Time Direction / Tense
Is it in the past, present, or future?
Maana
The event's direction relative to the speaker's 'now': before, at, after, or relative to another reference time.
Jinsi ya kuitambua
Ask whether the event is earlier, now, later, or relative to another event.
Mifano
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.
Mtazamo wa lugha
Katika lugha yako
MSA uses perfect/imperfect forms plus particles and context; it is not a simple European tense system.
كتبَ الرسالةَ وسيكتبُ الردَّ.
He wrote the letter and will write the reply.
Katika lugha unayojifunza
Tense and relative time are mainly shown by verb forms plus time words.
সে গতকাল এসেছিল।
He/she had come yesterday.
Learners may confuse simple past, perfect and habitual past forms.
Same block, different coding
Both languages use this block strongly, but they signal it differently. Focus on form changes, not only meaning.