Time Direction / Tense
Is it in the past, present, or future?
Signification
The event's direction relative to the speaker's 'now': before, at, after, or relative to another reference time.
Comment le repérer
Ask whether the event is earlier, now, later, or relative to another event.
Exemples
past|present|future|will|did
went yesterday|will go tomorrow|is here now
She will call tomorrow.
Visual guide
Speaker's NOW
│
PAST ◄── now ──► FUTURE
went is will go
Time direction = event's side
of now or another reference.
B02 vs B01: She will call tomorrow. will call → FUTURE side of now tomorrow → WHEN on timeline Languages may mark B02 on verb, with particle, time word, context.
Vue par langue
Dans votre langue maternelle
French marks tense strongly through verb forms and auxiliaries, with time adverbs adding clarity.
Elle appellera demain.
She will call tomorrow.
Dans votre langue d’apprentissage
En anglais, les verbes conjugués marquent normalement le présent ou le passé ; le futur s’exprime le plus souvent avec un auxiliaire ou par le contexte.
She worked yesterday.
worked = forme verbale qui place l’action dans le passé
Les apprenants peuvent chercher une seule forme de futur, oublier le -ed du passé ou mal employer les formes passées irrégulières.
Same block, different coding
Both languages use this block strongly, but they signal it differently. Focus on form changes, not only meaning.