Definition of Verbal Tense

Each mode verbal serves for the speaker to transmit a type of message. There are four modes in Spanish: indicative, subjunctive, conditional and imperative. Each of them presents different verb tenses to express when the action of the verb. In our language, verbs can be conjugated at different times.

The present

In the present tense the verb form is coinciding with the moment in which it is spoken. If I say "she is eating", I communicate that the action of eat it is done right then and there. However, sometimes the present is used to refer to actions that are carried out on a regular basis (for example, "you work too much") or to refer to the past ("the Aztecs offer sacrifices to gods").

Last

The past tense or preterite It is divided into four times: past imperfect, past indefinite, past perfect and past perfect. The former is normally used to describe habitual actions in the past (for example, "when he was a child he did not drink tea").

The past indefinite refers to an action already completed at the time it is spoken ("she studied yesterday at her house").

The past perfect is used to describe a past action, but that has a relationship with the present moment ("I have eaten too much today"). The past pluperfect expresses an action that is prior to another in the past ("I had not set the table when I arrived").

The future

The future simple or imperfect is a verb tense that we use to communicate ideas about the future related to possibilities, orders or prohibitions. When using the future it is common to use expressions of time, such as tomorrow, later or soon. The following sentences are examples of this verb tense: "we will talk next week", "you will eat everything I tell you" or "she will not study because she does not have exams".

Verb tense can be understood in two ways: absolute tenses or relative tenses.

The absolute times are measured from the present moment and communicate before or after. Relative times start from a secondary temporal reference point. The absolute tenses are the present, the imperfect, the indefinite, the simple perfect, the compound past perfect and the simple future.

Relative tenses are the past perfect, the imperfect in some cases (for example, "they told me you were in Paris"), the simple conditional, the future perfect and the conditional compound.

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