How many verb tenses are there in English? - Anna Ananichuk

884,988 views ・ 2017-11-06

TED-Ed


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翻译人员: Yijing Li 校对人员: Ellie Zhao
时态,指的是语言如何谈论时间,
00:07
Grammatical tense is how languages talk about time
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00:10
without explicitly naming time periods
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而不需要直接说出时间段,
00:12
by, instead, modifying verbs to specify when action occurs.
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通过修饰动词, 来具体说明行为何时发生。
00:17
So how many different tenses are there in a language like English?
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在一种语言,比如英语中, 有多少种不同时态呢?
00:20
At first, the answer seems obvious:
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乍一看,答案似乎显而易见:
00:22
there's past,
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有过去时、
00:23
present,
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现在时
00:24
and future.
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和将来时。
00:25
But thanks to something called grammatical aspect,
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但由于“语法体”的存在,
00:28
each of those time periods actually divides further.
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以上每种时间段, 实际上有更详细的划分。
00:32
There are four kinds of aspect.
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语法体共有四种。
00:34
In the continuous or progressive aspect,
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在持续体或进行体中,
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the actions are still happening at the time of reference.
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行为在所指的时间内,一直在持续发生。
00:39
The perfect aspect describes actions that are finished.
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完成体用来形容已经完成的行为。
00:43
The perfect progressive aspect is a combination,
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完成进行体,是一种组合,
00:46
describing a completed part of a continuous action.
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用来形容一个持续行为中, 一个已经完成的部分。
00:49
And finally, there's the simple aspect,
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最后,是一般体,
00:52
the basic form of the past, present, and future tense,
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它是过去、现在、将来时态的基本形式,
00:55
where an action is not specified as continuous or discrete.
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它并不具体说明一个行为是否连续。
00:59
That's all a little hard to follow, so let's see how it works in action.
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听起来有点难懂,下面我们举个例子。
01:03
Let's say your friends tell you they went on a secret naval mission
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比如说,你朋友告诉你, 他们曾进行了一次秘密的海军行动,
01:06
to collect evidence of a mysterious sea creature.
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去寻找一种秘密海生动物的迹象。
01:09
The tense sets the overall frame of reference in the past,
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总的来说,时态为过去时,
01:12
but within that, there are many options.
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但是具体地说,有很多种选择。
01:15
Your friends might say a creature attacked their boat,
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你的朋友们可能会说, 一只生物袭击了他们的船。
01:17
that's the past simple, the most general aspect,
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这就是一般过去时, 最笼统的一种语法体,
01:20
which gives no further clarification.
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而没有给出进一步的划分。
01:23
They were sleeping when it happened,
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这件事发生时,他们正在睡觉。
01:25
a continuous process underway at that point.
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站在那个时间点看, 这是一个连续进行的过程。
01:29
They might also tell you they had departed from Nantucket
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他们还可能告诉你, 他们已经从楠塔基特岛出发,
01:32
to describe an action completed even earlier.
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用这种方式,去描述 一个更早完成的行为。
01:35
That's an example of the past perfect.
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这就是一个过去完成时的例子。
01:38
Or that they had been sailing for three weeks,
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或者,他们已经航行了三个星期,
01:41
something that was ongoing up until that point.
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这件事截止到那个时间点,一直在发生。
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In the present, they tell you that they still search for the creature today,
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现在,他们告诉你, 他们今天还在寻找那种生物,
01:48
their present simple activity.
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他们的这一活动,属于一般现在时。
01:50
Perhaps they are preparing for their next mission continuously as they speak.
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也许,在他们说话的那一刻, 他们在持续地为下一次行动做准备。
01:55
And they have built a special submarine for it, a completed achievement.
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他们已为这次活动造了一艘特制 的潜水艇,这是一个已达成的成就。
02:00
Plus, if they have been researching possible sightings of the creature,
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另外,如果他们一直在搜寻 这种生物可能的露面机会,
02:04
it's something they've been doing for a while and are still doing now
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则表示他们已经做了一段时间, 并且目前仍然在做。
02:08
making it present perfect progressive.
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这样一来,就是一般现在进行时。
02:11
So what does this next mission hold?
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那么,下一次行动会怎样呢?
02:13
You know it still hasn't happened because they will depart next week,
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下一次行动还未发生, 因为他们将会于下周出发,
02:18
the future simple.
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也就是一般将来时。
02:19
Your friends will be searching for the elusive creature,
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你的朋友们将会在搜寻 那种难以寻找的生物,
02:22
an extended continuous undertaking.
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这是一个长期的持续行动。
02:25
They tell you the submarine will have reached uncharted depths a month from now.
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他们告诉你,从现在起一个月后, 潜水艇将会已经达到一个新的深度。
02:30
That's a confident prediction
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这是一个很有信心的预测,
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about what will be achieved by a specific point in the future,
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说的是在未来某一个确切 的时间点,将会达成何种成就,
02:35
a point at which they will have been voyaging for three weeks
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在那个时间点, 他们将会已经航行了三周,
02:39
in the future perfect progressive.
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这就是将来完成进行时。
02:41
The key insight to all these different tenses
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对于这些不同的时态来说, 很关键的一点,
02:44
is that each sentence takes place in a specific moment,
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就是每一个句子, 都产生于一个特定的时刻,
02:47
whether it's past, present, or future.
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无论这一刻在过去、现在还是将来。
02:50
The point of aspects is that they tell you as of that moment
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语法体的关键,就在于它们告诉你, 在那一个特定时刻,
02:54
the status of the action.
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行为的状态是怎样的。
02:56
In total, they give us twelve possibilities in English.
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在英语中,这些排列组合 共有十二种可能性。
03:00
What about other languages?
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那么其他语言如何呢?
03:01
Some, like French,
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有的语言,比如法语、
03:03
Swahili,
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斯瓦希里语
03:04
and Russian take a similar approach to English.
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和俄语,与英语类似。
03:07
Others describe and divide time differently.
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另一些语言,描述和划分时间 的方式则有所不同。
03:09
Some have fewer grammatical tenses, like Japanese,
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有的语言时态更少,比如日语,
03:12
which only distinguishes past from non-past,
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只区分过去时和非过去时。
03:16
Buli and Tukang Basi,
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古法文和图康伯西群岛的语言,
03:18
which only distinguish future from non-future,
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只区分将来时和非将来时。
03:21
and Mandarin Chinese with no verb tenses at all, only aspect.
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而中文普通话则完全没有 动词时态,只有语法体。
03:26
On the other hand, languages like Yagwa split past tense into multiple degrees,
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另一方面,有的语言,比如火地群岛的语言, 将过去时划分为多种程度,
03:31
like whether something happened hours, weeks, or years ago.
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也就是某件事发生于几小时前、 几周前还是几年前。
03:35
In others, tenses are intertwined with moods that can convey urgency,
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在另外一些语言中,时态和语气相交织, 而语气可以传达事件的紧急性、
03:39
necessity,
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必要性、
03:40
or probability of events.
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或可能性。
03:42
This makes translation difficult but not impossible.
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这就让翻译变得很难, 但也不是不可能。
03:45
Speakers of most languages without certain tenses can express the same ideas
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大多数无特定时态语言的使用者, 也可以表达同样的意思,
03:50
with auxiliary words, like would or did,
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他们会运用助动词, 比如”将会“或者”曾经“,
03:53
or by specifying the time they mean.
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或者具体说明他们想表达的时间。
03:55
Are the variations from language to language
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不同语言之间的差异,
03:58
just differents ways of describing the same fundamental reality?
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仅仅是对同一个事实 有着不同描述方式吗?
04:01
Or do their diverse structures reflect different ways of thinking about the world
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还是说,这些多元的结构, 反映了对世界的不同思考方式,
04:06
and even time itself?
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甚至是对时间本身的思考方式?
04:08
And if so, what other ways of conceiving time may be out there?
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如果是这样,会不会还有 其他表达时间的方式呢?
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