A Tense
<p> </p><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2.25em; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><li class="senseid" id="English-grammar" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;"><span class="ib-brac" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">(</span><span class="ib-content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: italic; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;"><a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/grammar" title="grammar" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">grammar</a><span class="ib-comma" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">,</span> <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#countable" title="Appendix:Glossary" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">countable</a></span><span class="ib-brac" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">)</span> Any of the forms of a <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/verb" title="verb" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">verb</a> which <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/distinguish" title="distinguish" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">distinguish</a> when an <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/action" title="action" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">action</a>or state of being <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/occur" title="occur" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">occurs</a> or <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/exist" title="exist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">exists</a>.</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;"><span class="ib-brac" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">(</span><span class="ib-content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: italic; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;"><a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/linguistics" title="linguistics" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">linguistics</a><span class="ib-comma" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">,</span> <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/grammar" title="grammar" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">grammar</a><span class="ib-comma" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">,</span> <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#countable" title="Appendix:Glossary" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">countable</a></span><span class="ib-brac" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">)</span> An <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/inflection" class="extiw" title="wikipedia:inflection" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">inflected</a> form of a verb that indicates tense.</li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: inherit; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;"><span class="ib-brac" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">(</span><span class="ib-content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: italic; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;"><a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/linguistics" title="linguistics" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">linguistics</a><span class="ib-comma" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">,</span> <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#uncountable" title="Appendix:Glossary" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">uncountable</a></span><span class="ib-brac" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">)</span> The property of indicating the point in time at which an action or state of being occurs or exists.</li></ol><h5 class="in-block" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0.5em 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.3; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word; display: table; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="mw-headline" id="Usage_notes" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: middle; background: none; display: table-cell; width: 272px;">Usage notes</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: middle; background: none; display: table-cell;"><a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=tense&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Usage notes" data-section="5" class="mw-ui-icon mw-ui-icon-element mw-ui-icon-minerva-edit-enabled edit-page" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); position: relative; min-height: 1.5em; min-width: 3.5em; text-indent: -999px; overflow: hidden; width: 3.5em; max-width: 3.5em; display: block;">Edit</a></span></h5><ul style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-image: initial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: inherit; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">Some English-language authorities only consider inflected forms of verbs (i.e. the present and past tenses) as tenses, and not periphrastic forms such as the simple future with <i class="Latn mention" lang="en" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;"><a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/will#English" title="will" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">will</a></i>.</li></ul>