How does one differentiate between future tense (will) and present tense?

Clash Royale CLAN TAG#URR8PPP

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How do I differentiate between future tense and present tense. For example, the sentence:

私は魚を食べる

If I am not mistaken, the above sentence can either mean "I will eat fish" or "I eat fish".

Also, if I am not mistaken, conjugating the verb to the ます form only aims to make the sentence polite and doesn't actually change the tense or meaning. For the case of the example above, the sentence becomes 私は魚を食べます, which can again either mean "I will eat fish" or "I eat fish" in polite form.

I have read that generally, context will tell me whether the sentence is referring to the present or future tense. But take the example above, from just that one sentence (assuming someone tells me just that one sentence in the example), how do I determine what the tense of the sentence is?

politeness tense

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edited 7 hours ago

Herb

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asked 9 hours ago

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add a comment | 

up vote
2
down vote

favorite

How do I differentiate between future tense and present tense. For example, the sentence:

私は魚を食べる

If I am not mistaken, the above sentence can either mean "I will eat fish" or "I eat fish".

Also, if I am not mistaken, conjugating the verb to the ます form only aims to make the sentence polite and doesn't actually change the tense or meaning. For the case of the example above, the sentence becomes 私は魚を食べます, which can again either mean "I will eat fish" or "I eat fish" in polite form.

I have read that generally, context will tell me whether the sentence is referring to the present or future tense. But take the example above, from just that one sentence (assuming someone tells me just that one sentence in the example), how do I determine what the tense of the sentence is?

politeness tense

share|improve this question

edited 7 hours ago

Herb

5411416

asked 9 hours ago

Newbie

232

add a comment | 

up vote
2
down vote

favorite

up vote
2
down vote

favorite

How do I differentiate between future tense and present tense. For example, the sentence:

私は魚を食べる

If I am not mistaken, the above sentence can either mean "I will eat fish" or "I eat fish".

Also, if I am not mistaken, conjugating the verb to the ます form only aims to make the sentence polite and doesn't actually change the tense or meaning. For the case of the example above, the sentence becomes 私は魚を食べます, which can again either mean "I will eat fish" or "I eat fish" in polite form.

I have read that generally, context will tell me whether the sentence is referring to the present or future tense. But take the example above, from just that one sentence (assuming someone tells me just that one sentence in the example), how do I determine what the tense of the sentence is?

politeness tense

share|improve this question

edited 7 hours ago

Herb

5411416

asked 9 hours ago

Newbie

232

How do I differentiate between future tense and present tense. For example, the sentence:

私は魚を食べる

If I am not mistaken, the above sentence can either mean "I will eat fish" or "I eat fish".

Also, if I am not mistaken, conjugating the verb to the ます form only aims to make the sentence polite and doesn't actually change the tense or meaning. For the case of the example above, the sentence becomes 私は魚を食べます, which can again either mean "I will eat fish" or "I eat fish" in polite form.

I have read that generally, context will tell me whether the sentence is referring to the present or future tense. But take the example above, from just that one sentence (assuming someone tells me just that one sentence in the example), how do I determine what the tense of the sentence is?

politeness tense

politeness tense

share|improve this question

edited 7 hours ago

Herb

5411416

asked 9 hours ago

Newbie

232

share|improve this question

edited 7 hours ago

Herb

5411416

asked 9 hours ago

Newbie

232

share|improve this question

share|improve this question

edited 7 hours ago

Herb

5411416

edited 7 hours ago

Herb

5411416

edited 7 hours ago

Herb

5411416

5411416

asked 9 hours ago

Newbie

232

asked 9 hours ago

Newbie

232

asked 9 hours ago

Newbie

232

232

add a comment | 

add a comment | 

1 Answer
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up vote
6
down vote

If I am not mistaken, the above sentence can either mean "I will eat fish" or "I eat fish".

Correct.

... conjugating the verb to the ます form only aims to make the sentence polite and doesn't actually change the tense or meaning.

Correct. ます is a conjugation form that affects the social context of the sentence (indicating details about who is speaking and who is listening, and also sometimes who the sentence is about), but not the tense (i.e. the time when the action occurs) or aspect (i.e. the completedness, repetitiveness, etc. of the action).

... from just that one sentence (assuming someone tells me just that one sentence in the example), how do I determine what the tense of the sentence is?

Japanese has no future tense. It just doesn't exist as a feature of the language. Japanese is often described as having a past tense, where verbs end in -ta, and a non-past tense, where verbs end in -u. So in answer to your question, that one sentence is in the non-past tense.

Note that past tense itself is sometimes the wrong term for words ending in -ta. Consider a sentence like: 明日、このプロジェクトが‍終わった‍後、（なにか）しましょう / "Tomorrow, after this project has finished, let's do (something)." Here, 終わった clearly has the -ta ending, but we're talking about tomorrow, so it can't be about the past. This is where we instead have to talk about aspect: in this case, the -ta ending doesn't describe tense, or when the action happens, but rather aspect, which could be various other dimensions of verb-ness: completion, repetition, ongoing state, so-called "telic" action with distinct before-and-after states (like "change" or "pick up") or "atelic" action with no such clear distinction (like "work" or "sleep"), etc. etc.

More at Wikipedia about grammatical aspect, grammatical tense, and the non-past tense.

share|improve this answer

edited 21 mins ago

answered 8 hours ago

Eiríkr Útlendi

15.5k12856

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Your example has to be 明日(には)このプロジェクトは終わっているはずだ. Perhaps you want to replace it with something like 明日このプロジェクトが終わったらパーティーをしよう.
  – naruto
  56 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @naruto: Dough mow. :)
  – Eiríkr Útlendi
  22 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

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1 Answer
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1 Answer
1

active

oldest

votes

active

oldest

votes

active

oldest

votes

up vote
6
down vote

If I am not mistaken, the above sentence can either mean "I will eat fish" or "I eat fish".

Correct.

... conjugating the verb to the ます form only aims to make the sentence polite and doesn't actually change the tense or meaning.

Correct. ます is a conjugation form that affects the social context of the sentence (indicating details about who is speaking and who is listening, and also sometimes who the sentence is about), but not the tense (i.e. the time when the action occurs) or aspect (i.e. the completedness, repetitiveness, etc. of the action).

... from just that one sentence (assuming someone tells me just that one sentence in the example), how do I determine what the tense of the sentence is?

Japanese has no future tense. It just doesn't exist as a feature of the language. Japanese is often described as having a past tense, where verbs end in -ta, and a non-past tense, where verbs end in -u. So in answer to your question, that one sentence is in the non-past tense.

Note that past tense itself is sometimes the wrong term for words ending in -ta. Consider a sentence like: 明日、このプロジェクトが‍終わった‍後、（なにか）しましょう / "Tomorrow, after this project has finished, let's do (something)." Here, 終わった clearly has the -ta ending, but we're talking about tomorrow, so it can't be about the past. This is where we instead have to talk about aspect: in this case, the -ta ending doesn't describe tense, or when the action happens, but rather aspect, which could be various other dimensions of verb-ness: completion, repetition, ongoing state, so-called "telic" action with distinct before-and-after states (like "change" or "pick up") or "atelic" action with no such clear distinction (like "work" or "sleep"), etc. etc.

More at Wikipedia about grammatical aspect, grammatical tense, and the non-past tense.

share|improve this answer

edited 21 mins ago

answered 8 hours ago

Eiríkr Útlendi

15.5k12856

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Your example has to be 明日(には)このプロジェクトは終わっているはずだ. Perhaps you want to replace it with something like 明日このプロジェクトが終わったらパーティーをしよう.
  – naruto
  56 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @naruto: Dough mow. :)
  – Eiríkr Útlendi
  22 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

up vote
6
down vote

If I am not mistaken, the above sentence can either mean "I will eat fish" or "I eat fish".

Correct.

... conjugating the verb to the ます form only aims to make the sentence polite and doesn't actually change the tense or meaning.

Correct. ます is a conjugation form that affects the social context of the sentence (indicating details about who is speaking and who is listening, and also sometimes who the sentence is about), but not the tense (i.e. the time when the action occurs) or aspect (i.e. the completedness, repetitiveness, etc. of the action).

... from just that one sentence (assuming someone tells me just that one sentence in the example), how do I determine what the tense of the sentence is?

Japanese has no future tense. It just doesn't exist as a feature of the language. Japanese is often described as having a past tense, where verbs end in -ta, and a non-past tense, where verbs end in -u. So in answer to your question, that one sentence is in the non-past tense.

Note that past tense itself is sometimes the wrong term for words ending in -ta. Consider a sentence like: 明日、このプロジェクトが‍終わった‍後、（なにか）しましょう / "Tomorrow, after this project has finished, let's do (something)." Here, 終わった clearly has the -ta ending, but we're talking about tomorrow, so it can't be about the past. This is where we instead have to talk about aspect: in this case, the -ta ending doesn't describe tense, or when the action happens, but rather aspect, which could be various other dimensions of verb-ness: completion, repetition, ongoing state, so-called "telic" action with distinct before-and-after states (like "change" or "pick up") or "atelic" action with no such clear distinction (like "work" or "sleep"), etc. etc.

More at Wikipedia about grammatical aspect, grammatical tense, and the non-past tense.

share|improve this answer

edited 21 mins ago

answered 8 hours ago

Eiríkr Útlendi

15.5k12856

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Your example has to be 明日(には)このプロジェクトは終わっているはずだ. Perhaps you want to replace it with something like 明日このプロジェクトが終わったらパーティーをしよう.
  – naruto
  56 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @naruto: Dough mow. :)
  – Eiríkr Útlendi
  22 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

up vote
6
down vote

up vote
6
down vote

If I am not mistaken, the above sentence can either mean "I will eat fish" or "I eat fish".

Correct.

... conjugating the verb to the ます form only aims to make the sentence polite and doesn't actually change the tense or meaning.

Correct. ます is a conjugation form that affects the social context of the sentence (indicating details about who is speaking and who is listening, and also sometimes who the sentence is about), but not the tense (i.e. the time when the action occurs) or aspect (i.e. the completedness, repetitiveness, etc. of the action).

... from just that one sentence (assuming someone tells me just that one sentence in the example), how do I determine what the tense of the sentence is?

Japanese has no future tense. It just doesn't exist as a feature of the language. Japanese is often described as having a past tense, where verbs end in -ta, and a non-past tense, where verbs end in -u. So in answer to your question, that one sentence is in the non-past tense.

Note that past tense itself is sometimes the wrong term for words ending in -ta. Consider a sentence like: 明日、このプロジェクトが‍終わった‍後、（なにか）しましょう / "Tomorrow, after this project has finished, let's do (something)." Here, 終わった clearly has the -ta ending, but we're talking about tomorrow, so it can't be about the past. This is where we instead have to talk about aspect: in this case, the -ta ending doesn't describe tense, or when the action happens, but rather aspect, which could be various other dimensions of verb-ness: completion, repetition, ongoing state, so-called "telic" action with distinct before-and-after states (like "change" or "pick up") or "atelic" action with no such clear distinction (like "work" or "sleep"), etc. etc.

More at Wikipedia about grammatical aspect, grammatical tense, and the non-past tense.

share|improve this answer

edited 21 mins ago

answered 8 hours ago

Eiríkr Útlendi

15.5k12856

If I am not mistaken, the above sentence can either mean "I will eat fish" or "I eat fish".

Correct.

... conjugating the verb to the ます form only aims to make the sentence polite and doesn't actually change the tense or meaning.

Correct. ます is a conjugation form that affects the social context of the sentence (indicating details about who is speaking and who is listening, and also sometimes who the sentence is about), but not the tense (i.e. the time when the action occurs) or aspect (i.e. the completedness, repetitiveness, etc. of the action).

... from just that one sentence (assuming someone tells me just that one sentence in the example), how do I determine what the tense of the sentence is?

Japanese has no future tense. It just doesn't exist as a feature of the language. Japanese is often described as having a past tense, where verbs end in -ta, and a non-past tense, where verbs end in -u. So in answer to your question, that one sentence is in the non-past tense.

Note that past tense itself is sometimes the wrong term for words ending in -ta. Consider a sentence like: 明日、このプロジェクトが‍終わった‍後、（なにか）しましょう / "Tomorrow, after this project has finished, let's do (something)." Here, 終わった clearly has the -ta ending, but we're talking about tomorrow, so it can't be about the past. This is where we instead have to talk about aspect: in this case, the -ta ending doesn't describe tense, or when the action happens, but rather aspect, which could be various other dimensions of verb-ness: completion, repetition, ongoing state, so-called "telic" action with distinct before-and-after states (like "change" or "pick up") or "atelic" action with no such clear distinction (like "work" or "sleep"), etc. etc.

More at Wikipedia about grammatical aspect, grammatical tense, and the non-past tense.

share|improve this answer

edited 21 mins ago

answered 8 hours ago

Eiríkr Útlendi

15.5k12856

share|improve this answer

share|improve this answer

edited 21 mins ago

edited 21 mins ago

edited 21 mins ago

answered 8 hours ago

Eiríkr Útlendi

15.5k12856

answered 8 hours ago

Eiríkr Útlendi

15.5k12856

answered 8 hours ago

Eiríkr Útlendi

15.5k12856

15.5k12856

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Your example has to be 明日(には)このプロジェクトは終わっているはずだ. Perhaps you want to replace it with something like 明日このプロジェクトが終わったらパーティーをしよう.
  – naruto
  56 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @naruto: Dough mow. :)
  – Eiríkr Útlendi
  22 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Your example has to be 明日(には)このプロジェクトは終わっているはずだ. Perhaps you want to replace it with something like 明日このプロジェクトが終わったらパーティーをしよう.
  – naruto
  56 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @naruto: Dough mow. :)
  – Eiríkr Útlendi
  22 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  

1

1

Your example has to be 明日(には)このプロジェクトは終わっているはずだ. Perhaps you want to replace it with something like 明日このプロジェクトが終わったらパーティーをしよう.
– naruto
56 mins ago

Your example has to be 明日(には)このプロジェクトは終わっているはずだ. Perhaps you want to replace it with something like 明日このプロジェクトが終わったらパーティーをしよう.
– naruto
56 mins ago

@naruto: Dough mow. :)
– Eiríkr Útlendi
22 mins ago

@naruto: Dough mow. :)
– Eiríkr Útlendi
22 mins ago

add a comment | 

 

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