Editing Grammatical aspect (section)

===Germanic languages===

====English====

The [[Uses of English verb forms#Tenses, aspects and moods|English tense–aspect system]] has two morphologically distinct tenses, [[Past tense#English|past]] and [[Nonpast tense|non-past]], the latter of which is also known as the ''present-future'' or, more commonly and less formally, simply the ''present''. No marker of a distinct future tense exists on the verb in English; the futurity of an event may be expressed through the use of the [[auxiliary verb]]s "[[will future|will]]" and "[[shall]]", by a non-past form plus an [[adverb]], as in "tomorrow we go to New York City", or by some other means. Past is distinguished from non-past, in contrast, with internal modifications of the verb. These two tenses may be modified further for [[progressive aspect]] (also called ''continuous'' aspect), for the [[perfect (grammar)|perfect]], or for both. These two aspectual forms are also referred to as BE +ING<ref>See, for example, {{cite journal | title=Why ''swimming'' is just as difficult as ''dying'' for Japanese learners of English | last1=Gabriele | first1=Allison | year=2003 | url=https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/tionin/www/MyDownloads/gabriele_2003.pdf | last2=McClure | first2=William | journal=ZAS Papers in Linguistics | volume=29 | page=1 | doi=10.21248/zaspil.29.2003.170 }} {{Dead link|date=May 2010}}</ref> and HAVE +EN,<ref>See, for example, {{cite journal | title=Some Structural Analogies between Tenses and Pronouns in English | last=Partee | first=Barbara H | journal=Journal of Philosophy | volume=70 | issue=18 | pages=601–609 | year=1973 | jstor=2025024 | doi=10.2307/2025024}}</ref> respectively, which avoids what may be unfamiliar terminology.

Aspects of the present tense:
* [[Present simple]] (not progressive, not perfect): "I eat"
* [[Present progressive]] (progressive, not perfect): "I am eating"
* [[Present perfect]] (not progressive, perfect): "I have eaten"
* [[Present perfect progressive]] (progressive, perfect): "I have been eating"
(While many elementary discussions of English grammar classify the present perfect as a past tense, it relates the action to the present time. One cannot say of someone now deceased that they "have eaten" or "have been eating". The present auxiliary implies that they are in some way ''present'' (alive), even when the action denoted is completed (perfect) or partially completed (progressive perfect).)

Aspects of the past tense:
* [[Past simple]] (not progressive, not perfect): "I ate"
* [[Past progressive]] (progressive, not perfect): "I was eating"
* [[Past perfect]] (not progressive, perfect): "I had eaten"
* [[Past perfect progressive]] (progressive, perfect): "I had been eating"

Aspects can also be marked on [[non-finite verb|non-finite]] forms of the verb: "(to) be eating" ([[infinitive]] with progressive aspect), "(to) have eaten" (infinitive with perfect aspect), "having eaten" ([[present participle]] or [[gerund]] with perfect aspect), etc. The perfect infinitive can further be governed by [[English modal verbs|modal verbs]] to express various meanings, mostly combining modality with past reference: "I should have eaten" etc. In particular, the modals ''will'' and ''shall'' and their subjunctive forms ''would'' and ''should'' are used to combine future or hypothetical reference with aspectual meaning: 
* [[Simple future]], [[simple conditional]]: "I will eat", "I would eat"
* [[Future progressive]], [[conditional progressive]]: "I will be eating", "I would be eating"
* [[Future perfect]], [[conditional perfect]]: "I will have eaten", "I would have eaten"
* [[Future perfect progressive]], [[conditional perfect progressive]]: "I will have been eating", "I would have been eating"

The uses of the progressive and perfect aspects are quite complex. They may refer to the viewpoint of the speaker:

:I was walking down the road when I met Michael Jackson's lawyer. (Speaker viewpoint in middle of action)
:I have traveled widely, but I have never been to [[Moscow]]. (Speaker viewpoint at end of action)

But they can have other [[illocutionary act|illocutionary forces]] or additional modal components:

:You are being stupid now. (You are doing it deliberately)
:You are not having chocolate with your sausages! (I forbid it)
:I am having lunch with Mike tomorrow. (It is decided)

English expresses some other aspectual distinctions with other constructions. ''[[Used to]]'' + VERB is a past [[Habitual aspect|habitual]], as in "I used to go to school," and ''[[going to]] / gonna'' + VERB is a [[prospective aspect|prospective]], a future situation highlighting current intention or expectation, as in "I'm going to go to school next year."

==== African American Vernacular English ====
The aspectual systems of certain dialects of English, such as [[African-American Vernacular English]] (see for example [[habitual be]]), and of [[English-based creole language|creoles]] based on English vocabulary, such as [[Hawaiian Creole English]], are quite different from those of standard English, and often reflect a more elaborate paradigm of aspectual distinctions (often at the expense of tense).<ref>Green, L. (1998). Aspect and predicate phrases in African-American vernacular English. ''African-American English: Structure, history, and use'', 37-68.</ref> The following table, appearing originally in Green (2002)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Green|first=Lisa J.|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/9780511800306/type/book|title=African American English: A Linguistic Introduction|date=2002-08-08|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-81449-2|edition=1|doi=10.1017/cbo9780511800306}}</ref> shows the possible aspectual distinctions in AAVE in their prototypical, negative and [[Stress (linguistics)|stressed]]/emphatic affirmative forms:
{| class="wikitable"
|+Aspectual Marking in AAVE
!Aspect/Tense
!Prototypical
!Stressed / Emphatic Affirmative
!Negative
|-
|[[Habitual aspect|Habitual]]
|'be eating'
(see [[Habitual be]])
|'DO be eating'
|'don('t) be eating'
|-
|[[Remote past tense|Remote Past]]
|'BIN eating'
(see <ref>Harris, Alysia and Jim Wood. 2013. Stressed BIN. ''Yale Grammatical Diversity Project: English in North America''. (Available online at http://ygdp.yale.edu/phenomena/stressed-bin . Accessed on 2020-06-10). Updated by Tom McCoy (2015) and Katie Martin (2018).</ref>)
|'HAVE BIN eating'
|'ain('t)/haven't BIN eating'
|-
|Remote Past [[Completive aspect|Completive]]
|'BIN ate'
|'HAD BIN ate'
|'ain('t)/haven't BIN ate'
|-
|[[Preterite|Remote Past Perfect]]
|'had BIN ate'
|'HAD BIN ate'
|'hadn't BIN ate'
|-
|[[Resultative|Resultant State]]
|'dən ate'
|'HAVE dən ate'
|'ain('t) dən ate'
|-
|Past Perfect Resultant State
|'had dən ate'
|'HAD dən ate'
|'hadn't dən ate'
|-
|[[Modal verb|Modal]] Resultant State
|'should'a dən ate'
| --
| --
|-
|Remote Past Resultant State
|'BIN dən ate'
|'HAVE BIN dən ate'
|'ain('t)/haven't BIN dən ate'
|-
|Remote Past Perfect Resultant State
|'had BIN dən ate'
| --
| --
|-
|Future Resultant State/[[Conditional sentence|Conditional]]
|' 'a be dən ate'
|'WILL be dən ate'
|'won't be dən ate'
|-
|Modal Resultant State
|'might/may be dən ate'
|'MIGHT/MAY be dən ate'
|'might/may not be dən ate'
|}

==== German vernacular and colloquial ====
{{Unreferenced section|date=December 2023}}
Although [[Standard German]] does not have aspects, many [[Upper German]] and all [[West Central German]] dialects,{{citation needed|date=December 2023}} and some more vernacular forms of German do make an aspectual distinction which partly corresponds with the English [[continuous aspect|continuous form]]: alongside the standard present tense ''Ich esse'' ('I eat') and past ''Ich aß'' ('I ate') there is the form ''Ich bin/war am essen/Essen'' ('I am/was at the eating'; capitalization varies). This is formed by the conjugated auxiliary verb ''sein'' ("to be") followed by the preposition and article ''am'' (=''an dem'') and the infinitive, which German uses in many constructions as a verbal noun.

In the Tyrolean and other Bavarian regiolect the prefix *da can be found, which form perfective aspects. "I hu's gleant" (Ich habe es gelernt = I learnt it) vs. "I hu's daleant" (*Ich habe es DAlernt = I succeeded in learning).{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

==== Dutch ====
In [[Dutch language|Dutch]] (a [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic language]]), two types of [[continuous aspect|continuous form]] are used. Both types are considered Standard Dutch.

The first type is very similar to the non-standard German type. It is formed by the conjugated auxiliary verb ''zijn'' ("to be"), followed by ''aan het'' and the [[gerund]] (which in Dutch matches the infinitive). For example:

* [[Present progressive]]: ''Ik ben aan het werken'' ("I am working")
* [[Past progressive]]: ''Ik was aan het werken'' ("I was working")
* [[Future progressive]]: ''Ik zal aan het werken zijn'' ("I will be working")

The second type is formed by one of the conjugated auxiliary verbs ''liggen'' ("to lie"), ''zitten'' ("to sit"), ''hangen'' ("to hang"), ''staan'' ("to stand") or ''lopen'' ("to walk"), followed by the preposition ''te'' and the infinitive. The conjugated verbs indicate the stance of the subject performing or undergoing the action.

* [[Present progressive]]: ''Ik zit te eten'' ("I am eating [while sitting]"), ''De was hangt te drogen'' ("The laundry is drying [while hanging]")
* [[Past progressive]]: ''Ik lag te lezen'' ("I was reading [while lying]"), ''Ik stond te kijken'' ("I was watching [while standing]")
* [[Future progressive]]: ''Ik zal zitten werken'' ("I will be working [while sitting]")

Sometimes the meaning of the auxiliary verb is diminished to 'being engaged in'. Take for instance these examples:

* ''De leraar zit steeds te zeggen dat we moeten luisteren'' ("The teacher keeps telling us to listen")
* ''Iedereen loopt te beweren dat het goed was'' ("Everyone keeps on saying that it was good")
* ''Zit niet zo te zeuren'' ("Stop whining")

In these cases, there is generally an undertone of irritation.