now of the speaker (writer) is called speaking time S. It is the reference point for linguistic expressions that refer deictically to time. It is also the basis for the division into the time stages past, present and future.

Direct (main times) and indirect reference (auxiliary times)

As a rule, the tense is always set relative to the "now", i.e. in relation to the time of speaking. In theory, three absolute levels of time can thus be distinguished, the so-called main tenses or tenses:

• Past
• Present
• Future

Indirect tenses are expressed by other forms whose classification as tempora is debatable; they are also called relative tenses or secondary tenses, and are sometimes analyzed as the combination of a tense with an aspect. With their help, then, time relations can be indicated: the pre-timeliness and the post-timeliness:

• Example:

Past (past tense) - e.g. "That's when he ordered the car."

Relative time data for this:

Pre-past tense (pluperfect) - e.g. "He had already ordered the car then."

Post-past tense (past tense or auxiliary verb construction) - e.g. "(He hadn't ordered it then), he would/should order it later".

• Analog:

Pre-present (perfect)

Present tense

Post-present tense

Pre-future (Future II)

Future (Future I)

After-future (future tense I)

Thus, with the before-past one can indicate that something has already passed during a certain point in time in the past that is in question, or with the before-future that something will already have passed during a certain future time. This refinement can be taken even further in purely theoretical terms. But there are only a few languages expressing a before-past etc. The scheme is, of course, greatly simplified; the present tense can express all three stages of time, and as the present historicum even the past: "In the year 800 Charlemagne is crowned emperor." or the future: "Tomorrow I leave." The perfect - especially in oral usage - can also express the past: "He laughed." The future II can be replaced by the present or perfect tense.

Overview of the Tempora

In German grammar a distinction is made between (verb, intransitive verb, auxiliary verb)

• the present tense: see - I see; go - I go, be - I am
• the past tense (imperfect): see - I saw; go - I went; be - I was
• the perfect tense: see - I have seen; go - I have gone; be - I have been
• the past perfect: see - I had seen; go - I had gone; be - I had been
• the future tense I: see - I will see; go - I will go; be - I will be
• the future tense II: see - I will have seen; go - I will have gone; be - I will have been

and colloquial in the spoken, sometimes also written language.

• the double perfect: to see - I have seen; to go - I have gone; to be - I have been
• the double past perfect: see - I had seen; go - I had gone; be - I had been

Temporal deixis, person deixis and place deixis. The time or temporal deixis shows itself in a linear pointing function, as a sequence of events. Explanatory terms (not entered in the figure) are the speech time, S, the moment of utterance, the event point, E, the situating of the event, and the reference point, R the point from which the event is situated.

See also

• Atemporality
• Harald Weinrich#Tempus theory in narrative texts