A nonpast tense (
abbreviated ) is a
grammatical tense
In grammar, tense is a grammatical category, category that expresses time reference. Tenses are usually manifested by the use of specific forms of verbs, particularly in their grammatical conjugation, conjugation patterns.
The main tenses foun ...
that distinguishes a verbal action as taking place in times present or future, as opposed to
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 ...
. This can be illustrated in English, where future is not a separate form of the verb, as demonstrated by forms such as ''I hope he
gets''
onpast''better tomorrow'', where the future
modal ''will'' is not required the way a true tense would be. (Compare past tense ''I hope he
got better yesterday'', where the ''gets'' form is not grammatical.)
Grammatical tenses
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