tense
See also: tensé
English
editPronunciation
editEtymology 1
editFrom Middle English tens, from Old French tens (modern French temps), from Latin tempus. Doublet of tempo and tempus.
Noun
edittense (plural tenses)
- (linguistics, uncountable) The property of indicating the point in time at which an action or state of being occurs or exists.
- Dyirbal verbs are not inflected for tense.
- (linguistics, grammar, countable) An inflected form of a verb that indicates tense.
- English only has a past tense and a non-past tense; it has no future tense.
- 1530 July 18, Iohan Palſgrave, “The Introduction”, in Leſclarciſſement de la langue francoyſe […] [1], London: Richard Pynſon, Iohan Haukyns, →OCLC, page 32; reprinted as Lesclarcissement de la langue françoyse, Genève: Slatkine Reprints, 1972:
- In ſo moche that if any verbe be of the thyꝛde coniugation
I ſet out all his rotes and tenſes […]
- (grammar, countable, proscribed) A grammatical aspect.
- (grammar, countable, proscribed) A verb form or construction indicating a combination of tense, aspect, and mood.
- The "simple present" tense in English can have several meanings.
- Habits: I walk my dog every day.
- Stative verbs: You are happy.
- Facts: The Earth revolves around the Sun.
- Etc.
- The Spanish teacher told the student to use the imperfect tense instead of the preterite tense.
Usage notes
edit- Some English-language authorities only consider inflected forms of verbs (i.e. the present and past tenses) as tenses, and not periphrastic forms such as the simple future with will.
- Grammatically tense (the location of an event in time: past, present, future) is often distinguished from aspect (how an event occurs or is viewed by the speaker: finished, ongoing, habitual, etc.). So I am eating and I was eating have different tenses (present and past) but the same aspect (continuous), whereas I was eating and I had eaten have the same tense (past) and different aspects (continuous and perfect). However, it is common in English (especially in language teaching) to refer to aspects as tenses (e.g. the perfect tense, the continuous tense).
Derived terms
edit- absolute tense
- aorist tense
- compound tense
- conditional tense
- continuous tense
- future tense
- hodiernal tense
- imperfect tense
- past historic tense
- past imperfect tense
- past tense
- perfect tense
- pluperfect tense
- present tense
- preterite tense
- primary tense
- progressive tense
- relative tense
- secondary tense
- simple tense
- supine tense
- tensal
Related terms
edit- See: Category:en:Tenses
Translations
editverb forms distinguishing time
|
Verb
edittense (third-person singular simple present tenses, present participle tensing, simple past and past participle tensed)
- (grammar, transitive) To apply a tense to.
- tensing a verb
Etymology 2
editBorrowed from Latin tēnsus, one form of the past participle of tendō (“stretch”).
Adjective
edittense (comparative tenser, superlative tensest)
- Showing signs of stress or strain; not relaxed.
- Pulled taut, without any slack.
- (phonetics, of a vowel) Produced with relative constriction of the vocal tract.
- Antonym: lax
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editTranslations
editshowing stress or strain
|
pulled taut
|
produced with relative constriction of the vocal tract
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Verb
edittense (third-person singular simple present tenses, present participle tensing, simple past and past participle tensed)
- (transitive) To make tense.
- (intransitive) To become tense.
- 1983 December 24, Andrea Loewenstein, “"What's Freedom Without Food In Your Stomach?" — A Trip to Haiti”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 23, page 8:
- The driver and the man shouted angrily at each other and I tensed, ready for violence. But soon everyone in the tap-tap joined in, capping remarks, joking, telling chicken and goat stories.
Derived terms
editTranslations
editmake tense
|
become tense
|
Anagrams
editLatin
editParticiple
edittēnse
Spanish
editVerb
edittense
- inflection of tensar:
Categories:
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɛns
- Rhymes:English/ɛns/1 syllable
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *tend- (stretch)
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English doublets
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Linguistics
- English uncountable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- en:Grammar
- English terms with quotations
- English proscribed terms
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms borrowed from Latin
- English adjectives
- en:Phonetics
- English intransitive verbs
- Latin non-lemma forms
- Latin participle forms
- Spanish non-lemma forms
- Spanish verb forms