Talking about time: first tenses
Say when something happened. A language can mark time by changing the verb, by adding a helper word, or by leaving it to a time word, and the new language does it in its own way.
What a learner can do afterwards
- Say the same short sentence in the present and about yesterday in the new language
- Point to the part of the sentence carrying the time
- Describe one way the new language marks time differently from English
1 · Read
You have found verbs in sentences before. A verb can express an action or a state. In She walked home, walked names the action. Tense helps place an action or state in time. Languages can show time through verb forms, helper words or time words.
In Spanish, hablar means to speak. For these forms, remove -ar to get habl-. Add -o for hablo, meaning I speak, or -é for hablé, meaning I spoke about a completed past action. Yo means I. Compare Hoy hablo, I speak today, with Ayer hablé, I spoke yesterday. The ending changes while the person stays the same.
English changes verb forms too. I walk can describe a present habit. I walked describes a past action. For this regular verb, adding -ed makes the past form. Yesterday tells us which day, but walked already marks past time. This -ed pattern does not work for every English verb.
Compare ways to talk about the future: English I will speak and Spanish Yo hablaré. English adds the helper will before speak. This Spanish form adds -é to the whole infinitive hablar. Hablé and hablaré are different forms. Learn each whole form and its meaning.
Some English verb phrases connect two times. She has completed the task links a completed action with the present. She had completed the task before lunch yesterday places the finish before that past lunch. Had completed uses a past reference point, given in the sentence or nearby text. It does not mean earlier than every action described with has completed.
Find the verb, compare its taught forms, and check how the language marks time. A time word can add detail.
Original lesson, questions and flashcards written for this learning dataset.
Four original readings and six original flashcards written for this learning dataset. Linked video: Introduction to verbs, by Khan Academy.
More to read
Keep the speaker, change the time
Put these Spanish forms beside each other: yo hablo and yo hablé. Both start with yo, meaning I, and belong to hablar, meaning to speak. Hablo is the present form I speak. Hablé means I spoke for a completed past action. The written accent is part of hablé.
Compare their endings while keeping the speaker the same. This lets you study the time change without also changing who acts.
Compare two future expressions
Read I will speak and Yo hablaré. Both can refer to future time. In the English expression, will is a helper before speak. In this Spanish expression, hablaré is one verb form.
Look closely at hablé and hablaré. Hablé means I spoke. Hablaré means I will speak and keeps the ar from hablar. An ending needs its surrounding verb form to be understood. Learn the complete form with its meaning.
Verbs can describe states
In The door is open, is is a verb. It describes a state. In The door opened, opened describes an event. Looking only for a physical action can make you miss a verb such as is.
When studying time, locate the verb or verb phrase first. Then compare its forms and any helper words. An ending can be a clue, but it is not a test that works for every verb. English past forms do not all end in -ed.
Use a past reference point
Read: When the shop opened yesterday, the baker had completed the cake. There are two past events. The baker finished the cake first. The shop opened later.
Had completed places the finish before that later past event. The reference point may appear in the same sentence or nearby text. Has completed instead links a completed action with the present. Neither phrase gives an exact date on its own. Use the surrounding story to find the relevant time.
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2 · Watch
به انگلیسیTake it off screen
Where it sits
Learn first
Optional connections
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.