Tense and Aspect

1. Tense and Aspect

2. Tense and Aspect Prepared by: Wahhaj Abulehia Submitted to: Professor Walid Amer 2nd Mar. 2019

3. Objectives Students are expected to: have developed theoretical and practical knowledge in tense and aspect in terms of both English and Arabic. be able to compare between tense and aspect of English and Arabic. be able to translate from English to Arabic and vice versa taking into consideration the differences between the two language.

4. Terms Derived nominal Derived subject Defective verbs Inflected verbs Pronominal suffixes. المصدر اسم الفاعل أفعال ناقصة أفعال صحيحة ضمير متصل

5. Aspect Tense Tense is the inflection on a verb with refere-nce to the time of the utterance. It is the correspondence betwe-en the form of the verb and our concept of time. Aspect is a term used to describe the state of verb action as beginning, in progress, completed. It expresses how the speaker views the action of the verb

6. Aspect Tense There are really only two true tenses in English: Past and Present. It indicates when the time of evaluation occurs. “Future” is technically not a tense because the verb is not marked The “temporally when” It indicates how the speaker views the situation It provides inform-ation about duration completion and freq-uency The “temporally how”

7. English Tense There are two tenses in English: past and present. There is no obvious future tense corresponding to the time/tense relation for present and past. The future is denoted by means of modal auxiliaries as in (a), by simple present forms as in (b) or progressive forms as in (c) and (d): I will go to school. He leaves for London tomorrow. It is going to rain. The train is leaving tonight.

8. The Present In the Simple Present, only the third person singular is marked for tense by the suffix, e.g.: he plays, she plays, it plays. The morpheme {-S3} has the same allomorphs in the same distribution as the plural suffix and possessive suffix of the noun: • /-s/, /-z/, /-iz/, as in sleeps, brushes, changes, raises. The majority of modal auxiliaries are said to have tense. Can, may, shall, will, must are used in the present tense.

9. The auxiliaries can, may, shall, will, and must are not inflected for tense, e.g.: I can, we can; you can; they can, he can, she can, it can. The present form of have and do are only inflected for third person singular nouns, and words for which the third person singular pronouns will substitute and word groups. Be has three suppletive forms in the present tense. Quasi auxiliaries may precede the verb stem, the present participle, and the past participle

10. The Past The Simple Past form takes on two forms: regular and irregular. The regular form ends with the suffix {-ed} The irregular past tense takes on numerous forms: some verbs remain the same (cut/ put/ burst) some form their past by a suppletive form, some replace their entire stem by a wholly different stem (went/ was/ were/ is/ am / are) The past tense form of the verb is not inflected (marked) for the first, second or third person nouns or pronouns.

11. The past tense form of the modal auxiliaries can, may, shall, will, must are could, might, should, would, ought. “Must” and “ought” do not have parallel forms, like the others. To express the past tense of must, in the sense of necessity, one says had to. The past tense form of the quasi auxiliaries be, do and have are: was, were; did; had. These past forms may precede the verb stem, the present participle, and the past participle. The quasi auxiliary do is used in questions, negative sentences, and emphatic affirmations. These past tense forms are not marked in accordance with the subject.

12. English Aspect

13. Verbs fall into two categories in terms of lexical aspect – stative verbs and dynamic verbs. Stative verbs: describe states or situations rather than action. These describe a state and are normally used ONLY in the Simple Stative verbs occur either not at all in the Progressive or only occasionally. Form: I believe in life on Mars. (not I am believing) States are continuous and unchanging and can be emotional, physical, or cognitive. e.g. she hates her boss.

14. Stative Verbs States of being and having: be, apply, belong, have concern, cost, depend, resemble, contain, lack, own, possess, weigh Intellectual states: assume, believe, doubt, expect, forget, hope, imagine, know, notice, realize, remember, suppose, think (be of the opinion), understand, wonder Emotional states: agree, consider, hate, intend, like, love, need, pity, prefer, regard, trust, want, wish States of physical sensation: ache, hurt, itch, tickle States of perception: feel, hear, see, smell taste, appear, seem

15. “This class has 17 students” “My dog is having a senior moment” “Stop being such an idiot!” “You’re being stubborn” “My little brother has been smelling funny lately” “My little brother smells funny”

16. Dynamic Verbs Activity verbs express actions that go on for a potentially indefinite period of time. The actions are constant (e.g. run, swim, walk) or involve an inherent change (e.g., decline, develop, grow) Activities denote situations that are seen as going on in the same kind of way over a period of time and as having no built-in boundary. e.g. The dog chased the cat for days. Harriet talked to Emma for hours.

17. Achievement verbs have to do with the beginning or end of an event and are conceived of as having no duration. They might be described as being all boundary. Other achievement verbs are wink, knock, stab Example: The dog caught the cat. Harriet told Emma the whole story.

18. Accomplishment verbs are verbs that have a built-in boundary. They are related to situations with two components, an activity phase and then a closing phase. Examples: a. The beaver built a dam. b. Anne played the tune on the piano. The beaver was building the dam. Mrs Foster was winking at John.

19. English Aspect English has the following aspects: simple, progressive, and perfective.

20. The Progressive The present and past progressive consist of be + present participle, the {-ing} form. Seven suppletive forms of be are used as the first member of the verb phrases. Only the first member of the verbal phrase is inflected in accordance with the subject. The second member does not change.

21. The perfective The past and the present perfect consist of have + past participle. Three forms of have serve as the first member of the verb phrase. The first member has changes in accordance with the subject; the second member which consists of the past participle of the main verb does not.

22. The past participle form of the verb may be regular or irregular. The regular past participle ends with the suffix {-ed}. The irregular past participle, like irregular past tense - has numerous forms.

23. The Perfect Progressive The past and the present perfect progressive consist of have + been + present participle. Past PP is used when an activity was continuously in progress before a specific time in the past. Example: I had been thinking about her before she called. Present PP tense is used to describe actions that have been continuously in progress before now. These actions are not completed. Example: I have been waiting here for the last two hours.

24. Arabic Tense and Aspect There are two tenses in Arabic: past and present. There is no future tense corresponding to the time/tense relation for present and past. The future time is rendered by means of the future particles (سـ)and (سوف) . Arabic has two aspects: the perfect and the imperfect. The base form of the verb is the past third person singular masculine form used with huwa. In Arabic, aspect-tense is shown by the addition of an aspect-tense prefix to the base form of the verb.

25. This imperfect tense-aspect prefix has several variants.

27. The perfect takes on two forms: regular and irregular depending on the composition of the base form. The regular form ends with the pronominal suffixes -tu, -na, -ta, -ti, -tu-maa, -tum, -tu-nna, -aa, -uu, -nawithout any internal changes in the base form.. Regular verbs contain no long vowels aa or uu or ii. ( ا، و ،ي ) The past tense form of the verb is not inflected for the first, second or third person nouns or pronouns.

28. Fully inflected verbs (الأفعال الصحيحة) are classified into: sound السالم doubled المضعف verbs containing a glottal stop المهموز(initial, medial, or final glottal stop) When the imperfect tense prefix is added to a triliteral verb, the following changes in the form of the base form take place depending on the composition of the base form: a sound perfect verb: no changes take place in the radicals of the base form, shariba: yashrab, yashrabaan

29. verb with a glottal stop: no changes take place in the radicals of the base form, e.g.: sa?ala, yas?al-aan, ta-s?al-iin. A doubled verb: no changes take place in the radicals in the imperfect (yaʿuddu), but the geminated third radical is substituted by two separate consonants in the first and second person (ʿadadtu, ʿadadti, ʿadadtunna, taʿdudna), and the base form remains the same in the third person singular (ʿadda, ʿaddat). Initial wisdeleted, e.g.: waʿada, yaʿidu, yaʿidna, yaʿidaani

30. Initial y base form does not undergo any change(yabisat, yabisa, yabistunna). A medial aa, aachangesintouuorii, e.g. qaala, ya-quul, taquulaan, ʿaasha, yaʿiishu, taʿiishuuna. Final aa, it changes to uu or ii, e.g.:mashaa: ya-mshii, ta-mshii; ranaa: ya-rnuu, ya-rn-uun. Initial w and final y, w is deleted, but y is retained in the imperfect, e.g.: waqaa, ya-qii, naqii, taqii, ya-qiy-aan, ta-qiy-aan.

31. Initial w and a final aa, w is retained and aa changes into ii, e.g.: waasaa , yu-wasii, tuwaasii, nuwaasii, yu-waasiy-aan, tuwaasiyaan. Defective verbs الأفعال الناقصةsuch as yaswaa يسوى has only an imperfect form. It has no perfect form.

32. Implications

33. Present Tense أذهب إلى السوق مرة كل أسبوع. I go to the market once a week. قلما يحضر علي الاجتماعات. Ali rarely comes to the meetings. إنه يكتب قصيدة طويلة. He is writing along poem. تعمل ليلى في المطبخ الآن. Layla is working in the kitchen now. لقد عملت مدرسا مدة خمس سنوات. I have worked as a teacher for five years.

34. He has not found a new job since he quit his job at our company. لميعثرعلى وظيفة جديدة منذ أن ترك وظيفته في شركتنا. Have you met her? هل قابلـتها؟ If he has finished (finishes) his homework, he will go to the game. إذا انتهى من أداء واجباته، سيذهب إلى المباراة. He will not go to the game, until he has finished (finishes) his homework. لن يذهب إلى المباراة، إلى أن ينتهي من أداء واجباته.

35. The committee has been discussing the problem for more than two hours. تناقش اللجنة المشكلةمنذ أكثر من ساعتين. They have been discussing the problem for more than two hours. إنهميناقشون المشكلة منذ أكثر من ساعتين.

36. Past tense I saw this man last year. رأيت هذا الرجل في العام الماضي. Shakespeare says. قال شكسبير. I love this girl. لقد أحببت الفتاة. What were you reading last week? ماذا كنت تقرأ الإسبوع الماضي؟

37. Mary had finished sewing her dress before she went to the party. انتهت ماري من حياكة الثوب، قبل أن تذهب إلى الحفلة. Mary went to the party after she had finished sewing the dress. ذهبت ماري إلى الحفلة، بعد أن انتهت من حياكة الثوب. When Mary had finished the dress, she went to the party. عندما انتهت ماري من حياكة الثوب، ذهبت إلى الحفلة.

38. If I had been a poet, I would have written a lot of poems. لو كنت شاعراً، لكتبت كثيراً من الشعر. He had been waiting at the airport for three hours before she could get on another flight. لقد انتظر في المطار مدة ثلاث ساعات، قبل أن يستقل رحلة أخرى.

39. Futurity in English and Arabic

40. English Future Simple Will/Shall+ verb (base form) “Will” and “shall” are semantically used to express neutral future. I shall be 22 years old by next birthday. You will be pleased to see them. Syntactically, “will” is used with all persons in case of semantically expressing determination and persistence. I will be obeyed. (I am determined to be obeyed) He will do as he likes (he is determined to do as he likes)

41. “Shall” is used with: 1st person pronouns to express the strongpossibility or near certainty of an action which is to take place in the near future. 2nd and 3rd person pronouns to express a command. 2nd and 3rd person pronouns to express a threatanddetermination. Examples: I shall be thirty one next Tuesday. You shall not lie. (You are commanded not to lie.) You shall regret this. You shall apologize. (You will be obliged to apologize)

42. “Will” is used with: 1st person pronouns to express ideas such as promise, threat, determination or willingness. I will try to get him a good job. (Promise) I will teach you a lesson. (Threat) We will not let you go. (Determination) All right, I will come with you. (Willingness) 2nd and 3rd person pronouns to express simple futurity. He will be back in a day or two. The distinctions between shall and will are fast disappearing. Shall is now hardly used with second and third person pronouns. In the first person, however, shall is still being used to indicate simple future.

43. Arabic Future Simple Shifting to Arabic the construction, which is equivalent to the English will and shall + bare infinitive, is sawfa + imperfect form of the verb. This construction is used in SA to refer to neutral future. Consider: سوف يسافرُ زيدٌ إلى مصر مستقبلاً Zayd will travel to Egypt in future

44. In expressing willingness, SA uses the imperfect indicative form of the verb followed by the complementiser ann or the derived nominal. Consider: يريدُ زيد أن يرجع البضاعة Zayd shall return the goods. يريد زيد إرجاع البضاعة

45. These constructions are also used in expressing offer in SA along with the question particle ?a + the imperfect indicative form of the verb followed by either the complementiser ann or the derived nominal. Consider: أتريدشرب كوبٍ من الشاي؟ Will you want to drink a cup of tea? أتريد أن تشرب كوبً من الشاي؟

46. English Simple Present The simple present replaces future in clauses of time and condition as in: Let’s wait until he comes. This tense expresses a future event that is part of a settled program: The film starts at 7 o’clock. The plane arrives at 18.00 tomorrow.

47. Arabic Simple Present The simple present expresses future in Arabic when it stands in adverbial clauses, and when preceded by the negative particle lan, ‘not’ which refers to strong determination. سأسافرُ عندما يأتي أحمد I will travel when Ahmed comes لن تأتي هندٌ حتى تدعينها Hind will not come until you invite her

48. Future Progressive It is used to express actions that will be going on at a certain time in future. It also indicates a future action that is part of a plan or an arrangement. We shall be playing tennis at 5 p.m. next Friday. Future progressive is expressed in SA by the near future particle sa + imperfect indicative verb followed by a point of time: سيلعب فريقنا الكرة عند الساعة السابعة مساءاً. Our team will be playing football at 7 o’clock tomorrow.

49. Future Perfect It refers to an action that will have happened before some other future actions happen or before some point of time arrives. They will have graduated by the end of April. In SA, the construction which comprises the near future particle sa +defective verb in the imperfect indicative form (yakuun) followed by the expletive qad and the past form of the verb semantically expresses future perfect in Arabic. سيكونو قد أنهو المشروع في مارس القادم. They will have finished the project by next March

50. It is noteworthy that the future perfect form can also be semantically expressed by the future construction sa or sawfa + the present form of the verb followed by a derived nominal. Consider the following example: سوف ينهوو بناء البيتِ في مايو القدام They will have finished building the house by next May