Time Direction / Tense
Is it in the past, present, or future?
Meaning
The event's direction relative to the speaker's 'now': before, at, after, or relative to another reference time.
How to spot it
Ask whether the event is earlier, now, later, or relative to another event.
Examples
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.
Language View
In your native language
English finite verbs normally show present or past tense; future is usually expressed with auxiliaries or context.
She worked yesterday.
worked = past time direction
In your learning language
Spanish strongly marks time direction through verb inflection and future/periphrastic constructions.
Hablo, hablé, hablaré.
I speak, I spoke, I will speak.
Learners often struggle with preterite vs imperfect and with when to use periphrastic future.
Same block, different coding
Both languages use this block strongly, but they signal it differently. Focus on form changes, not only meaning.