Importance of Verb Tenses

A good one communication, whether oral or written, depends on several factors. In this sense, it is essential to respect the rules of the grammar and of the orthography, handle a wide vocabulary and know the language in its different dimensions. Sometimes, a relevant aspect is forgotten, the tenses.

We think we know our own language and take the correct use of verbs for granted. However, it is relatively easy to make a mistake and misuse them.

Typical mistakes that we should not commit

In every sentence, the tense of the predicate must agree with the subject.

If I say "the herd of oxen crossed the forest" I am making a mistake, since the subject does not agree in number with the verb used.

The imperfect tense of the subjunctive mood is a tense that is confused with some frequency

If I say "the judge's sentence did not approve the lawsuit promoted by the employer" I am making a mistake, because the form "promoted" should be replaced by "romovio".

The past tenses are equally confused

Thus, the sentence "this year's harvest was good" is incorrect, since the present perfect should be used, that is, it has been.

The subjunctive and indicative moods are equally confused

In the present indicative tense I express the idea of ​​certainty ("I work in a textile factory"). Instead, in the present subjunctive tense I am expressing a probability about something ("My mother wants me to work in a textile factory").

The present indicative normally communicates actions that affect the present moment, but sometimes it can be used to refer to the past or the future

Thus he could say "Columbus discovers America in 1492" (in this case it is a historical present) or "of today in fifteen days my son is getting married" (although the action refers to the future, it can be expressed in tense present).

The indefinite preterite and the imperfect preterite are two verb forms that allude to the past, but with different uses.

The first is used to talk about past actions that have occurred in a given period of time ("yesterday I went to the office by bike").

On the other hand, the imperfect tense has three main uses: to refer to actions that are repeated frequently in the past ("in childhood I read every day with my father"), to make descriptions in the past of people, places or things ("our mansion had three plants") and to talk about the circumstances in which an action took place in the past ("they didn't go to the pool because it was raining a bit").

Remembering the basics

There are three tenses in Spanish: past, present and future. Each of them has different verb forms, which can be simple or compound. However, the correct use of these forms is not so simple, since they do not always express a specific reference to a certain moment.

If we take the present time as a reference, it does not always allude to the chronological present, since it can be used for other moments, whether they are from the past or the future.

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