View source for Grammatical tense

{{Short description|Expression of time reference in grammar}}
{{More citations needed|date=October 2016|talk=References by section}}
{{Grammatical categories}}
In [[grammar]], '''tense''' is a [[grammatical category|category]] that expresses time reference. Tenses are usually manifested by the use of specific forms of [[verb]]s, particularly in their [[grammatical conjugation|conjugation]] patterns.

The main tenses found in many languages include the [[past tense|past]], [[present tense|present]], and [[future tense|future]]. Some languages have only two distinct tenses, such as past and [[nonpast]], or future and [[Nonfuture tense|nonfuture]], while some languages make finer tense distinctions, such as remote vs recent past, or near vs remote future. There are also tenseless languages, like most of the [[Varieties of Chinese|Chinese languages]], however, these languages do refer to time in different ways.

Tenses generally express time relative to the [[TUTT (linguistics)|moment of speaking]]. In some contexts, however, their meaning may be relativized to a point in the past or future which is established in the discourse (the moment being spoken about). This is called [[Relative and absolute tense|''relative'']] (as opposed to ''absolute'') tense. Some languages have different verb forms or constructions which manifest relative tense, such as [[pluperfect]] ("past-in-the-past") and "[[future-in-the-past]]".

Expressions of tense are often closely connected with expressions of the category of [[grammatical aspect|aspect]]; sometimes what are traditionally called tenses (in languages such as [[Latin]]) may in modern analysis be regarded as combinations of tense with aspect. Verbs are also often conjugated for [[grammatical mood|mood]], and since in many cases the three categories are not manifested separately, some languages may be described in terms of a combined [[tense–aspect–mood]] (TAM) system.

==Etymology==
The English noun ''tense'' comes from [[Old French]] {{Lang|fro|tens}} "time" (spelled {{Lang|fr|temps}} in modern French through deliberate archaization), from [[Latin]] {{lang|la|tempus}}, "time".<ref>{{L&S|tempus|ref}}</ref> It is not related to the adjective ''tense'', which comes from Latin {{Lang|la|tensus}}, the [[Latin conjugation#Participles|perfect passive participle]] of {{Lang|la|tendere}}, "stretch".<ref>{{OEtymD|tense}}</ref>

==Uses of the term==
In modern linguistic theory, tense is understood as a category that expresses ([[Grammaticalization|grammaticalizes]]) time reference; namely one which, using [[grammar|grammatical]] means, places a state or action at a time relative to that of the utterance.<ref name="Fabricius-Hansen">{{cite encyclopedia | first=Cathrine | last=Fabricius-Hansen |  author-link=Cathrine Fabricius-Hansen | title=Tense | editor-first=Keith | editor-last=Brown | editor-link=Keith Brown (linguist) | encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics]] | edition=2nd | location=Amsterdam | publisher=Elsevier | year=2006 | volume=12 | pages=566–573 | isbn=0-08-044299-4}}</ref><ref name="Comrie_Aspect">{{cite book |last1=Comrie |first1=Bernard |title=Aspect: An Introduction to the Study of Verbal Aspect and Related Problems | series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |date=1976 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0521290456 |page=6|quote="[T]he semantic concept of time reference (absolute or relative), ... may be grammaticalized in a language, i.e. a language may have a grammatical category that expresses time reference, in which case we say that the language has tenses. Some languages lack tense, i.e. do not have grammatical time reference, though probably all languages can lexicalize time reference, i.e. have temporal adverbials that locate situations in time."}}</ref> Nonetheless, in many descriptions of languages, particularly in traditional European grammar, the term "tense" is applied to verb forms or constructions that express not merely position in time, but also additional properties of the state or action – particularly aspectual or modal properties.

The category of [[Grammatical aspect|aspect]] expresses how a state or action relates to time – whether it is seen as a complete event, an ongoing or repeated situation, etc. Many languages make a distinction between [[perfective aspect]] (denoting complete events) and [[imperfective aspect]] (denoting ongoing or repeated situations); the former may employ a [[perfect (grammar)|perfect tense]], but such a relationship between aspect and tense may not be simple. Some of the traditional "tenses" express time reference together with aspectual information. In [[Latin grammar|Latin]] and [[French grammar|French]], for example, the [[imperfect]] denotes past time in combination with imperfective aspect, while other verb forms (the Latin perfect, and the French {{Lang|fr|[[passé composé]]}} or {{Lang|fr|[[passé simple]]}}) are used for past time reference with perfective aspect.

The category of [[Grammatical mood|mood]] is used to express [[Linguistic modality|modality]], which includes such properties as uncertainty, [[evidentiality]],<ref name="evident-mira">{{cite book | first1=Ferdinand | last1=de Haan | chapter=Evidentiality and mirativity | pages=1020–1046 | editor-last1=Binnick |editor-first1=Robert I. |title=The Oxford handbook of tense and aspect |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-538197-9}}</ref>{{rp|1030}} and obligation. Commonly encountered moods include the [[indicative mood|indicative]], [[subjunctive mood|subjunctive]], and [[conditional mood|conditional]]. Mood can be bound up with tense, aspect, or both, in particular verb forms. Hence, certain languages are sometimes analysed as having a single [[tense–aspect–mood]] (TAM) system, without separate manifestation of the three categories.

The term ''tense'', then, particularly in less formal contexts, is sometimes used to denote any combination of tense proper, aspect, and mood. As regards [[English language|English]], there are many [[Uses of English verb forms|verb forms and constructions]] which combine time reference with [[continuous aspect|continuous]] and/or perfect aspect, and with indicative, subjunctive or conditional mood.<ref name="CamGEL"/>{{rp|306–308}}

Particular tense forms need not always carry their basic time-referential meaning in every case. For instance, the [[historical present]] is a use of the present tense to refer to past events. The phenomenon of ''[[Counterfactual conditional#The grammar of counterfactuality|fake tense]]'' is common crosslinguistically as a means of marking counterfactuality in [[Conditional sentence|conditionals]] and wishes.<ref name="Iatridou">{{cite journal |last1=Iatridou |first1=Sabine |date=2000 |title=The grammatical ingredients of counterfactuality |journal= Linguistic Inquiry |volume=31 |issue = 2|pages=231–270|doi=10.1162/002438900554352 |s2cid=57570935 |url=http://lingphil.mit.edu/papers/iatridou/counterfactuality.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180724025930/http://lingphil.mit.edu/papers/iatridou/counterfactuality.pdf |archive-date=2018-07-24 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="prolegomena">{{Cite journal | last1=von Fintel | first1=Kai | last2=Iatridou | first2=Sabine | author-link2=Sabine Iatridou | title=Prolegomena to a theory of X-marking | date=8 August 2023 | journal=Language and Philosophy | volume=46 |pages=1467–1510 | doi=10.1007/s10988-023-09390-5}}</ref>

==Possible tenses==

Not all languages have tense: [[tenseless language]]s include [[Chinese language|Chinese]] and [[Dyirbal language|Dyirbal]].<ref name="Comrie_Tense">{{cite book|last=Comrie|first=Bernard|author-link=Bernard Comrie|year=1985|title=Tense|publisher=Cambridge University Press |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |isbn=0-521-28138-5}}</ref>{{rp|50–53}} Some languages have all three basic tenses (the [[past tense|past]], [[present tense|present]], and [[future tense|future]]), while others have only two: some have past and [[nonpast]] tenses, the latter covering both present and future times, as in [[Arabic]],<ref name="Ryding_Arabic">{{Cite book | first=Karin C. | last=Ryding | title=A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic | location=Cambridge | publisher=Cambridge University Press | isbn=978-0-521-77151-1 | pages=442, 608}} Also {{ISBN|978-0-521-77771-1}}.</ref> [[Japanese language|Japanese]],<ref>{{Cite journal | first=Silvia P. | last=Gennari | title=Tense, aspect and aktionsart in Spanish and Japanese | journal=University of Maryland Working Papers in Linguistics | year=2001 | url=https://eventcognition.org/resources/MWP2.pdf | via=York Brain, Language and Cognition Lab | access-date=22 October 2025}}</ref> and [[English language|English]];<ref>{{Cite book | first=Robert I. | last=Binnick | title=Time and the Verb: A Guide to Tense and Aspect | location=New York | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1991 | isbn=0-19-506206-X | page=8}}</ref><ref name="CamGEL">{{cite book | author-link1=Rodney Huddleston | last1=Huddleston | first1=Rodney | author-link2=Geoffrey K. Pullum | last2=Pullum | first2=Geoffrey K.|title=[[The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language]] |date=15 April 2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-43146-0}}</ref>{{Rp|208–212}}<ref name="SIEG2">{{Cite book | author-link1=Rodney Huddleston | last1=Huddleston | first1=Rodney | author-link2=Geoffrey K. Pullum | last2=Pullum | first2=Geoffrey K. | last3=Reynolds | first3=Brett | year=2022 | title=A Student's Introduction to English Grammar | edition=2nd | location=Cambridge | publisher=Cambridge University Press | isbn=978-1-009-08574-8}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=74–77}} whereas others such as [[Greenlandic language|Greenlandic]], [[Quechua languages|Quechua]], and [[Nivkh languages|Nivkh]] have future and [[Nonfuture tense|nonfuture]].<ref name="Bittner">{{cite book |last1=Bittner |first1=Maria |title=Temporality: Universals and Variation |date=2014 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |isbn=9781405190404}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Nedialkov |first1=Vladimir P. |last2=Otaina |first2=G. A. |last3=Geniushene |first3=E. S. |last4=Gruzdeva |first4=Ekaterina |title=Syntax of the Nivkh language: The Amur dialect |date=2013 |publisher=John Benjamins |location=Amsterdam}}</ref> Some languages have four or more tenses, making finer distinctions either in the past (e.g. remote vs. recent past) or in 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.<ref>{{Cite book | last1=Ritz | first1=Marie-Eve | last2=Ponsonnet | first2=Maïa | year=2023 | chapter=Time, language and thought. What language can tell us about our concepts of time | type=preprint | editor-last1=McGrath | editor-first1=Ann | editor-link1=Ann McGrath | editor-last2=Rademaker | editor-first2=Laura  | editor-last3=Troy  | editor-first3=Jakelin | editor-link3=Jakelin Troy | title=Everywhen: Australia and the Language of Deep History | isbn=9781496234377 | pages=165–192 | location=Lincoln | publisher=University of Nebraska Press | chapter-url=https://hal.science/hal-04077962/document | chapter-format=PDF | via=HAL | access-date=22 October 2025}}</ref> Some languages, like the Amazonian [[Cubeo language]], have a historical past tense, used for events perceived as historical.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Morse |first1=Nancy L. |last2=Maxwell |first2=Michael B. |title=Studies in the languages of Colombia 5|chapter=Cubeo grammar |date=1999 |publisher=The Summer Institute of Linguistics and The University of Texas at Arlington |location=Arlington, TX|page=45}}</ref>

Tenses that refer specifically to "today" are called [[hodiernal tense]]s; these can be either past or future. Apart from Kalaw Lagaw Ya, another language with such tenses is [[Mwera language|Mwera]], a [[Bantu language]] of Tanzania.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Harries |first1=Lyndon |title=A Grammar of Mwera |date=1950 |publisher=Witwatersrand University Press}}</ref>{{rp|85}} It is also suggested that in 17th-century French, the ''[[passé composé]]'' served as a hodiernal past.<ref name="Bybee">{{cite book |last1=Bybee |first1=Joan |last2=Perkins |first2=Revere |last3=Pagliuca |first3=William |title=The Evolution of Grammar: Tense, Aspect, and Modality in the Languages of the World |date=1994 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |page=101}}</ref> Tenses that refer to the past before today or the future after today are called pre-hodiernal and post-hodiernal respectively. Some languages also have a [[crastinal tense]], a future tense referring specifically to tomorrow (found in some Bantu languages); or a [[hesternal tense]], a past tense referring specifically to yesterday<ref name="Nettle">{{cite book |last1=Nettle |first1=Daniel |title=The Fyem language of northern Nigeria | series=Languages of the world |date=January 1, 1998 |publisher=Lincom Europa }}</ref> (although this name is also sometimes used to mean pre-hodiernal).<ref name="Stevick">{{cite book |last1=Stevick |first1=Earl W. |title=Adapting and writing language lessons |date=1971 |publisher=U.S. Foreign Service Institute |location=Washington, DC |page=302 |url=https://www.livelingua.com/fsi/General/FSI%20-%20Adapting%20and%20Writing%20Language%20Lessons.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210717000927/https://www.livelingua.com/fsi/General/FSI%20-%20Adapting%20and%20Writing%20Language%20Lessons.pdf |archive-date=2021-07-17 |url-status=live |access-date=17 July 2021}}</ref> A tense for after tomorrow is thus called post-crastinal,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dombrowsky-Hahn |first1=Klaudia |title=A Grammar of Kusaal: A Mabia (Gur) Language of Northern Ghana |journal=Linguistic Typology |date=27 May 2020 |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=187–199 |doi=10.1515/lingty-2020-2037}}</ref>{{rp|195}} and one for before yesterday is called pre-hesternal.<ref name="Botne">{{cite book | first1=Robert | last1=Botne | chapter=Remoteness distinction | pages=536–562 | editor-last1=Binnick |editor-first1=Robert I. |title=The Oxford handbook of tense and aspect |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-538197-9}}</ref>{{rp|556}}

Another tense found in some languages, including [[Swahili]], is the persistive tense, used to indicate that a state or ongoing action still continues (or, if in the negative, does not).<ref name="Hewson_tense">{{cite book | first1=John | last1=Hewson | chapter=Tense | pages=507–535 | editor-last1=Binnick |editor-first1=Robert I. |title=The Oxford handbook of tense and aspect |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-538197-9}}</ref>{{rp|525}} The [[Washo language|Washo]] language has tenses to indicate if an event occurred before the speaker's lifetime.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Jacobson, Jr. |first=William Horton |date=1964 |title=A Grammar of the Washo Language |url=https://escholarship.org/content/qt52c6q7hg/qt52c6q7hg.pdf |work= |degree=Ph.D. |location=Berkeley, California |publisher=University of California, Berkeley |access-date=}}</ref>{{rp|636}}

Some languages have special tense forms that are used to express [[relative tense]]. Tenses that refer to the past relative to some time other than that of the utterance are called ''anterior'';<ref name="surcompose">{{cite book | first1=Louis | last1=De Saussure | first2=Bertrand | last2=Sthioul | chapter=The surcomposé past tense | pages=586–610 | editor-last1=Binnick |editor-first1=Robert I. |title=The Oxford handbook of tense and aspect |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-538197-9}}</ref>{{rp|587}} these include the [[pluperfect]] (for the past relative to a past time)<ref name="narratology">{{cite book | first1=Monika | last1=Fludernik | author-link=Monika Fludernik | chapter=Narratology and literary linguistics | pages=75–101 | editor-last1=Binnick |editor-first1=Robert I. |title=The Oxford handbook of tense and aspect |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-538197-9}}</ref>{{rp|95}} and the [[future perfect]] (for the past relative to a future time).<ref name="Stowell_syntax">{{cite book | first1=Tim | last1=Stowell | author-link=Tim Stowell | chapter=Syntax | pages=184–211 | editor-last1=Binnick |editor-first1=Robert I. |title=The Oxford handbook of tense and aspect |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-538197-9}}</ref>{{rp|193–194}} Similarly, ''posterior'' tenses refer to the future relative to the time under consideration,<ref name="Hatav_bound">{{cite book | first1=Galia | last1=Hatav | chapter=Bound tenses | pages=611–637 | editor-last1=Binnick |editor-first1=Robert |title=The Oxford handbook of tense and aspect |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-538197-9}}</ref>{{rp|623–624}} as with the English "[[future-in-the-past]]": (''he said that'') ''he '''would go'''.''<ref name="compositionality">{{cite book | first1=Henk J. | last1=Verkuyl | chapter=Compositionality | pages=563–585 | editor-last1=Binnick |editor-first1=Robert I. |title=The Oxford handbook of tense and aspect |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-538197-9}}</ref>{{rp|565}} Relative tenses are also sometimes analysed as aspects: the [[perfect aspect]] in the anterior case, or the [[prospective aspect]] in the posterior case.<ref name="Ritz_perfect_tense">{{cite book | first1=Marie-Eve | last1=Ritz | author-link= | chapter=Perfect tense and aspect | pages=881–907 | editor-last1=Binnick |editor-first1=Robert I. |title=The Oxford handbook of tense and aspect |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-538197-9}}</ref>{{rp|885–886}}

Some languages, such as [[Nez Perce language|Nez Perce]] or [[Cavineña language|Cavineña]] also have [[periodic tense]] markers that encode that the action occurs in a recurrent temporal period of the day ("in the morning", "during the day", "at night", "until dawn" etc) or of the year ("in winter").<ref>{{cite journal|first=Guillaume |last=Jacques |author-link=Guillaume Jacques|year=2023|title=Periodic tense markers in the world's languages and their sources|journal=Folia Linguistica |volume=57|issue=3|pages=539–562|doi=10.1515/flin-2023-2013|url=https://shs.hal.science/halshs-04239547}}</ref>

Some languages have [[cyclic tense]] systems. This is a form of temporal marking where tense is given relative to a reference point or reference span. In [[Burarra language|Burarra]], for example, events that occurred earlier on the day of speaking are marked with the same verb forms as events that happened in the far past, while events that happened yesterday (compared to the moment of speech) are marked with the same forms as events in the present. This can be thought of as a system where events are marked as prior or contemporaneous to points of reference on a timeline.<ref name="Green">{{cite book |last1=Green |first1=Rebecca |title=A sketch grammar of Burarra (Honours thesis) |date=1987 |publisher=Australian National University |location=Canberra |doi=10.25911/5d778709e1631 |hdl=1885/109283 |url=http://hdl.handle.net/1885/109283 |access-date=17 July 2021}}</ref>

==Tense marking==

===Morphology of tense===
Tense is normally indicated by the use of a particular verb form – either an [[inflection|inflected]] form of the main verb, or a [[periphrasis|multi-word construction]], or both in combination. Inflection may involve the use of [[affix]]es, such as the ''-ed'' ending that marks the past tense of [[English verbs|English regular verbs]],<ref name="Lin_tenselessness" />{{rp|670}} but can also entail [[word stem|stem]] modifications, such as [[ablaut]], as found as in the [[Germanic strong verb|strong verb]]s in English and other Germanic languages,<ref name="CamGEL" />{{rp|405–406}} or [[reduplication]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Adamczyk |first1=Elzbieta |title=Reduplication and the Old English strong verbs class VII |journal=Studia Anglica Posnaniensia |date=2002 |issue=38 |url=http://ifa.amu.edu.pl/sap/files/38/02adamczyk.pdf |access-date=7 November 2025}}</ref>{{rp|28}} Multi-word tense constructions often involve [[auxiliary verb]]s or [[clitics]]. Examples which combine both types of tense marking include the French ''[[passé composé]]'', which has an auxiliary verb together with the inflected [[past participle]] form of the lexical verb;<ref name="oxfromance"/>{{rp|305}} and the [[Irish grammar#Verbs|Irish past tense]], where the proclitic ''do'' (in various surface forms) appears with the affixed or ablaut-modified past tense form of the lexical verb.

Indications of tense are often bound up with indications of other verbal categories, such as [[tense-aspect-mood|aspect and mood]].<ref name="">{{cite book | first1=Robert I. | last1=Binnick | chapter=Introduction | pages=3–58 | editor-last1=Binnick |editor-first1=Robert I. |title=The Oxford handbook of tense and aspect |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-538197-9}}</ref>{{rp|47}} The [[grammatical conjugation|conjugation]] patterns of verbs often also reflect [[agreement (linguistics)|agreement]] with categories pertaining to the [[subject (grammar)|subject]], such as [[grammatical person|person]], [[grammatical number|number]] and [[grammatical gender|gender]] via [[portmanteau morph]]s. It is thus not always possible to identify elements that mark any specific category, such as tense, separately from the others.

====Nominal tense====
<section begin="list-of-glossing-abbreviations"/>
<div style="display:none;">
PROP:proprietive case
</div>
<section end="list-of-glossing-abbreviations"/>
A few languages have been shown to mark tense information (as well as aspect and mood) on [[noun]]s. This may be called nominal tense, or more broadly [[nominal TAM]] which includes nominal marking of [[Grammatical aspect|aspect]] and [[Grammatical mood|mood]] as well.<ref name="Nordlinger">{{cite book |last1=Nordlinger |first1=Rachel |last2=Sadler |first2=Louisa |editor-last1=Butt |editor-first1=Miriam |editor-last2=King |editor-first2=Tracy Holloway |title=Proceedings of the LFG 00 Conference University of California, Berkeley |chapter=Tense as a Nominal Category |date=2000 |publisher=CSLI Publications |location=Berkeley |pages=196–214 |url=https://web.stanford.edu/group/cslipublications/cslipublications/LFG/LFG5-2000/pdfs/lfg00.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216203141/http://web.stanford.edu/group/cslipublications/cslipublications/LFG/LFG5-2000//pdfs/lfg00.pdf |archive-date=2017-02-16 |url-status=live |access-date=17 July 2021}}</ref>

For example, the [[Kayardild]] language uses case markers to mark tense:<ref name="Nordlinger"/>{{rp|199}}<ref name="Evans">{{cite book |last1=Evans |first1=Nicholas D. |title=A Grammar of Kayardild: With Historical-Comparative Notes on Tangkic |date=31 December 1995 |doi=10.1515/9783110873733}}</ref>{{rp|404}}
{{Interlinear|Ngada kurri-nangku mala'''-wu''' (balmbi'''-wu''')|number=(1)|
              1.SG.NOM see-NEG.POT sea-M.'''PROP''' morrow.M.'''PROP'''|
			  'I '''won't''' be able to see the sea (tomorrow)'}}

{{Interlinear|Ngada kurri-nangku mala'''-y''' (barruntha'''-y''')|number=(2)|
              1.SG.NOM see-NEG.POT sea-M.'''LOC''' morrow.M.'''LOC'''|
			  'I '''couldn't''' see the sea (yesterday)'}}
The verb stays the same, with the [[modal case]]s being used to show tense in the sentences.<ref name="Evans"/>{{rp|404}}

====Tenseless language====
A ''tenseless language'' is one that does not mark tense information at all. Examples are [[Burmese language|Burmese]], [[Dyirbal language|Dyirbal]],<ref name="Comrie_Tense" />{{rp|50–53}} most [[Varieties of Chinese|varieties]] of [[Chinese language|Chinese]], [[Malay language|Malay]] (including [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]]), [[Thai language|Thai]], [[Yucatec Maya language|Yucatec Maya]], [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]], and in some analyses [[Greenlandic language|Greenlandic]]<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bittner|first=Maria|year=2005|title=Future discourse in a tenseless language|journal=Journal of Semantics |volume=12|pages=339–388|doi=10.1093/jos/ffh029|issue=4}}</ref> (Kalaallisut) and [[Guaraní language|Guaraní]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=[[Judith Tonhauser|Tonhauser]]|first=Judith|year=2011|title=Temporal reference in Paraguayan Guaraní, a tenseless language|journal=Linguistics and Philosophy|volume=34|issue=3|pages=257–303|doi=10.1007/s10988-011-9097-2|s2cid=62125736}}</ref>

Tenseless languages can and do refer to [[time]], but they do so using lexical items that establish time reference, or by using combinations of [[grammatical aspect|aspect]], [[mood (linguistics)|mood]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bittner |first=Maria |title=Temporality: Universals and Variation |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-4051-9040-4}}</ref> For example, most [[Chinese language|Sinitic languages]] express time reference chiefly by lexical means – through [[Adjunct (grammar)|adjuncts]], time phrases, and so on.<ref name="Mandarin">{{cite book |last1=Ross |first1=Claudia |last2=Ma |first2=Jing-heng Sheng |title=Modern Mandarin Chinese grammar: A practical guide |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=9781315814759 |edition=2nd}}</ref>{{rp|201}} (The same is done in tensed languages, to supplement or reinforce the time information conveyed by the choice of tense.<ref name="Lin_tenselessness">{{cite book | first=Jo-Wang | last=Lin | chapter=Tenselessness | pages=669–695 | editor-last1=Binnick |editor-first1=Robert I. |title=The Oxford handbook of tense and aspect |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-538197-9}}</ref>{{rp|670}}) Time information is also sometimes conveyed as a secondary feature by markers of other categories, as with the [[Chinese grammar#Aspects|aspect markers]] {{lang|zh|了}} ''le'' and {{lang|zh|過}} ''guò'', which in most cases place an action in past time.<ref name="Mandarin"/>{{rp|244–247}} However, much time information is conveyed implicitly by context – it is therefore not always necessary, when [[translation|translating]] from a tensed to a tenseless language, say, to make explicit in the target language all of the information conveyed by the tenses in the source.<ref name="Mandarin"/>{{rp|236}}

For example, in [[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]], though the language is tenseless, the auxiliary verb {{lang|zh|[[:wikt:會|会]]}} ''huì'' can be used to express an action that will occur in the future:<ref name="Mandarin"/>{{rp|242}}
{{fs interlinear|indent=3
|我 想 他 不 '''会''' 来 了。|c1=  &#91;{{zh|labels=no|t=我想他不會來了。}}&#93;
|Wǒ xiǎng tā bù '''huì''' lái le.
|I think he not '''FUT''' come PFV
|'I don’t think he '''will''' come.'}}

===Syntax of tense===
The syntactic properties of tense have been prominent in formal analyses of how tense-marking interacts with word order. Some languages (such as French<ref>{{Cite book | first=Michael Allan | last=Jones | title=Foundations of French Syntax | series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics | location=Cambridge | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=1996 | pages=340–345 | isbn=0-521-38104-5}} (Also {{ISBN|0-521-38805-8}}.)</ref>) allow an adverb (Adv) between a tense-marked verb (V) and its direct object (O); in other words, they permit [Verb-<mark>Adverb</mark>-Object] order. In contrast, other languages (such as English) do not allow an adverb to come between a tense-marked [[lexical verb]] and its direct object, and instead require [Adverb-<mark style="background:lightblue;">Verb</mark>-Object] order. (For tense-marked [[English auxiliary verbs|auxiliary verbs in English]], either position of the adverb is possible.{{Efn|text="Central position [of an [[adverb phrase]] (which may simply consist of one adverb)] in clauses headed by a lexical verb is between the subject and the verb; for clauses headed by an auxiliary verb it can again be between subject and verb, but is more often just after the verb (and hence not always clearly distinct from end position)."<ref name="CamGEL" />{{Rp|575}}}})

{| class=wikitable style="text-align:left;"
|+ Adverb placement, French versus English{{Efn|This article follows the linguistics convention of [[Asterisk#Ungrammaticality|marking an ungrammatical construction with an asterisk]].}}
|-
! !! French !! English
|-
! rowspan=2 | <mark style="background:lightblue;">Tense-marked verb</mark>, then <mark>adverb</mark>
| <span lang="fr" style="font-style:italic" title="French-language text">Jules <mark style="background:lightblue;">apprend</mark> <mark>vite</mark> ses rôles.</span><br />('Jules learns his lines quickly.')
| *''Jules <mark style="background:lightblue;">learns</mark> <mark>quickly</mark> his lines.''
|-
| <span lang="fr" style="font-style:italic" title="French-language text">Jules <mark style="background:lightblue;">a</mark> <mark>vite</mark> appris son rôle.</span><br />('Jules learnt his lines quickly.')
| ''Jules <mark style="background:lightblue;">has</mark> <mark>quickly</mark> learnt his lines.''
|-
! rowspan=2 | <mark>Adverb</mark>, then <mark style="background:lightblue;">tense-marked verb</mark>
| *<span lang="fr" style="font-style:italic" title="French-language text">Jules <mark>vite</mark> <mark style="background:lightblue;">apprend</mark> ses rôles.</span>
| ''Jules <mark>quickly</mark> <mark style="background:lightblue;">learns</mark> his lines.''
|-
| *<span lang="fr" style="font-style:italic" title="French-language text">Jules <mark>vite</mark> <mark style="background:lightblue;">a</mark> appris son rôle.</span>
| *''Jules <mark>quickly</mark> <mark style="background:lightblue;">has</mark> learnt his lines.''{{Efn|For a [[verb phrase]]–oriented [[Adjunct (grammar)|adjunct]] such as ''quickly'', "Central position (after the tensed auxiliary if there is one) is an alternative [to end position]".<ref name="CamGEL" />{{Rp|576, 578}}}}
|}

Tense in syntax is represented by the category label T, which is the head of a TP (tense phrase).

==In particular languages==
The study of modern languages has been [[History of English grammars|greatly influenced]] by the grammar of the Classical languages, since early grammarians, often monks, had no other reference point to describe their language. Latin terminology is often used to describe modern languages, sometimes with a change of meaning, as with the application of "perfect" to forms in English that do not necessarily have perfective meaning, or the terms ''Imperfekt'' and ''Perfekt'' to [[German verbs|German past tense forms]] that mostly lack any relationship to the aspects suggested by those terms.

===Indo-European languages===
[[Proto-Indo-European verbs]] had present, aorist and perfect forms – these can be considered as representing two tenses (present and past) with different [[grammatical aspect|aspects]].<ref name="shields">{{cite book |last1=Shields |first1=Kenneth |title=A history of Indo-European verb morphology |date=1992 |publisher=Benjamins |location=Amsterdam  |isbn=9789027235886}}</ref>{{rp|92}} Most [[Indo-European languages]] have developed systems either with two morphological tenses (present or "non-past", and past) or with three (present, past and future).{{cn|date=November 2025}} The tenses often form part of entangled [[tense–aspect–mood]] conjugation systems.<ref name="shields"/>{{rp|92}} Additional tenses, tense–aspect combinations, etc., such as the future tense, can be provided by compound constructions using auxiliary verbs.<ref name="shields"/>{{rp|162}}

==== Latin ====
{{main|Latin tenses}}
[[Latin]] is traditionally described as having six tenses (the Latin for "tense" being ''tempus'', plural ''tempora''):<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kennedy |first1=Benjamin Hall | author-link1=Benjamin Hall Kennedy | title=The Revised Latin Primer |date=1906 |publisher=Longmans, Green |location=London |oclc=4095281 |url=https://archive.org/details/kennedy-benjamin-the-revised-latin-primer |access-date=10 November 2025 | via=Internet Archive}}</ref>{{rp|56}}
* [[Present tense|Present]] (''praesēns'')
* [[Future tense|Future simple]] (''futūrum'')
* [[Imperfect|Past imperfect]] (''praeteritum imperfectum'')
* [[Perfect (grammar)|Perfect]] (''praesēns perfectum'')<!-- praeteritum perfectum is the pluperfect, see below--> or [[aorist]]
* [[Future perfect]] (''futūrum perfectum'')
* [[Pluperfect]] (''plūs quam perfectum, praeteritum perfectum'')

A newer grammar of Latin also lists these six{{Efn|text=Although it names them respectively: present or present imperfective, future or future imperfective, imperfect or past imperfective, perfect, future perfect or future perfective, pluperfect or past perfective.<ref name="Panhuis">{{Cite book | first=Dirk | last=Panhuis | title=Latin Grammar | location=Ann Arbor | publisher=University of Michigan Press | year=2006 | isbn=978-0-472-11542-6}}</ref>{{Rp|42–43}}}} but comments that "The distinction between imperfective and perfective 'tenses' is really a distinction of aspect, which is at the basis of the whole conjugation system"; and states that Latin thus has just three tenses: present, past, and future.<ref name="Panhuis" />{{Rp|107}}

Imperfect tense verbs represent a past process combined with [[imperfective aspect]], that is, they often stand for an ongoing past action or state at a past point in time (see [[Latin tenses (semantics)#Secondary present|secondary present]]) or represent habitual actions (see [[Latin tenses with modality]]) (e.g. 'he was eating', 'he used to eat'). The perfect tense combines the meanings of a simple past ('he ate') with that of an English perfect tense ('he has eaten'), which in ancient Greek are two different tenses ([[Aorist (Ancient Greek)|aorist]] and perfect).

The pluperfect, the perfect and the future perfect may also realise [[relative tense]]s, standing for events that are past at the time of another event (see [[Latin tenses (semantics)#Secondary past|secondary past]]): for instance, {{lang|la|mortuus erat}}, {{lang|la|mortuus est}}, {{lang|la|mortuus erit}} may mean respectively 'he had died', 'he has died' and 'he will have died'.

Latin verbs are inflected for tense and aspect together with [[grammatical mood|mood]] – [[Realis mood|indicative]], [[Subjunctive mood|subjunctive]], and [[Imperative mood|imperative]] (all [[Finiteness#Linguistics_and_semantics|finite]]); and [[infinitive]] and [[participle]] (both non-finite{{Efn|text=There are also [[gerund#Latin_gerund|gerund]], [[gerundive]], and [[supine]], but these three are irrelevant to tense.}}) – and [[grammatical voice|voice]] ([[Active voice|active]] or [[Passive voice|passive]]).<ref name="Panhuis" />{{Rp|42–44}} Most forms inflected for tense consist of a verb stem and a suffix whose inflection expresses not only tense but (as a "[[portmanteau morph]]") also other categories (such as [[Grammatical person|person]] and [[Grammatical number|number]]). Some tenses are expressed by [[Latin periphrases|sequences of inflected verbs]].

=====Romance languages=====
The [[Romance languages]] (descendants of Latin) have past, present and future morphological tenses, with additional aspectual distinction in the past. [[French language|French]] is an example of a language where, as in German, the simple morphological perfective past (''[[passé simple]]'') has mostly given way to a compound form (''[[passé composé]]''), the former mostly reserved for use in formal contexts.<ref name="oxfromance">{{cite book |editor-first1=Adam |editor-last1=Ledgeway |editor-link1=Adam Ledgeway |editor-first2=Martin |editor-last2=Maiden | editor-link2=Martin Maiden |title=The Oxford guide to the Romance languages |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780199677108}}</ref>{{rp|305}}

==== Ancient Greek ====
{{main|Ancient Greek verbs}}
The paradigms for [[Ancient Greek verbs#Tenses|tenses in Ancient Greek]] are similar to those in Latin, but with a three-way aspectual contrast in the past: the [[Aorist (Ancient Greek)|aorist]], perfect and imperfect. Both aorist and imperfect verbs can represent a past event: through contrast, the imperfect verb often implies a longer duration (e.g. 'they urged him' vs. 'they persuaded him'). The aorist participle represents the first event of a two-event sequence, and the present participle an ongoing event at the time of another event.<ref>{{cite journal | first=Daniel | last=Couto-Vale | title=Report and Taxis in Herodotus's Histories: A systemic-functional approach to the description of Ancient Ionic Greek | journal=Nuntius Antiquus | volume=11 | number=1 | pages=33–62 | year=2015 | doi=10.17851/1983-3636.11.1.33-62}}</ref> Perfect verbs stand for past actions if the result is still present (e.g. 'I have found it') or for present states resulting from a past event (e.g. 'I remember').

====Germanic languages====
The [[Germanic languages]] (which include English) have present (non-past) and past tenses formed morphologically,<ref name="shields"/>{{rp|410}} with future and other additional forms made using auxiliaries. In standard [[German language|German]], the compound past (''[[German verbs|Perfekt]]'') is preferred over the morphological past in spoken language.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Durrell |first1=Martin |last2=Hammer |first2=A. E. |title=Hammer's German grammar and usage |date=2011 |publisher=Hodder Education |location=London |isbn=9781444120165 |edition=5th}}</ref>{{rp|288}}

=====English=====
{{main|English tenses}}
English has only two [[morphology (linguistics)|morphological]] tenses: the [[present tense|present]] (or [[non-past tense|non-past]]), as in ''he '''goes''''', and the [[past tense|past]] (or [[preterite]]), as in ''he '''went'''''. The non-past usually references the present, but sometimes the future (as in ''the bus '''leaves''' tomorrow'').<ref name="CamGEL" />{{rp|405}} In special uses such as the [[historical present]] it can refer to the past as well.<ref name="CamGEL" />{{rp|625}} These morphological tenses are marked either with a [[suffix]] (''walk(s)'' ~ ''walked'') or with [[ablaut]] (''sing(s)'' ~ ''sang'').<ref name="CamGEL" />{{rp|405–406}}

In some contexts, particularly in [[English language teaching]], various tense–aspect combinations are referred to loosely as tenses.<ref name="Penston">{{cite book |last1=Penston |first1=Tony |title=A Concise Grammar for English Language Teachers |date=2005 |publisher=TP Publications |page=17}}</ref> Similarly, the term "future tense" is sometimes loosely applied to cases where modals such as ''will'' are used to talk about future points in time.<ref name="CamGEL" />{{rp|629}}<ref>{{Cite web | first=Geoffrey K. | last=Pullum | author-link=Geoffrey K. Pullum | title=The lord which was and is | website=[[Language Log]] | date=18 March 2008 | url=http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005471.html | access-date=9 November 2025}}</ref>

====Slavic languages====
In the [[Slavic languages]], verbs are [[Grammatical aspect#Slavic languages|intrinsically]] perfective or imperfective.<ref name="timberlake">{{cite book |last1=Timberlake |first1=Alan |editor1-last=Gutschmidt |editor1-first=Karl |editor2-last=Kempgen |editor2-first=Sebastian |editor3-last=Berger |editor3-first=Tilman |editor4-last=Kosta |editor4-first=Peter |title=Die slavischen Sprachen |date=2014 |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |location=Berlin |isbn=9783110215472 |volume=II |chapter=The Simple Sentence |trans-title=The Slavic Languages}}</ref>{{Rp|1676}} In [[Russian language|Russian]] and other [[East Slavic languages]], perfective verbs have past and "future" tenses, while imperfective verbs have past, present and "future", the imperfective "future" being a compound tense in most cases. The "future tense" of perfective verbs is formed in the same way as the present tense of imperfective verbs. However, in [[South Slavic languages]], there may be a greater variety of forms – [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], for example, has present, past (both "imperfect" and "aorist") and "future tenses", for both perfective and imperfective verbs, as well as [[perfect aspect|perfect]] forms made with an auxiliary (see [[Bulgarian verbs]]). However it doesn't have a real future tense, because the future tense is formed by the shortened version of the present of the verb ''hteti'' (ще) and it just adds present tense forms of person suffixes: ''-m'' (I), ''-š'' (you), ''-ø'' (he, she, it), ''-me'' (we), ''-te'' (you, plural), ''-t'' (they).

====Irish====
{{Main|Irish conjugation}}
[[Irish language|Irish]], a [[Celtic language]], has past, present and future tenses. The past contrasts perfective and imperfective aspect, and some verbs retain such a contrast in the present. [[Classical Irish]] had a three-way aspectual contrast of simple–perfective–imperfective in the past and present tenses. Modern [[Scottish Gaelic]] on the other hand only has past, non-past and 'indefinite', and, in the case of the verb 'be' (including its use as an auxiliary), also present tense.

====Persian====
{{Main|Persian verbs}}
[[Persian language|Persian]], an [[Indo-Iranian language]], has past and non-past forms, with additional aspectual distinctions.<ref name="farahani">{{cite thesis |last1=Khomeijani Farahani |first1=Ali Akbar |title=A syntactic and semantic study of the tense and aspect system of modern Persian |date=1990 |location=[[University of Leeds]] |degree=PhD |url=https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/917/1/uk_bl_ethos_252658.pdf |access-date=9 November 2025}}</ref>{{rp|18}} Future can be expressed using the auxiliary {{lang|fa|[[:wikt:خواستن|خواستن]]}} ''xâstan'', but almost never in non-formal contexts, for which the present tense is used instead.<ref name="farahani"/>{{rp|115}} For example:
{{Interlinear|indent=2|fardâ bârân mi-âyad
                      |tomorrow rain IPFV-come-3SG-PRES|
                       'It will rain tomorrow'}}
The adverb "tomorrow" is used to signal future time, with the verb being in the present (non-past) tense.<ref name="farahani"/>{{rp|115}}

====Hindustani====
{{Main|Hindustani verbs}}
[[Hindustani grammar|Hindustani]] ([[Hindi]] and [[Urdu]]), an [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan language]], has indicative perfect past and indicative future forms, while the indicative present and indicative imperfect past conjugations exist only for the verb ''honā'' (to be). The indicative future is constructed using the [[Subjunctive mood|future subjunctive]] conjugations (which used to be the indicative present conjugations in older forms of Hindi–Urdu) by adding a future suffix ''-gā'' that declines for [[Grammatical gender|gender]] and the [[Grammatical number|number]] of the noun that the pronoun refers to. The forms of ''gā'' are derived from the perfective participle forms of the verb ''jāna'' ('to go'). The conjugations of the indicative perfect past and the indicative imperfect past are derived from participles (just like the past tense formation in [[Slavic languages]]) and hence they agree with the [[grammatical number|number]] and the [[Grammatical gender|gender]] of the noun which the pronoun refers to and not the pronoun itself. The perfect past doubles as the perfective aspect participle and the imperfect past conjugations act as the copula to mark imperfect past when used with the aspectual participles. Hindi–Urdu has an overtly marked [[tense–aspect–mood]] system. [[Periphrasis|Periphrastic]] Hindi–Urdu verb forms (aspectual verb forms) consist of two elements, the first of these two elements is the aspect marker and the second element (the copula) is the common tense-mood marker. Hindi–Urdu has three aspectsː [[Habitual aspect|''Habitual'']], [[Perfective aspect|''Perfective'']], and [[Continuous and progressive aspects|''Progressive'']]; and five moodsː ''[[Realis mood|Indicative]]'', ''[[Grammatical mood|Presumptive]]'', ''[[Subjunctive mood|Subjunctive]]'', ''[[Counterfactual conditional|Contrafactual]]'', and ''[[Imperative mood|Imperative]]''.<ref name=":13">{{Cite journal|last=Van Olphen|first=Herman|title=Aspect, Tense, and Mood in the Hindi Verb|date=1975|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/24651488|journal=Indo-Iranian Journal|volume=16|issue=4|pages=284–301|doi=10.1163/000000075791615397|jstor=24651488|s2cid=161530848 |issn=0019-7246|url-access=subscription}}</ref> 

=== Austronesian languages ===
<section begin="list-of-glossing-abbreviations"/>
<div style="display:none;">
DIR:directional
</div>
<section end="list-of-glossing-abbreviations"/>
==== Rapa ====
[[Rapa language|Rapa]] is a French Polynesian language of the island of [[Rapa Iti]].<ref name="Walworth">{{cite thesis |last1=Walworth |first1=Mary E. |title=The Language of Rapa Iti: Description of a Language in Change | degree=PhD | date=May 2015 |publisher=University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa |location=Honolulu |url=http://ling.hawaii.edu/wp-content/uploads/MaryWalworthFinal.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150825115109/http://ling.hawaii.edu/wp-content/uploads/MaryWalworthFinal.pdf |archive-date=2015-08-25 |url-status=live |access-date=20 October 2025}}</ref>{{Rp|vi}} Verbs in the indigenous Old Rapa{{Efn|text="Very little of Old Rapa is still spoken, the modern language ('Reo Rapa') has become heavily Tahitianized, and a 'new' Rapa ('New Rapa') is emerging from revitalization efforts.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;."<ref name="Walworth" />{{Rp|vi}}}} occur with a TAM (tense, aspect, or mood) marker which can be followed by directional or [[Deixis|deictic]] particles. "The primary tense–aspect markers used in Old Rapa are the imperfective, progressive, perfective, past, imperative, and subjunctive."<ref name="Walworth"/>{{Rp|99}} However, specific tense–aspect–modality (TAM) markers and the type of deictic or directional particle that follows express different types of meaning.<ref name="Walworth"/>{{Rp|105–106}}

"TAM particle ''i'' marks past action. It is rarely used as a matrix TAM and is more frequently observed in past embedded clauses."<ref name="Walworth"/>{{Rp|103}}

{{interlinear|indent=2
|i komo mātou
|PST sleep 1PL.EXCL
|'We slept.'}}

{{interlinear|indent=2
|e a'a koe i 'aka-ineine
|IPFV what 2S PST CAUS-ready
|'What did you prepare?'}}

==== Wuvulu-Aua ====
[[Wuvulu-Aua language|Wuvulu-Aua]] does not have explicit tense, but rather time reference is conveyed by mood, aspect markers, and time phrases. Wuvulu speakers use a [[realis mood]] to describe the past as they can be certain about events that have occurred.<ref name="Hafford">{{cite thesis|last1=Hafford|first1=James A.|title=Wuvulu Grammar and Vocabulary|date=2014|location=Honolulu | publisher=University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa | degree=PhD | url=http://www.ling.hawaii.edu/graduate/Dissertations/JamesHaffordDraft.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211081022/http://www.ling.hawaii.edu/graduate/Dissertations/JamesHaffordDraft.pdf |archive-date=2017-02-11 |url-status=dead |access-date=6 March 2017}}</ref>{{rp|89}} In some cases, realis mood is used for the present — often for [[Stative verb|stative]] clauses. An irrealis mood is used for the future.<ref name="Hafford"/>{{rp|90}}

Tense in Wuvulu-Aua may also be implied by using time adverbials and aspectual markings. Wuvulu contains three verbal markers to indicate sequence of events. The preverbal adverbial ''loʔo'' ('first') indicates the verb occurs before any other. The postverbal morpheme ''liai'' and ''linia'' are the respective intransitive and transitive suffixes indicating a repeated action. The postverbal morpheme ''li'' and ''liria'' are respectively intransitive and transitive suffixes indicating a completed action.<ref name="Hafford"/>{{rp|91}}

==== Mortlockese ====
[[Mortlockese]] uses tense markers such as ''mii'' to denote the present state of a subject, ''aa'' to denote a present state that an object has changed to, ''kɞ'' to describe something that has already been completed, ''pɞ'' and ''lɛ'' to describe the future, ''pʷapʷ'' to denote a possible action or state in the future, and ''sæn/mwo'' for something that has not yet happened. Each of these markers, except for ''aa'' and ''mii'', is used in conjunction with the subject [[proclitic]]s. Additionally, ''mii'' can be used with any type of intransitive verb.<ref name="Odango">{{cite thesis|last1=Lopez Odango|first1=Emerson |title=Afféú Fangani 'Join Together': A Morphophonemic Analysis of Possessive Suffix Paradigms and A Discourse-Based Ethnography of the Elicitation Session in Pakin Lukunosh Mortlockese|date=May 2015|publisher=University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa |degree=PhD |url=http://ling.hawaii.edu/wp-content/uploads/Dissertation_ODANGO-FINAL.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150825114843/http://ling.hawaii.edu/wp-content/uploads/Dissertation_ODANGO-FINAL.pdf |archive-date=2015-08-25 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Other languages===
[[Finnish language|Finnish]] and [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], both members of the [[Uralic languages|Uralic]] language family, have morphological present (non-past) and past tenses. The [[Hungarian verbs|Hungarian verb]] ''van'' ("to be") also has a future form.

[[Turkish grammar|Turkish verbs]] conjugate for past, present and future, with a variety of aspects and moods.

[[Arabic verbs]] have past and non-past; future can be indicated by a prefix.<ref name="Ryding_Arabic" />

[[Korean verbs]] have a variety of affixed forms which can be described as representing present, past and future tenses, although they can alternatively be considered to be aspectual. Similarly, [[Japanese verbs]] are described as having present and past tenses, although the distinction may be analysed as one of aspect. Some [[Wu Chinese]] languages, such as [[Shanghainese]], use [[grammatical particle|particles]] to mark some tenses.<ref>{{cite book|author=Qian, Nairong ({{lang|zh|錢乃榮}})|year=2010|title={{lang|zh|《從〈滬語便商〉所見的老上海話時態》}} (''Tenses and Aspects? Old Shanghainese as Found in the Book Huyu Bian Shang'')|location=Shanghai|publisher=The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press}}</ref> Other [[Chinese languages]] and many other East Asian languages generally lack inflection and are considered to be [[tenseless language|tenseless]], although they often have aspect markers which convey information about time reference.

==See also==
*[[Sequence of tenses]]
*[[Spatial tense]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite web|title=What Are Verb Tenses?|url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/grammar/verb-tenses|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161023202126/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/grammar/verb-tenses|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 23, 2016|website=Oxford Living Dictionaries|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=2017-01-25}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Guillaume |first1=Gustave |title=Temps et Verbe : théorie des aspects, des modes et des temps |date=1929 |publisher=H. Champion |location=Paris}}
* {{Cite book |editor-last1=Hopper |editor-first1=Paul J. |title=Tense–Aspect: Between Semantics and Pragmatics |date=1982 |publisher=Benjamins |location=Amsterdam |isbn=9789027228659}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Carlota S. |title=The Parameter of Aspect |series=Studies in Linguistics and Philosophy |date=1997 |volume=43 |publisher=Kluwer |location=Dordrecht |doi=10.1007/978-94-011-5606-6 |isbn=978-0-7923-4659-3 |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-94-011-5606-6}}
* {{Cite book |editor-last1=Tedeschi |editor-first1=Philip |editor-last2=Zaenen |editor-first2=Anne |date=1981 |title=Tense and Aspect |series=Syntax and Semantics 14 |location=New York |publisher=Academic Press |isbn=0126135142 |oclc=7709091}}

==External links==
* [http://www.bcbsr.com/greek/gtense.html Combinations of Tense, Aspect, and Mood in Greek]
* [http://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/features/morphosemantic/tense/ Grammatical Features Inventory]

<section begin="list-of-glossing-abbreviations"/><div style="display:none;">
DIR:directional particle
DEIC:deictic particle</div><section end="list-of-glossing-abbreviations"/>

{{Grammatical tenses}}{{Narrative}}
{{Formal semantics}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grammatical tense}}
[[Category:Grammatical tenses| ]]
[[Category:Time in linguistics]]