tense

See also: tensé

Contents

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: tĕns, IPA^(key): /tɛns/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛns

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old French tens (modern French temps), from Latin tempus. Doublet of tempo.

Noun

tense (plural tenses)

2. (grammar, countable) Any of the forms of a verb which distinguish when an action or state of being occurs or exists.

   The basic tenses in English are present, past, and future.

3. (linguistics, grammar, countable) An inflected form of a verb that indicates tense.

   English only has a present tense and a past tense; it has no future tense.

4. (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.

Usage notes

• 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.

Derived terms

• tensal

Related terms

• See: Category:en:Tenses

Translations

verb forms distinguishing time

• Afrikaans: tyd (af), tempus
• Albanian: kohë (sq) f
• Arabic: صِيغَة‎ f (ṣīḡa), صِيغَةُ الْفِعْل‎ f (ṣīḡatu l-fiʿl), زَمَن‎ (ar) m (zaman)
• Armenian: ժամանակ (hy) (žamanak)
• Azerbaijani: zaman (az)
• Belarusian: час m (čas)
• Bulgarian: вре́ме (bg) n (vréme)
• Catalan: temps (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 時態 (zh), 时态 (zh) (shítài), 時制 (zh), 时制 (zh) (shízhì)

• Chuvash: вӑхӑт (văhăt)
• Czech: čas (cs) m, slovesný čas m
• Danish: tempus (da) n
• Dutch: tijd (nl) m, tempus n
• Estonian: ajavorm, aeg (et), tempus (et)
• Faroese: tíð (fo) f
• Finnish: aikaluokka (fi), aikamuoto (fi), tempus (fi)
• French: temps (fr) m, temps verbal m
• Georgian: დრო (ka) (dro)
• German: Zeit (de) f, Tempus (de) n
• Greek: χρόνος (el) m (chrónos)
• Hebrew: זְמַן‎ (he) m (z'man)
• Hindi: काल (hi) m (kāl)
• Hungarian: igeidő (hu)
• Icelandic: tíð (is) f
• Italian: tempo (it) m
• Japanese: 時制 (ja) (じせい, jisei)
• Kazakh: шақ (şaq)
• Korean: 시제 (ko) (sije)
• Kyrgyz: чак (ky) (çak)

• Latin: tempus (la) n
• Latvian: laiks m
• Lithuanian: laikas (lt) m
• Macedonian: време n (vreme)
• Norman: temps du vèrbe m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tempus

• Persian: زمان‎ (fa) (zamân)
• Polish: czas (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: tempo (pt) m
• Romanian: timp (ro) n
• Russian: вре́мя (ru) n (vrémja)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: време n, вријеме n

  Roman: vreme (sh) n, vrijeme (sh) n

• Slovak: čas (sk) m
• Slovene: čas (sl) m
• Spanish: tiempo (es) m, tiempo gramatical m
• Swahili: wakati (sw)
• Swedish: tempus (sv) n
• Tajik: замон (tg) (zamon)
• Telugu: కాలము (te) (kālamu)
• Thai: กาล (th) (gaan)
• Tibetan: དུས་གསུམ (dus gsum)
• Turkish: zaman (tr)
• Ukrainian: час (uk) m (čas)
• Uyghur: زامان‎ (zaman)
• Uzbek: zamon (uz)
• Vietnamese: thì (vi)

Verb

tense (third-person singular simple present tenses, present participle tensing, simple past and past participle tensed)

1. (grammar, transitive) To apply a tense to.

   tensing a verb

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin tēnsus, past participle of tendō (“stretch”).

Adjective

tense (comparative tenser, superlative tensest)

1. Showing signs of stress or strain; not relaxed.

   Synonyms: stressed, unrelaxed

   You need to relax, all this overtime and stress is making you tense.

2. Pulled taut, without any slack.

Derived terms

• hypertense

Related terms

• tend
• tension
• tent
• intense

Translations

showing stress or strain

• Afrikaans: gespanne, styf
• Catalan: tens (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 緊 (zh), 紧 (zh) (jǐn), 緊張 (zh), 紧张 (zh) (jǐnzhāng)

• Czech: napjatý m
• Dutch: gespannen (nl), strak (nl)
• Estonian: pingne, pinev
• Finnish: kireä (fi), jännittynyt, hermostunut (fi)
• French: tendu (fr)
• German: gespannt (de), angespannt (de), verkrampft (de) (figurative)

• Greek: τεταμένος (el) m (tetaménos)
• Hungarian: feszült (hu)
• Icelandic: upptrekktur, órólegur (is)
• Japanese: 緊張した (ja) (きんちょうした, kinchō shita)
• Macedonian: напнат (nápnat)
• Portuguese: tenso (pt)
• Russian: напряжённый (ru) (naprjažónnyj)
• Spanish: tenso (es)
• Swedish: spänd (sv)
• Ukrainian: напружений (napruženyj)

pulled taut

• Estonian: pinguletõmmatud
• Finnish: kireä (fi), jännitetty (fi)
• German: gespannt (de), straff (de)
• Greek: τεντωμένος (el) m (tentoménos)
• Portuguese: estendido (pt)

• Russian: туго́й (ru) (tugój), натя́нутый (ru) (natjánutyj)
• Spanish: tenso (es)
• Swedish: spänd (sv)
• Ukrainian: тугий (tuhyj), натя́гнутий (natjáhnutyj)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Georgian: ^{(please verify)} დაძაბული (daʒabuli)

Verb

tense (third-person singular simple present tenses, present participle tensing, simple past and past participle tensed)

1. To make or become tense.

Translations

make or become tense

• Catalan: tesar (ca)
• Czech: napnout
• Dutch: spannen (nl), opspannen (nl)
• Estonian: pinguldama, pingulduma
• Finnish: jännittää (fi) (make tense), jännittyä (become tense)

• French: tendre (fr)
• German: spannen (de)
• Portuguese: tensionar (pt)
• Spanish: tensar (es)

Anagrams

• ESnet, Enets, NEETs, enset, neets, seent, senet, sente, steen, teens

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Latin

Participle

tēnse

1. vocative masculine singular of tēnsus

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Spanish

Verb

tense

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of tensar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of tensar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of tensar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of tensar.