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Present tense
 
 
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The present tense is the tense
Grammatical tense

Grammatical tense is a temporal language quality expressing the time at, during, or over which a state or action denoted by a verb occurs.Tense is one of at least five qualities, along with grammatical mood, grammatical voice, grammatical aspect, and grammatical person, which verb forms may express....
 (that is, the form of the verb
Verb

In syntax, a verb is a word that usually denotes an action , an occurrence , or a state of being . Depending on the language, a verb may vary in form according to many factors, possibly including its grammatical tense, grammatical aspect, grammatical mood and grammatical voice....
) that may be used to express:



There are two common types of present tenses to be found in most Indo-European languages
Indo-European languages

The Indo-European languages are a Language family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau , Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent ....
: the present indicative (i.e., the combination of present tense and indicative mood
Grammatical mood

Grammatical mood is one of a set of distinctive verb forms that are used to signal Linguistic modality.It is distinct from grammatical tense or grammatical aspect, although these concepts are conflated to some degree in many languages, including English and most other modern Indo-European languages, insofar as the same word patterns are used...
) and the present subjunctive (i.e., the combination of present tense and subjunctive mood).

English English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
, like other Germanic languages
Germanic languages

The Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European languages language family. The common ancestor of all the languages in this branch is Proto-Germanic, spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Pre-Roman Iron Age....
, has two tenses, past and non-past.






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For referencing in Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Citing sources.
The present tense is the tense
Grammatical tense

Grammatical tense is a temporal language quality expressing the time at, during, or over which a state or action denoted by a verb occurs.Tense is one of at least five qualities, along with grammatical mood, grammatical voice, grammatical aspect, and grammatical person, which verb forms may express....
 (that is, the form of the verb
Verb

In syntax, a verb is a word that usually denotes an action , an occurrence , or a state of being . Depending on the language, a verb may vary in form according to many factors, possibly including its grammatical tense, grammatical aspect, grammatical mood and grammatical voice....
) that may be used to express:

  • action at the present
  • a state of being;
  • a habitual action;
  • an occurrence in the (very) near future; or
  • an action that occurred in the past and continues up to the present.


There are two common types of present tenses to be found in most Indo-European languages
Indo-European languages

The Indo-European languages are a Language family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau , Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent ....
: the present indicative (i.e., the combination of present tense and indicative mood
Grammatical mood

Grammatical mood is one of a set of distinctive verb forms that are used to signal Linguistic modality.It is distinct from grammatical tense or grammatical aspect, although these concepts are conflated to some degree in many languages, including English and most other modern Indo-European languages, insofar as the same word patterns are used...
) and the present subjunctive (i.e., the combination of present tense and subjunctive mood).

Germanic Languages


English

English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
, like other Germanic languages
Germanic languages

The Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European languages language family. The common ancestor of all the languages in this branch is Proto-Germanic, spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Pre-Roman Iron Age....
, has two tenses, past and non-past. These tenses have several aspects. The present tense aspects comprise:
  • present simple, which is used to describe both habits and or routines (I eat breakfast every morning at 6:30. I go to work every day), and general facts or the truth (The earth revolves around the sun);
We use the present simple for thoughts and feelings. (Ex. I think so, I like it.)

In the present simple, we use the verb without an ending. (Ex. I get the lunch ready at one o'clock, usually.) In the third person singular, (after he, she, it, your friend and etc.,) however, the verb ends in -s or -es. (Ex. It gets busy on the weekends. Sarah catches the early train.)
  • present progressive or present continuous, which is used to describe events happening now, e.g. I am reading this wiki article, and I am thinking about editing it;


The present simple tense is very often used with adverbs of repeated time. Look at these examples (the adverbs are shown in bold): - I always come to school by cycle. - She frequently arrives here before me. - He never forgets to do his homework. - I often catch the late bus home.

When we want to state a fact or ask a question without any time reference, we use the present simple tense. - I live in Frankfurt. - She plays football but she does not play tennis. - For breakfast, he eats rice and drinks cold milk.

Statements about rules of nature and the way the world is are in the present simple tense. - The sun sets in the West. - Most babies learn to speak when they are about two years old. - Water boils at 100° Celsius.

  • present perfect progressive, which is used to describe events or actions that have begun at some point in the past and continue through the present, e.g. I have been reading this article for some time now.


The conjugation of the present indicative tense in regular verbs is as follows:

  to walk
I walk
you walk
he/she/it walks
we walk
they walk


German present indicative tense

In German
German language

German is a West Germanic languages, thus related to and classified alongside English language and Dutch language. It is one of the world's world language and the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union....
, the present tense is used in a rather different fashion from English. The present tense is a simple construction. There is no close equivalent to the English present continuous.

Here is an example of present tense conjugation in German:

  gehen sprechen finden laufen
ich gehe spreche finde laufe
du gehst sprichst findest läufst
er/sie/es geht spricht findet läuft
wir gehen sprechen finden laufen
ihr geht sprecht findet lauft
sie gehen sprechen finden laufen


Romance Languages

The Romance languages are derived from Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
, and in particular western Vulgate Latin
Vulgar Latin

Vulgar Latin is a blanket term covering the popular dialects and sociolects of the Latin which diverged from each other in the early Middle Ages, evolving into the Romance languages by the 9th century....
. As a result, their usages and forms are similar.

Latin present indicative tense

In Latin, the present tense can be translated as being progressive or simple. Below is an example of present indicative tense conjugation in Latin.

  plicare debere dicere cupere scire
Ego plico debeo dico cupio scio
Tu plicas debes dicis cupis scis
Is, Ea, Id plicat debet dicit cupit scit
Nos plicamus debemus dicimus cupimus scimus
Vos plicatis debetis dicitis cupitis scitis
Ei, Eae, Ea plicant debent dicunt cupiunt sciunt


French present indicative tense

In French
French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
, the present tense is used similarly to that of English. Below is an example of present tense conjugation in French.

  parler prendre finir partir
je parle prends finis pars
tu parles prends finis pars
il/elle/on parle prend finit part
nous parlons prenons finissons partons
vous parlez prenez finissez partez
ils/elles parlent prennent finissent partent


To express (and emphasise) the present continuous, expressions such as "en train de" or "en cours de" may be used. For example, Jean est en train de manger, may be translated as John is eating, John is in the middle of eating. On est en train de chercher un nouvel appartement may be translated as We are looking for a new apartment, we are in the process of finding a new apartment.

Italian present indicative tense

In Italian
Italian language

Italian is a Romance languages spoken by about 63 million people as a first language, primarily in Italy. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four Linguistic geography of Switzerlands....
, the present tense is used almost identically to that of English. What follows is an example of present indicative tense conjugation in Italian.

  guardare credere partire finire
io guardo credo parto finisco
tu guardi credi parti finisci
lui/lei/egli/ella guarda crede parte finisce
noi guardiamo crediamo partiamo finiamo
voi guardate credete partite finite
loro guardano credono partono finiscono


Portuguese present indicative tense

In Portuguese
Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and Portugal. It is derived from the Latin language spoken by the Romanization Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago....
 regular verbs, the present tense is conjugated according to the model below:

  acabar comer partir
eu acabo como parto
tu acabas comes partes
ele/ela/você acaba come parte
nós acabamos comemos partimos
vós acabais comeis partis
eles/elas/vocês acabam comem partem


In Portuguese, one sometimes uses the present tense where in English one would use the present continuous
Continuous and progressive aspects

The continuous and progressive aspects are grammatical aspects that express incomplete action in progress at a specific time: they are non-habitual, imperfective aspect aspects....
. The present tense is used with a future sense more often than in English.

Spanish present indicative tense

In Spanish
Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
, the present tense is used similarly to that of English. What follows is an example of present tense conjugation in Spanish.

  hablar comer insistir
yo hablo como insisto
tú hablas comes insistes
vos hablás comés insistís
él / ella / usted habla come insiste
nosotros hablamos comemos insistimos
vosotros habláis coméis insistís
ellos / ellas / ustedes hablan comen insisten


Slavic Languages


Bulgarian present indicative tense

In Bulgarian
Bulgarian language

Bulgarian is an Indo-European languages, a member of the Slavic languages linguistic group.Bulgarian demonstrates several linguistic innovations that set it apart from all other Slavic languages except Macedonian language, such as the elimination of grammatical case, the development of a suffixed definite article , the lack of a verb infin...
, the present indicative tense of imperfective verbs is used very similarly to that of English. It can also be used as present progressive. Below is an example of present indicative tense conjugation in Bulgarian.

  ??????* ????????* ??????* ????????*
?? ???? ?????? ????? ???????
?? ????? ??????? ????? ???????
???, ??, ?? ???? ?????? ???? ??????
??? ????? ??????? ?????? ????????
??? ?????? ???????? ?????? ????????
?? ????? ??????? ????? ???????


*Archaic, no infinitive in the modern language.

Finno-Ugric Languages


Finnish present indicative tense

In Finnish
Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by Finnish people outside of Finland. It is one of the official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden....
, the pronouns have their own ending in the verb. These verbs may be used by themselves, without the pronoun (except he/she=hän).

  olla laskea antaa katsoa vapista
minä olen lasken annan katson vapisen
sinä olet lasket annat katsot vapiset
hän, se on laskee antaa katsoo vapisee
me olemme laskemme annamme katsomme vapisemme
te olette laskette annatte katsotte vapisette
he, ne ovat laskevat antavat katsovat vapisevat


Altaic Languages


Turkish present indicative tense

In the Turkish language
Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken by over 63 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Cyprus, with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other parts of Eastern Europe....
, the pronouns have their own ending according to vowel harmony
Vowel harmony

Vowel harmony is a type of long-distance Assimilation Phonology process involving vowels in some languages. In languages with vowel harmony, there are constraints on what vowels may be found near each other....
. Present tense suffex is "r".

  ending kal-mak sev-mek bul-mak gör-mek
Ben im/im/um/üm kalirim severim bulurum görürüm
Sen sin/sin/sun/sün kalirsin seversin bulursun görürsün
O kalir sever bulur görür
Biz iz/iz/uz/üz kaliriz severiz buluruz görürüz
Siz siniz/siniz/sunuz/sünüz kalirsiniz seversiniz bulursunuz görürsünüz
Onlar lar/ler kalirlar severler bulurlar görürler


See also

  • Historical present
    Historical present

    In linguistics and rhetoric, the historical present refers to the employment of the present tense when narrating past events. Besides its use in writing about history, especially in historical chronicles , it is used in fiction, for 'hot news' , and in everyday conversation ....
  • Future tense
    Future tense

    In grammar, the future tense is a verb form that marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future , or to happen subsequent to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future ....
  • Past tense
    Past tense

    The past tense is a verb grammatical tense expressing action, activity, state or being in the past of the current moment , or prior to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future ....
  • Grammatical aspect
    Grammatical aspect

    In linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a verb defines the temporal flow in the described event or state. In English, for example, the past-tense sentences "I swam" and "I was swimming" differ in aspect ....


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