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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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 Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2006 2:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Like a Rolling Stone wrote: |
Present tense with a future word
e.g. I am going tomorrow/next week etc. |
You mean exactly the same as Japanese?  [/quote]
You will probably find most languages have a similar construction.
while im English "I will say I am going tomorrow", Japanese will put the time word at the front with the simple form of iku as the verb.
ashita (watashi ga) ikimasu. |
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Ai
Joined: 02 Jun 2006
Posts: 154
Location: Chile
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| Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2006 2:47 pm Post subject: |
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gaijinalways wrote:
Japanese has no future tense (they use present with a future time word, Chinese is similar)
Does English have the future tense? |
NO! English doesn't have a future tense! That is in the purest definition or the term tense. English does however have several ways of expressing the future time. For example:
present simple: Class starts in 5 minutes.
present progressive: Class is starting in 5 minutes.
going to future: Class is going to start in 5 minutes.
will future: Class will start in 5 minutes
future progressive: Class will be starting in 5 minutes.
future perfect simple: Class will have started in 5 minutes
future perfect progressive: It will have been seen by thousands of people.
be to: Class is to start in 5 minutes
That will conclude today's grammar lesson. |
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Chris21
Joined: 30 Apr 2006
Posts: 366
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2006 3:01 pm Post subject: |
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English only has past and present tenses. While future can be expressed by using modals (i.e. will), phrasal modals (i.e. be going to), and adverbials of time (i.e. tomorrow), there is no change in the present tense form of the verb
A future tense would require the verb to be inflected, which does not occur in English (although does in many Romance and Slavic languages). |
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Sherri
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Posts: 749
Location: The Big Island, Hawaii
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| Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2006 8:11 pm Post subject: |
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I agree, Chris 21! Well said.
People often say that "will" represents the future tense, but other modals do the job as well like "may "or "might". It depends on the degree of certainty.
Sherri |
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gaijinalways
Joined: 29 Nov 2005
Posts: 2279
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| Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 10:58 am Post subject: |
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Oh my, I stand corrected, though I would say Japanese does use only the present and the time word, i.e 'Tomorrow I go'
Now what of the 'be verb plus going to plus main verb' pattern?
Chris 21 wrote
| Quote: |
| English only has past and present tenses. |
And what of the perfect tense? I guess this is labeled as a 'special' past tense? |
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Chris21
Joined: 30 Apr 2006
Posts: 366
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 3:34 pm Post subject: |
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Actually, Perfect isn't a "tense", but rather an "aspect". Perfect, Progressive, and Perfect-Progressive are all aspects. Each of these aspects can be used in past, present, or future expressions.
I love teaching Future Perfect-Progressive to students... it turns their brains into pretzels!... Next Saturday, I will have been dating my girlfriend for four months. |
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Like a Rolling Stone
Joined: 27 Mar 2006
Posts: 872
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| Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 3:39 pm Post subject: |
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| Chris21 wrote: |
I love teaching Future Perfect-Progressive to students... it turns their brains into pretzels!... Next Saturday, I will have been dating my girlfriend for four months. |
How about: Next Saturday I will have been dating YOUR girlfriend for four months.  |
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Chris21
Joined: 30 Apr 2006
Posts: 366
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 3:58 pm Post subject: |
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lol  |
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Deda80
Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 4
Location: London
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| Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:05 pm Post subject: children.. |
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| i might get to work for a school in japan with children... i mean... really young kids (3 years old)... i don't really know how to approach them... what can i do during the first few lessons? |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 1:39 am Post subject: Re: children.. |
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| Deda80 wrote: |
| i might get to work for a school in japan with children... i mean... really young kids (3 years old)... i don't really know how to approach them... what can i do during the first few lessons? |
LOok at the following site on teaching kids
http://www.genkienglish.com |
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JimDunlop2
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Posts: 2286
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 4:24 am Post subject: |
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True dat (about Romance and Slavic languages)... There is a TRUE future tense as the verb itself gets conjugated to indicate tense (as oppose to adding an auxiliary). Don't know about other languages though. I only speak so many.... 
Anyway, en francais:
Futur simple
je boirai (une biere)
tu boiras
il boira
nous boirons
vous boirez
ils boiront
Ca fait longtemps que j'ecrive en francais, et que j'etudie la grammaire.
JD |
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gaijinalways
Joined: 29 Nov 2005
Posts: 2279
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| Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 5:43 am Post subject: |
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Chris 21
| Quote: |
| Actually, Perfect isn't a "tense", but rather an "aspect". Perfect, Progressive, and Perfect-Progressive are all aspects. Each of these aspects can be used in past, present, or future expressions. |
I have never heard the English perfect tense described as an aspect, learn something new every day. Many languages don't have a perfect tense, which functions as a completed or experienced function (or aspect). The Chinese language uses the particle 'la' to denote this, though it is not clear what is completed when Cantonese speakers say for example "Hoi sum di la!" (literally open the heart, be happy). I have experienced this, but it as yet is incomplete (meaning easy come, easy go, happiness that is. Satisfaction on the other hand.... |
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moot point
Joined: 22 Feb 2005
Posts: 441
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| Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 12:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| People often say that "will" represents the future tense, but other modals do the job as well like "may "or "might". It depends on the degree of certainty. |
This is a good point, and it provides how Japanese also uses these modals to represent future;
"Ame furu darou" (It will rain)
vs.
"Ame furu kamou" (It might rain) |
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