Transcript of Lesson 3.3 - Combining Tense & Aspect

Combining tense and aspect.

So far, we've covered how the Simple Present, Past and Future tenses are formed in English.

Let's review them quickly.

The Simple Present: I go, he waits, they swim.

The Simple Past: I went, he waited. They swam.

The Simple Future: I will go. He will wait. They will swim. Or I am going to go. I'm going to wait. I'm going to swim.

But how are all the other tenses in English created?

To form all the other tenses in English, we combine 'tense' with 'aspect'.

Remember here, 'tense' is used to express WHEN and action, state or event happened in time, whereas 'aspect' is used to express HOW that action state or event happened in time.

We're going to cover the four different aspects used in the English verb system more deeply in the next lesson, but let's go through a few examples here to show you how they can combine with 'tense'.

Modifying the Present Tense.

So let's start with the phrase in the Simple Present:

I clean my room.

By using this in the Simple Present tense, it expresses the action of 'cleaning my room' is a routine.

It's a repeated action and it occurs in the present.

I clean my room.

But what if I want to say that in the present moment, I'm in the process of cleaning my room?

I can't use the Simple Present because that expresses the action as a routine.

Instead, I have to add a certain 'aspect' in order to show that the action of cleaning my room is a progressive action, it's ongoing, and this is the HOW, where as taking place in the present is the WHEN.

So, to do this, we combine the Present Tense with the Progressive Aspect to get the Present Progressive Tense.

The phrase now becomes:

I am cleaning my room.

Let's go through one more example.

Imagine you wake up this morning and you begin cleaning your room.

Just as you finish cleaning your room, your mum walks in and asks, "What have you done this morning?"

You can't use the Simple Present "I clean my room", because that indicates it's a routine you do presently.

And you can't use the Present Progressive, "I am cleaning my room", because the action was just completed moments ago and is no longer taking place.

So, in order to talk about the action of 'cleaning your room' that began in the recent past and just finished in the present--this morning. Right? The WHEN--we need to combine the Present Tense with the Perfect Aspect, the HOW, to form the Present Perfect Tense.

I have cleaned my room this morning.

The Present Perfect Tense indicates that an action recently began in the past and has just been completed in the present.

It links the recent past with the present.

So, the takeaway message for you here is that when we want to express more nuanced situations in the present, past or future, we often need to combine 'tense' with 'aspect'.

There are three time periods that tenses fall into in English: the Present, the Past, and the Future.

And there are four aspects that English uses and combines with tense: the Simple, the Progressive, the Perfect, and the Perfect Progressive.

Therefore, we can combine each of these three time periods with each of the four aspects in order to create the 12 English verb tenses.

You'll already have a deep understanding of the time periods, the Present, the Past and the Future.

The key here, though, to mastering the English verb system, is to understand how these time periods combine with the four different aspects in order to form these 12 different tenses.

By doing this, you'll understand the nuances of when and why each tense is used.

So, to summarise combining tense and aspect.

We use 'tense' to express WHEN the action of a verb takes place in time, Past, Present or Future.

We use 'aspect' to express HOW the action of the verb takes place through time.

There are three time periods in the English verb system, the Past, the Present, and the Future.

And there are four aspects in the English verb system: the Simple, the Progressive, the Perfect, and the Perfect Progressive.

And the three time periods and four aspects can combine together in order to form the 12 different verb tenses in English.

So again, guys, if you have any questions, if you have any comments to make, leave them down below and I'll chat to you there.