Verb Tenses

Overview

Verb tenses express when an action happens. The three languages take radically different approaches.

• Spanish: Highly inflected. A single verb can encode person, number, tense, aspect, mood, and voice through endings alone. Over 14 simple tenses plus compound forms.
• English: Moderately inflected. Uses a mix of verb endings (-ed, -s) and auxiliary verbs (will, have, be) to build tenses. About 12 tenses total.
• Chinese: Zero inflection. The verb never changes form. Time is expressed through particles (了le, 过guò), adverbs (昨zuó天tiān, 现xiàn在zài), and context.

---

Comparison at a glance

Feature	Spanish	English	Chinese
Verb conjugation	Extensive (person, tense, mood)	Moderate (auxiliaries + endings)	None
Simple tenses	3 (present, preterite, imperfect) + future	3 (present, past, future)	None (context)
Compound tenses	Yes (perfect, continuous, subjunctive)	Yes (perfect, continuous)	Particle-based
Past distinction	Preterite vs imperfect	One simple past	了le vs 过guò
Future forms	1 conjugated future	4+ forms (will, going to, -ing, present)	要yào / 会huì / time adverb
Subjunctive	Extensive and mandatory	Very rare (were, that he speak)	None (context)
Continuous aspect	estar + -ndo	be + -ing	在zài / 着zháo

---

Examples in context

Simple past

• ES: Ayer hablé con ella. (preterite — completed)
• EN: I spoke with her yesterday.
• ZH: 我wǒ昨zuó天tiān跟gēn她tā说shuō了le。

Past habitual

• ES: Antes hablaba con ella todos los días. (imperfect — habitual)
• EN: I used to speak with her every day.
• ZH: 以yǐ前qián我wǒ每měi天tiān都dōu跟gēn她tā说shuō话huà。

Present continuous

• ES: Ahora mismo estoy hablando.
• EN: I am speaking right now.
• ZH: 我wǒ现xiàn在zài正zhèng在zài说shuō话huà。

Future plan

• ES: Mañana hablaré con ella.
• EN: I am going to speak with her tomorrow. / I will speak with her tomorrow.
• ZH: 我wǒ明míng天tiān要yào跟gēn她tā说shuō。

---

Common mistakes

1. English speakers learning Spanish: Using preterite for everything: Antes viví en Madrid → Antes vivía en Madrid (imperfect for habitual past)

2. Spanish/Chinese speakers learning English: Omitting ‘be’ in continuous: I speaking → I am speaking

3. English/Spanish speakers learning Chinese: Adding fake endings: 我wǒ说shuō了le们mén → 我wǒ说shuō了le (Chinese verbs never conjugate)

4. Spanish speakers learning English: Using ‘will’ for all future: I will meet her (plan) → I am going to meet her or I am meeting her

---

Related topics

• Word Order: How tense particles fit into Chinese sentence structure
• Pronouns: How subject dropping interacts with tense expression
• Questions: How tense appears in question formation
• Articles: How definiteness relates to aspect and completed actions