Grammatical marking that locates an event in time — past, present or future.
In precise terms
A deictic category locating a situation relative to a reference point, usually the moment of speech. Tense is distinct from aspect, which concerns the internal temporal shape of a situation rather than its location in time.
An example
我明天去北京。
I am going to Beijing tomorrow.
What is going on here
The Mandarin verb '去' is unchanged from its form in any other sentence. Future reference comes entirely from '明天' ('tomorrow'). Mandarin has aspect marking but no grammatical tense.
Why this matters when you are learning a language
Learners often assume every language marks tense because their own does. Recognising that a language marks aspect instead, or marks neither, saves months of looking for a tense system that is not there.
Across languages
English and Spanish grammaticalise tense; Mandarin does not. Some languages make finer distinctions than past/present/future — several mark how long ago something happened, distinguishing today's past from yesterday's.
Related terms
- AspectIntermediate — Grammatical marking of how an event unfolds — whether it is ongoing, completed, repeated or just beginning.
- VerbBeginner — A word for an action, event or state — what is happening.
- Grammatical moodIntermediate — Verb marking showing whether something is stated as fact, wished for, commanded or hypothetical.
- EvidentialityAdvanced — Grammatical marking of how the speaker knows what they are saying.
Where to go next
- Language guides — See grammatical and lexical categories used in context.
- Terminology quiz — Test the terms on this page.