present tense

English

Noun

Examples
"Has the #5 bus arrived yet?" "Yeah, you didn't make it." (past tense) "The bus is too far away. I can't make it." (present tense) "I see the #5 bus across the street. I won’t make it." (future tense)

present tense (plural present tenses)

1. (grammar) A grammatical tense whose principal function is to locate a situation or event in the present time.
   • 1998 March 30, Lance Morrow, “The Trouble With The Present Tense”, in Time‎^[1]:

     Animals—lions and zebras and beautiful snakes—live vividly in the present tense, in a bright unconsciousness of time. That is their innocence and their limitation. Humans carry with them their experiences, their pasts; men and women work with a knowledge of consequences and, doing so, impose order on the chaotic present and project consequences into the future.

Synonyms

• present

Derived terms

• dramatic present tense
• historical present tense
• historic present tense
• narrative present tense
• present historic tense

 

Translations

form of language

• Albanian: kohë e tashme f, koha e tashme f (definite)
• Arabic: مُضَارِع m (muḍāriʕ), فِعْل مُضَارِع m (fiʕl muḍāriʕ), الْفِعْل الْمُضَارِع m (al-fiʕl al-muḍāriʕ) (definite)
• Armenian: ներկա (hy) (nerka), ներկա ժամանակ (nerka žamanak)
• Azerbaijani: indiki zaman
• Bashkir: хәҙерге заман (xəźerge zaman)
• Belarusian: цяпе́рашні час m (cjapjérašni čas)
• Bulgarian: сега́шно вре́ме n (segášno vréme)
• Burmese: ပစ္စုပ္ပန် (my) (paccuppan)
• Carpathian Rusyn: теперїшнїй час m (teperjišnjij čas)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 現在時態／现在时态 (xiànzài shítài), 現在時／现在时 (zh) (xiànzàishí)

• Chuvash: хальхи вӑхӑт (halʹhi văh̬ăt)
• Crimean Tatar: şimdiki zaman
• Czech: přítomný čas m
• Danish: præsens (da) c, nutid c
• Dutch: tegenwoordige tijd (nl) m
• Estonian: olevik (et)
• Faroese: nútíð f
• Finnish: preesens (fi)
• French: présent (fr) m
• Galician: presente (gl)
• Georgian: აწმყო (ac̣mq̇o)
• German: Gegenwart (de) f, Präsens (de) n
• Greek: ενεστώτας (el) m (enestótas)
• Hebrew: לשון הוה m (l'shón hové)
• Hindi: वर्तमान (hi) m (vartamān), वर्तमान काल m (vartamān kāl)
• Hungarian: jelen idő (hu)
• Icelandic: nútíð (is) f
• Ido: prezento (io)
• Indonesian: kala kini
• Irish: aimsir láithreach f
• Italian: presente indicativo m, indicativo presente m, presente (it) m
• Japanese: 現在時制 (げんざいじせい, genzai jisei), 現在形 (ja) (げんざいけい, genzaikei)
• Kalmyk: өдгә цаг (ödgä tsag)
• Kazakh: осы шақ (osy şaq)
• Khmer: វត្តមានា (km) (vŏəttaʼmaanaa)
• Korean: 현재 시제(現在時制) (ko) (hyeonjae sije)
• Kumyk: гьалиги заман (haligi zaman)
• Kyrgyz: учур чак (ucur cak)
• Lao: ປັດຈຸບັນ (pat chu ban)
• Latin: tempus praesēns n, praesēns (la) n
• Latvian: tagadnes laiks m
• Lithuanian: esamasis laikas (lt) m
• Low German:

  German Low German: Präsens (nds), Nutiet

• Macedonian: сегашно време n (segašno vreme), презент m (prezent)
• Malay: kala kini
• Maori: wātū
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: одоо цаг (odoo cag)

• Navajo: tʼáhdii
• Nogai: аьлиги заман (äligi zaman)
• Norman: présent m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: presens (no) n, nåtid (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: presens n, notid f

• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: حال (fa) (hâl), زَمانِ حال (zamân-e hâl)

• Polish: czas teraźniejszy (pl) m
• Portuguese: presente (pt) m
• Romanian: prezent (ro) n, timpul prezent n (definite)
• Russian: настоя́щее вре́мя (ru) n (nastojáščeje vrémja)
• Scottish Gaelic: tràth làthaireach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пре́зент m, садашње време n, садашње вријеме n

  Roman: prézent (sh) m, sadašnje vreme n, sadašnje vrijeme n

• Shor: амдығы тем (amdığı tem)
• Slovak: prítomný čas m, prézent m
• Slovene: sedanjik m
• Southern Altai: тургуза ӧй (turguza öy)
• Spanish: presente (es) m
• Swedish: presens (sv) n, nutid (sv) c
• Tagalog: pangkasalukuyan (tl), nagaganap
• Tajik: ҳозира (hozira), вақти ҳозира (vaqt-i hozira), замони ҳозира (zamon-i hozira)
• Tatar: хәзерге заман (tt) (xäzerge zaman)
• Telugu: వర్తమానకాలము (te) (vartamānakālamu)
• Thai: ปัจจุบัน (th) (bpàt-jù-ban)
• Turkish: şimdiki (tr)
• Turkmen: häzirki zaman
• Tuvan: амгы үе (amgı üe)
• Udmurt: али дыр (aľi dyr)
• Ukrainian: тепе́рішній час (uk) m (tepérišnij čas)
• Urdu: حال (ur) m (hāl), زَمانَۂ حال m (zamāna-yi hāl)
• Uyghur: ھازىرقى زامان (hazirqi zaman)
• Uzbek: hozirgi zamon
• Vietnamese: thì hiện tại
• Walloon: tins prezintrece m
• West Frisian: notiid (fy)
• Yakut: билиҥҥи кэм (biliññi kem)

See also

• be, is, was
• present continuous