Tense, Mood and Aspect: Summary TENSE It is very important to establish the difference between time and tense. One the one hand, time is a universal concept that describes a human notion independent of language. On the other, tense, as one of the inflectional categories of the verb, is a linguistic convention that represents event in time and express time relationships. Tense Tense presents a situation depending on the orientation or perspective of the speaker, so the event can be described as located in three ways: anterior to the orientation of the speaker, as simultaneous with it, or as posterior to it. From the present point of reference, simultaneous events appear in the resent tense, events that have begun before it are expressed in the resent erfect, and posterior events are expressed in the Future. !y contrast, from the recalled point of reference, used to narrate the past, implies a switch of perspective known as backshift. "nteriority to this point is expressed in the ast erfect, simultaneity by the past tense and posteriority by the conditional. "s for the differences between #panish and $nglish in terms of grammatical tense %that is tense as inflected on the verb&, the first one, which is highly inflectional, has four tenses that are marked in the verb: resent, ast, Future and 'onditional %although the Future can also be expressed periphrastically&. "s for $nglish, it has only two: resent and ast tenses. Other time relationships, such as the future, are expressed not by verb inflection but rather periphrastically through auxiliaries&
ASPECT (nlike tense, that locates a situation in time, aspect specifies the internal temporal structure of a situation or action. In this way, it refers to the nature or the event being described and which part of the event is being depicted.
The erfective describes a situation marking beginnings or endings, while the Imperfective emphasises the event in its duration, middleness and repetition. In narration, the imperfective is usually used as a way to create a framework for another action. "s for the differences between #panish and $nglish, in $nglish is generally unmarked on the verb and only two cases in which is shown periphrastically %through an auxiliary&: the erfective )have * ...en) and the Imperfective )be * ...ing). On the contrary, aspect in #panish is shown both morphologically and periphrastically.
MOOD +ood is the inflectional category that describes the speaker)s relation to reality or intent in speaking. +any languages express the inflectional distinction of mood of the verb, but the number of moods expressed and their exact sense changes from language to language. The most common moods are: the indicative %that expresses facts and opinions as is commonly used in all languages&, the imperative %expresses commands, direct reuests and prohibitions&, the sub-unctive %used to discuss hypothetical or unlikely events, and for expressing polite reuests& and the in-unctive and the optative mood %used in very few languages and they are used to express hopes, wishes and intensions, sometimes overlapping with the sub-unctive&. In #panish, mood is inflectional and is expressed through the verb. In this he contrasts $nglish, since in the latter the mood is conveyed outside the verb through different elements called markers, such as the bare infinitive, modals and the past tense.
