The sequence of tenses (known in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
as ''consecutio temporum'', and also known as agreement of tenses, succession of tenses and tense harmony) is a set of
grammatical
In linguistics, grammaticality is determined by the conformity to language usage as derived by the grammar of a particular variety (linguistics), speech variety. The notion of grammaticality rose alongside the theory of generative grammar, the go ...
rules of a particular language, governing the
agreement Agreement may refer to:
Agreements between people and organizations
* Gentlemen's agreement, not enforceable by law
* Trade agreement, between countries
* Consensus, a decision-making process
* Contract, enforceable in a court of law
** Meeting o ...
between the
tenses of verbs in related
clause
In language, a clause is a constituent that comprises a semantic predicand (expressed or not) and a semantic predicate. A typical clause consists of a subject and a syntactic predicate, the latter typically a verb phrase composed of a verb with ...
s or
sentences.
A typical context in which rules of sequence of tenses apply is that of
indirect speech
In linguistics, indirect speech (also reported speech or indirect discourse) is a grammatical mechanism for reporting the content of another utterance without directly quoting it. For example, the English sentence ''Jill said she was coming'' i ...
. If, at some past time, someone spoke a sentence in a particular tense (say the present tense), and that act of speaking is now being reported, the tense used in the clause that corresponds to the words spoken may or may not be the same as the tense that was used by the original speaker. In some languages the tense tends to be "shifted back", so that what was originally spoken in the present tense is reported using the past tense (since what was in the present at the time of the original sentence is in the past relative to the time of reporting).
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
is one of the languages in which this often occurs. For example, if someone said "I need a drink", this may be reported in the form "She said she needed a drink", with the tense of the verb ''need'' changed from present to past.
The "shifting back" of tense as described in the previous paragraph may be called backshifting or an attracted sequence of tenses. In languages and contexts where such a shift does not occur, there may be said by contrast to be a natural sequence.
English
In
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, an ''attracted sequence'' of tenses (backshifting) is often used in
indirect speech
In linguistics, indirect speech (also reported speech or indirect discourse) is a grammatical mechanism for reporting the content of another utterance without directly quoting it. For example, the English sentence ''Jill said she was coming'' i ...
and similar contexts. The attracted sequence can be summarized as follows: If the main verb of a sentence is in the
past tense
The past tense is a grammatical tense whose function is to place an action or situation in the past. Examples of verbs in the past tense include the English verbs ''sang'', ''went'' and ''washed''. Most languages have a past tense, with some hav ...
, then other verbs must also express a past viewpoint, except when a general truth is being expressed.
For example, if
Batman
Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...
spoke the following words:
::I need a special key for the Batmobile.
the speech act may be reported using the following words:
::Batman said that he needed a special key for the Batmobile.
with the
present tense
The present tense (abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense whose principal function is to locate a situation or event in the present time. The present tense is used for actions which are happening now. In order to explain and understand present ...
''need'' replaced by the
past tense
The past tense is a grammatical tense whose function is to place an action or situation in the past. Examples of verbs in the past tense include the English verbs ''sang'', ''went'' and ''washed''. Most languages have a past tense, with some hav ...
''needed'', since the main verb of saying (''said'') is in the past tense. Further examples can be found at .
In some cases, though, a ''natural sequence'' of tenses is more appropriate. Here the tense of a verb in a
subordinate clause
A subordinate clause, dependent clause, subclause, or embedded clause is a clause that is embedded within a complex sentence. For instance, in the English sentence "I know that Bette is a dolphin", the clause "that Bette is a dolphin" occurs as t ...
is not determined by the tense of the verb in the superordinate clause, but is determined simply according to the sense of the clause taken apart from the rest of the sentence.
The rule for writers following the natural sequence of tenses can be expressed as follows: imagine yourself at the point in time denoted by the main verb, and use the tense for the subordinate verb that you would have used ''at that time''. Thus the tense used in the indirect speech remains the same as it was in the words as originally spoken. This is normal when the main verb is in the present or
future tense
In grammar, a future tense (abbreviated ) is a verb form that generally marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future. An example of a future tense form is the French ''aimera'', meaning ...
(as opposed to past tense or
conditional mood The conditional mood (abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood used in conditional sentences to express a proposition whose validity is dependent on some condition, possibly counterfactual.
It may refer to a distinct verb form that expresses the condit ...
). For example:
::Batman says that he needs a special key for the Batmobile. (main verb in present tense)
::Batman has said that he needs a special key for the Batmobile. (main verb in
present perfect
The present perfect is a grammatical combination of the present tense and perfect aspect that is used to express a past event that has present consequences. The term is used particularly in the context of English grammar to refer to forms like " ...
, not past tense, so no backshifting)
However it is also possible to use the natural sequence even if the main verb is past or conditional:
::Batman said that he needs a special key for the Batmobile.
This option is more likely to be used when the circumstance being expressed remains equally true now as it did when the speech act took place, and especially if the person reporting the words agrees that they are true or valid.
Debate amongst
grammarians over the appropriateness of the two types of sequence of tenses goes back as far as the 18th century.
Use of the attracted sequence sometimes leads to additional problems when the grammatical construction of
indirect speech
In linguistics, indirect speech (also reported speech or indirect discourse) is a grammatical mechanism for reporting the content of another utterance without directly quoting it. For example, the English sentence ''Jill said she was coming'' i ...
includes an incorporated quotation – that is, when an attempt is made (though using indirect rather than
direct speech
As a form of transcription, direct or quoted speech is spoken or written text that reports speech or thought in its original form phrased by the original speaker. In narrative, it is usually enclosed in quotation marks, but it can be enclosed in gu ...
) to report the words actually spoken. For example, if a minister spoke the words "Such a policy is not without its drawbacks", then a writer may attempt to report this as follows:
:The minister admitted that "such a policy is not without its drawbacks".
using
quotation marks
Quotation marks (also known as quotes, quote marks, speech marks, inverted commas, or talking marks) are punctuation marks used in pairs in various writing systems to set off direct speech, a quotation, or a phrase. The pair consists of an ...
to denote that that portion of the sentence represents the minister's actual words. This, however, requires use of the natural sequence of tenses, which might not be felt appropriate in the given situation. There are various possible solutions to this problem:
* Rearrange the sentence so that the incorporated quotations become set off, possibly as
direct speech
As a form of transcription, direct or quoted speech is spoken or written text that reports speech or thought in its original form phrased by the original speaker. In narrative, it is usually enclosed in quotation marks, but it can be enclosed in gu ...
:
::The minister did not claim perfection: "such a policy is not without its drawbacks", he admitted.
* Cut down the incorporated quotation to exclude the verb:
::The minister admitted that such a policy was "not without its drawbacks".
* Use
square brackets
A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a 'left' or 'r ...
to indicate where the words deviate from those actually spoken:
::The minister admitted that "such a policy
asnot without its drawbacks".
Similar problems arise from the other changes that typically occur in indirect speech, such as changes of pronoun (depending on speaker), etc.
For more details, see the article on
indirect speech
In linguistics, indirect speech (also reported speech or indirect discourse) is a grammatical mechanism for reporting the content of another utterance without directly quoting it. For example, the English sentence ''Jill said she was coming'' i ...
, and also the article on
uses of English verb forms
This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes:
* Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went''
* Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone''
* Combinations of s ...
, particularly the sections on
indirect speech
In linguistics, indirect speech (also reported speech or indirect discourse) is a grammatical mechanism for reporting the content of another utterance without directly quoting it. For example, the English sentence ''Jill said she was coming'' i ...
and
dependent clauses
A dependant is a person who relies on another as a primary source of income. A common-law marriage, common-law spouse who is financially supported by their partner may also be included in this definition. In some jurisdictions, supporting a ...
.
Russian
Indirect speech in Russian and other Slavic languages generally uses the natural sequence of tenses (there is no backshifting). For examples, see .
Latin
In
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, the sequence of tenses rule affects dependent verbs in the subjunctive mood, mainly in indirect questions, indirect commands, and purpose clauses. If the main verb is in one of the non-past tenses, the subordinate verb is usually in the present or perfect subjunctive (primary sequence); if the main verb is in one of the past tenses, the subordinate verb is usually in the imperfect or pluperfect subjunctive (historic sequence). For example, when the subordinate verb refers to a time contemporaneous or later than the time of the main verb, the present or imperfect subjunctive is used:
: (present subjunctive)
:'he asks where it is'
: (imperfect subjunctive)
:'he asked where it was'
When the subordinate verb refers to a time earlier than that of the main verb, the perfect or pluperfect subjunctive is used:
: (perfect subjunctive)
:'I don't know what he did/has done/was doing'
: (pluperfect subjunctive)
:'I didn't know what he had done/had been doing'
If the main verb is a historic present (i.e. a present tense with a past meaning), either primary or historic sequence may be used, or in a long sentence even a mixture of the two:
: (present or imperfect subjunctive)
:'they send (i.e. sent) ambassadors to ask for peace'
If the main verb is a perfect tense, it is usually followed by the historic sequence, but if the meaning is equivalent to an English present perfect (i.e. "have done"), it may be followed by primary sequence:
: (present subjunctive)
:'he has sent me ahead to announce these things'
There are frequent exceptions to the sequence of tenses rule (see
Latin tenses#Sequence of tenses rule). For example, verbs in conditional clauses do not usually follow the rule:
: (perfect subjunctive + pluperfect subjunctive)
:'tell us what you would have done if you had been censor'
Consecutive clauses also do not always follow the rule:
: (present subjunctive)
:'he harassed Sicily so much (during his governorship) that it cannot be restored'
When the sentence is an indirect statement (which uses the
accusative and infinitive In grammar, accusative and infinitive is the name for a syntactic construction of Latin language, Latin and Greek language, Greek, also found in various forms in other languages such as English language, English and Spanish language, Spanish. In thi ...
construction in Latin), the main verb of the reported sentence is an infinitive which remains unchanged, no matter what the tense of the main verb. The present infinitive is used for a situation contemporaneous with the main verb:
: (present infinitive)
:'he says the enemy are present'
: (present infinitive)
:'he said the enemy were present'
The perfect infinitive is used for an event or situation earlier than the time of the main verb:
: (perfect infinitive)
:'he says that Caesar has come'
: (perfect infinitive)
:'he said that Caesar had come'
However, subordinate clauses in an indirect statement use the subjunctive mood, which is subject to the sequence of tenses rule:
: (Nepos)
[Nepos, ''Hann.'' 12.3.]
:'(he said) they would easily find the place where
he was'
Greek
In
Classical Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
, the tenses in subordinate clauses must correspond to those in the superordinate clauses governing them.
A principal tense (
present tense
The present tense (abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense whose principal function is to locate a situation or event in the present time. The present tense is used for actions which are happening now. In order to explain and understand present ...
,
future tense
In grammar, a future tense (abbreviated ) is a verb form that generally marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future. An example of a future tense form is the French ''aimera'', meaning ...
, or
perfect tense
The perfect tense or aspect (abbreviated or ) is a verb form that indicates that an action or circumstance occurred earlier than the time under consideration, often focusing attention on the resulting state rather than on the occurrence itself. ...
) in the superordinate clause is followed by a principal tense in the
indicative mood
A realis mood (abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood which is used principally to indicate that something is a statement of fact; in other words, to express what the speaker considers to be a known state of affairs, as in declarative sentences. Mos ...
or
subjunctive mood
The subjunctive (also known as conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of the utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude towards it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality ...
. Such a principal tense is followed by:
*the
present tense
The present tense (abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense whose principal function is to locate a situation or event in the present time. The present tense is used for actions which are happening now. In order to explain and understand present ...
when the action of the subordinate verb refers to the same time as the superordinate verb
*the
perfect when the action of the subordinate verb has been completed before the time of the superordinate verb
*the
future tense
In grammar, a future tense (abbreviated ) is a verb form that generally marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future. An example of a future tense form is the French ''aimera'', meaning ...
when the action of the subordinate verb is in the future of the time of the superordinate verb
A historical tense (
imperfect
The imperfect (abbreviated ) is a verb form that combines past tense (reference to a past time) and imperfective aspect (reference to a continuing or repeated event or state). It can have meanings similar to the English "was walking" or "used to w ...
,
pluperfect
The pluperfect (shortening of plusquamperfect), usually called past perfect in English, is a type of verb form, generally treated as a grammatical tense in certain languages, relating to an action that occurred prior to an aforementioned time i ...
, or
aorist
Aorist (; abbreviated ) verb forms usually express perfective aspect and refer to past events, similar to a preterite. Ancient Greek grammar had the aorist form, and the grammars of other Indo-European languages and languages influenced by the I ...
) in the superordinate clause is followed by a historical tense in the indicative mood or
optative mood
The optative mood ( or ; abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood that indicates a wish or hope regarding a given action. It is a superset of the cohortative mood and is closely related to the subjunctive mood but is distinct from the desiderative mood. ...
. Such a historic tense is followed by:
*the
imperfect
The imperfect (abbreviated ) is a verb form that combines past tense (reference to a past time) and imperfective aspect (reference to a continuing or repeated event or state). It can have meanings similar to the English "was walking" or "used to w ...
when the action of the subordinate verb refers to the same time as the superordinate verb
*the
pluperfect
The pluperfect (shortening of plusquamperfect), usually called past perfect in English, is a type of verb form, generally treated as a grammatical tense in certain languages, relating to an action that occurred prior to an aforementioned time i ...
when the action of the subordinate verb has been completed before the time of the superordinate verb
*the
aorist
Aorist (; abbreviated ) verb forms usually express perfective aspect and refer to past events, similar to a preterite. Ancient Greek grammar had the aorist form, and the grammars of other Indo-European languages and languages influenced by the I ...
*the
future tense
In grammar, a future tense (abbreviated ) is a verb form that generally marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future. An example of a future tense form is the French ''aimera'', meaning ...
in the optative mood when the action of the subordinate verb is in the future of the time of the superordinate verb.
Italian
The set of rules comprising the sequence of tenses (and modes of the main and subordinate clauses) in the Italian language corresponds in general to the "consecutio temporum" of the Latin grammar.
To determine the form of the verb in the subordinate clause it is necessary to know:
#if the verb in the main clause is in the indicative or subjunctive mood,
#if the verb in the main clause is in the present or past tense, and
#if the verb in the subordinate clause expresses an action which unfolds before, at the same time, or after the action indicated in the main clause.
The various combinations are summarized in four tables (see below).
Sequence of tenses of the indicative
The verb of the main clause is in the present tense
The verb of the main clause is a past tense
If the verb of the main clause is in the past (simple past, imperfect, or past perfect), the verbal forms of the subordinate clause refer to the moment indicated in the main clause and adapt accordingly. The present in the subordinate clase will transform to imperfect, the past will become past perfect, etc.:
Sequence of tenses of the subjunctive
Despite of the use of the subjunctive, the verbal tenses follow rules similar to the ones of the Indicative mood. The Present Indicative of the subordinate clause will be substituted with the
subjunctive present; similarly, the
present perfect
The present perfect is a grammatical combination of the present tense and perfect aspect that is used to express a past event that has present consequences. The term is used particularly in the context of English grammar to refer to forms like " ...
will be substituted with its correspondent form, that of the
past subjunctive
The subjunctive (also known as conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of the utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude towards it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality s ...
and the
Past perfect tense with the
subjunctive past perfect.
The verb of the main clause is in the present tense
The verb of the main clause is a past tense
If the verb of the main clause is in the past tense, the verbal forms of the subordinate will be adapted to that of the main clause:
References
Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sequence Of Tenses
Grammar