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

譯者: 啟翔Herbert 張 審譯者: Helen Chang

Grammatical tense is how languages talk about time

語法時態 是談論語言如何表達時間

without explicitly naming time periods

不經由明確地表明時段

by, instead, modifying verbs to specify when action occurs.

而是修改動詞表示動作何時發生

So how many different tenses are there in a language like English?

像英語有多少個不同的時態呢？

At first, the answer seems obvious:

起初，答案似乎很明確

there's past,

過去、

present,

現在、

and future.

還有未來

But thanks to something called grammatical aspect,

但多虧某種稱作語法的東西

each of those time periods actually divides further.

實際上在每個時段還進一步劃分

There are four kinds of aspect.

共四種語法

In the continuous or progressive aspect,

在持續或漸進方面

the actions are still happening at the time of reference.

你講話時，動作持續進行

The perfect aspect describes actions that are finished.

完成式描述已完成的動作

The perfect progressive aspect is a combination,

完成進行式是一個組合

describing a completed part of a continuous action.

描述持續動作的完成部分

And finally, there's the simple aspect,

最後，還有簡單式

the basic form of the past, present, and future tense,

是過去、現在和未來時態 的基本形式

where an action is not specified as continuous or discrete.

在此沒有一個被指定 為連續的或不連續的動作

That's all a little hard to follow, so let's see how it works in action.

這有點難以遵循 所以我們看看如何運用在動作上

Let's say your friends tell you they went on a secret naval mission

假設你的朋友告訴你 他們進行了秘密的海軍任務

to collect evidence of a mysterious sea creature.

蒐集神秘海洋生物的證據

The tense sets the overall frame of reference in the past,

以過去式作為整體的框架

but within that, there are many options.

但在此範圍內有很多選擇

Your friends might say a creature attacked their boat,

你的朋友可能說有生物攻擊他們的船

that's the past simple, the most general aspect,

這是過去簡單式， 最普遍的文法形態

which gives no further clarification.

沒有進一步說明

They were sleeping when it happened,

當時他們正在睡覺

a continuous process underway at that point.

一個連續的過程正在進行中

They might also tell you they had departed from Nantucket

他們也可能會告訴你 已經離開楠塔基特

to describe an action completed even earlier.

描述一個甚至更早完成的動作

That's an example of the past perfect.

這是過去完成式的一個例子

Or that they had been sailing for three weeks,

或者他們已經航行了三個星期

something that was ongoing up until that point.

某件一直進行到那個時點的事

In the present, they tell you that they still search for the creature today,

他們告訴你至今還在尋找這個生物

their present simple activity.

目前的簡單活動

Perhaps they are preparing for their next mission continuously as they speak.

當他們說話時，也許 正持續在為下一個任務作準備

And they have built a special submarine for it, a completed achievement.

而他們已經為它 建造了一艘特殊的潛艇

是一個完成的成就

Plus, if they have been researching possible sightings of the creature,

另外，如果他們一直 在搜尋該生物的可能蹤跡

it's something they've been doing for a while and are still doing now

這是他們一直在做 而且現在還在做的事情

making it present perfect progressive.

就使用現在完成進行式

So what does this next mission hold?

那麼下一個任務是什麼呢？

You know it still hasn't happened because they will depart next week,

你知道它還沒有發生 因為他們下週將離開

the future simple.

使用未來簡單式

Your friends will be searching for the elusive creature,

你的朋友將搜尋 難以捉摸的生物

an extended continuous undertaking.

一個不斷進行的任務

They tell you the submarine will have reached uncharted depths a month from now.

他們告訴你潛艇從現在起 將會在一個月內到達未知的深度

That's a confident prediction

這是一個有信心的預測

about what will be achieved by a specific point in the future,

關於在未來的一個特定時刻 將會達成某件事

a point at which they will have been voyaging for three weeks

在那個時間點，他們將航行三週

in the future perfect progressive.

使用未來完成進行式

The key insight to all these different tenses

所有這些不同時態的關鍵洞察力

is that each sentence takes place in a specific moment,

是每個句子發生在特定的時刻

whether it's past, present, or future.

無論是過去、現在或未來

The point of aspects is that they tell you as of that moment

這些語法的重點是他們告訴你

在那一刻的行動狀態

the status of the action.

In total, they give us twelve possibilities in English.

在英文中，共 12 種可能性

What about other languages?

其他語言呢？

Some, like French,

有些，像是法語、

Swahili,

斯瓦希里語和俄語

and Russian take a similar approach to English.

採取和英語類似作法

其他則描述並區分不同時點

Others describe and divide time differently.

Some have fewer grammatical tenses, like Japanese,

有些語法時態較少，像日文

which only distinguishes past from non-past,

只區分過去和非過去

Buli and Tukang Basi,

而南島語系和土庫柏西語

which only distinguish future from non-future,

只區分未來和非未來

and Mandarin Chinese with no verb tenses at all, only aspect.

中文則完全沒有動詞時態，只有語法

另一方面，像爪哇語 把過去式分成多個等級

On the other hand, languages like Yagwa split past tense into multiple degrees,

like whether something happened hours, weeks, or years ago.

比如某事發生在幾個小時、 幾週或幾年前

In others, tenses are intertwined with moods that can convey urgency,

其他方面，時態則和心情 交織在一起以傳達緊迫感、

necessity,

必要性

or probability of events.

或事件可能性

This makes translation difficult but not impossible.

這使翻譯變難，但並非不可能

Speakers of most languages without certain tenses can express the same ideas

大多數語言的講者 能不用確定的時態來表達同樣想法

with auxiliary words, like would or did,

而是用語助詞，像將會或已做

or by specifying the time they mean.

或指定他們意思的時間

Are the variations from language to language

語言彼此間的變化

just differents ways of describing the same fundamental reality?

只是描述相同基本現實的 不同方式嗎？

Or do their diverse structures reflect different ways of thinking about the world

或者它們的多元結構 反映出思考世界的不同方式

and even time itself?

甚或時間本身？

And if so, what other ways of conceiving time may be out there?

如果是的話，還有什麼其他 構思時間的方法？