ASPECT

The English tense–aspect system has two morphologically distinct tenses, past and non-past, the latter of which is also known as the present-future or, more commonly and less formally, simply the present. No marker of a distinct future tense exists on the in English; the futurity of event may expressed through the use of the auxiliary will and shall, by a non-past form plus adverb, as in tomorrow we go to New York City, or by some other means. Past is distinguished from non-past, in contrast, with internal modifications of the . These two tenses may modified further for progressive aspect (also called continuous aspect), for the perfect, or for both. These two aspectual forms are also referred to as BE +ING[13] and HAVE +EN,[14] respectively, which avoids what may unfamiliar terminology.

Aspects of the present tense:

Present simple (not progressive, not perfect): I eat

Present progressive (progressive, not perfect): I am eating

Present perfect (not progressive, perfect): I have eaten

Present perfect progressive (progressive, perfect): I have eating

(While many elementary discussions of English grammar classify the present perfect as a past tense, it relates the to the present . One cannot say of someone now deceased that they have eaten or have eating. The present auxiliary implies that they are in some way present (alive), even when the denoted is completed (perfect) or partially completed (progressive perfect).)

Aspects of the past tense:

Past simple (not progressive, not perfect): I ate

Past progressive (progressive, not perfect): I was eating

Past perfect (not progressive, perfect): I had eaten

Past perfect progressive (progressive, perfect): I had eating

Aspects can also marked on non-finite forms of the : (to) eating (infinitive with progressive aspect), (to) have eaten (infinitive with perfect aspect), having eaten (present participle or gerund with perfect aspect), etc. The perfect infinitive can further governed by modal to express various meanings, mostly combining modality with past reference: I should have eaten etc. In particular, the modals will and shall and their subjunctive forms would and should are used to combine future or hypothetical reference with aspectual meaning:

Simple future, simple conditional: I will eat, I would eat

Future progressive, conditional progressive: I will eating, I would eating

Future perfect, conditional perfect: I will have eaten, I would have eaten

Future perfect progressive, conditional perfect progressive: I will have eating, I would have eating

The uses of the progressive and perfect aspects are quite complex. They may refer to the viewpoint of the speaker:

I was walking down the road when I met Michael Jackson's lawyer. (Speaker viewpoint in middle of )

I have traveled widely, but I have never to Moscow. (Speaker viewpoint at end of )

But they can have other illocutionary forces or additional modal components:

You are being stupid now. (You are doing it deliberately)

You are not having chocolate with your sausages! (I forbid it)

I am having lunch with Mike tomorrow. (It is decided)

English expresses some other aspectual distinctions with other constructions. Used to + VERB is a past habitual, as in I used to go to school, and going to / gonna + VERB is a prospective, a future situation highlighting current intention or expectation, as in I'm going to go to school next year.

Simple	Perfective	Habitual	Progressive	Translation
होना	हुआ होना	हुआ रहना	हुआ जाना	होता होना	होता रहना	होता आना	होता जाना	हो रहा होना	हो रहा रहना	to happen
honā	huā honā	huā rêhnā	huā jānā	hotā honā	hotā rêhnā	hotā ānā	hotā jānā	ho rahā honā	ho rahā rêhnā
करना	किया होना	किया रहना	किया जाना	करता होना	करता रहना	करता आना	करता जाना	कर रहा होना	कर रहा रहना	to
ā	kiyā honā	kiyā rêhnā	kiyā jānā	kartā honā	kartā rêhnā	kartā ānā	kartā jānā	kar rahā honā	kar rahā rêhnā
मरना	मरा होना	मरा रहना	मरा जाना	मरता होना	मरता रहना	मरता आना	मरता जाना	मर रहा होना	मर रहा रहना	to die
marnā	marā honā	marā rêhnā	marā jānā	martā honā	martā rêhnā	martā ānā	martā jānā	mar rahā honā	mar rahā rêhnā