Time Direction / Tense
Is it in the past, present, or future?
Significado
The event's direction relative to the speaker's 'now': before, at, after, or relative to another reference time.
Como identificar
Ask whether the event is earlier, now, later, or relative to another event.
Exemplos
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.
Vista por língua
Na tua língua materna
Tense is marked by verb forms and auxiliaries; Brazilian Portuguese often uses ir plus infinitive for future.
Ela vai ligar amanhã.
She is going to call tomorrow.
Na tua língua de aprendizagem
English finite verbs normally show present or past tense; future is usually expressed with auxiliaries or context.
She worked yesterday.
worked = past time direction
Learners may expect one future tense form or forget past -ed and irregular past forms.
Same block, different coding
Both languages use this block strongly, but they signal it differently. Focus on form changes, not only meaning.