English
Yesterday I was reading, but tomorrow I will finish.
English uses time words, helper verbs, and verb forms to separate ongoing and future completion.
Time is more than past, present, and future. Languages also show whether an action is finished, repeated, still happening, or treated as a general truth. English and Spanish both express time, but they distribute the work differently across helper words, endings, and context.
Core concepts
1
Past places an event before now.
2
Present can describe now, habits, or general truths.
3
Future points beyond now.
4
Aspect shows whether an event is complete, ongoing, or repeated.
Examples
Spanish
Ayer leía, pero mañana terminaré.
Spanish can encode time and aspect through verb endings such as -ía and -é.
Visual model
Event time
Past
before the speaking moment
Now
the speaker's current anchor
Future
after the speaking moment
Aspect
complete, ongoing, repeated, or habitual
Tense tells when; aspect tells how the event unfolds.
Interactive exploration
Inspect a time contrast.
Past
Past markers let speakers treat an event as earlier than the current moment.
I learned. / Aprendí.
Language detective
Identify the hidden structure
Use time words and verb shapes together.
Best: 0/5
Spanish
Ayer leía, pero mañana terminaré.
Look for roles, time, mode, and polarity.
Knowledge check
Test the concept
Best: 0/3
Three conceptual checks