lunes, 20 de abril de 2009

Past present, present present and future present

The title of this entry might seem confusing, but it's not. Guess what I meant by that:

a) you were stoned when you wrote it.
b) you mistook the word present for tense.
c) in Spanish you can express past, present and future with the present tense.

Exactly. The present tense can take us to the past and to the future, so it's the most effective or worthwhile tense (but you should learn the others too). NOTE: don't pay attention to the names of the different tenses. They're only going to get you more confused. The present is not really a present now, and the past can be the present sometimes, the conditional can be the past and the present, the future can even be the present too. The names of the tenses are not important!

The present present.-

It obviously has to do with the current situation or around the present time, like habits, things you usually do, etc. Let's see some examples:

- No puedo ir a la fiesta. Es que estoy malo, tengo fiebre.
- Estoy de dependiente en una tienda de ropa.
- No hablo español muy bien, pero sí comprendo mejor.

The past present.-

The past present is represented first by the historical present. You might have seen or heard things like:

- Cristobal Colón descubre América en 1492.
- El 1 de agosto de 1939, Alemania invade Polonia y comienza la Segunda Guerra Mundial.

You can also see it everyday on the news. Check it out yourself on the internet. For example, at www.yahoo.es , and read the news. They belong to the past, but they're written in present. Why? To make them look like they're the latest. Let's see some from today's news:

- Un hombre retiene a cinco tripulantes de un avión en Jamaica.

But the past present also has to do with a more colloquial way to tell a story that took place somewhen in the past. You won't surely see this use of the present written, but you'll hear it often when somebody is telling somebody else a story, something that happened to him last night, etc. In this case, a friend tells another friend a little story from yesterday...

- ¿Sabes a quién vi ayer? Pues nada, voy conduciendo por el centro y me paro en un semáforo. En esto que cruza un hombre por el paso de peatones y digo: coño, pero si es Antonio Banderas, ¿no? Total, que salgo del semáforo y me paro en otro, nada, 100 metros más adelante, y ¿sabes quién cruza el paso de peatones? ¡Alejandro Amenábar! Y digo, joder, ¿esto qué es? ¿Todos los famosos están aquí en Málaga o qué? En fin, que voy ya para mi casa por allí cerca del teatro y resulta que me paro en otro semáforo. Adivina a quién veo... ¡A Almodóvar! Y claro, miro al teatro y dice allí: Festival de Cine de Málaga, 12º edición.

The future present.-

The present with a sense of future is very used. If you're meeting a friend and you're late, and you want to write him a sms, you don't say I'll be there in 10 minutes, but rather I'm there in 10 minutes.

- Estoy allí en 10 minutos.

It's 9 a.M. and you're at work. Your girlfriend calls you and asks you the time to meet later in the evening. You say:

- Bueno. Hoy salgo del trabajo a las 8. Quedamos a las 8 y media en tu casa, ¿vale?

And you used the present tense, but you're talking about the future. But the question is: how far into the future does the future present can really get? Is it only ten minutes from now? 20? One day? One year? Well, as far as you want to, but as long as the situation needs your determination for the future.

- El año que viene me hago vegetariano.

There's an aspect the future present tells us. When you use it, it's because what you're saying it's going to happen. It's been set already or it's not going to change. If I say estoy allí en 10 minutes, it's because I mean it. If I say:

- Esta noche te llamo. Es que ahora estoy ocupado.

... It's because I mean it too. There's another way to express the future: the verb to go + to + infinitive. In Spanish ir + a + infinitivo. In this case it's more related to plans or intentions. Things that you intend to do, but they might change later, or even your might change your mind, so you can't put your hand into the fire.

- Mañana voy a dejar de fumar. (I intend to do it, but I'm not sure to succeed).
- Mañana dejo de fumar. (I intend to do it, and this time I'm determined to do it).

You see the determination is more serious with the future present. But your determination can be doubtful if you say:

- Bueno, dentro de 30 años dejo de fumar. (not only doubtful, but far into future)

But I'm watching your thoughts, that rule I talked about in another entry of: ah! The rule for everything! Now I can say:

- Esta noche veo una película.

If you say this to a friend, he might say: so what? If it's a plan, say it with I'm going to watch a movie. I don't care if you're determined to watch a movie tonight. Who cares??? If it's a plan you have for tonight, ok.

Unpunctuality: a myth or a reality in Spain? The cultural aspect.-

It's reality, but it's not the only country in the world where people get late. In Peru there's the famous Peruvian hour, and even politicians get late to their meetings and appointments.

In Spain, politicians are punctual, but people aren't usually. In other countries, people usually meet at a specific time:

- Ok. At the entrance at 9 pm.

...And you might be late or not. In Spain, many people don't meet at a specific time. They meet like:

- Vale. Pues quedamos de 9 a 9 y cuarto a la entrada del bar. A lo mejor llego un poquillo más tarde.

It's very common to leave a margen of unpunctuality, so to speak :) I don't mean you can't meet at 9 pm. in Spain. I mean that you can find the other alternative too.

As an exception, a friend of mine. He's never late and he's a martyr of unpunctuality here in Spain :) And I assure you there's Spanish blood running through his veins.

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