Languages locate events relative to the moment of speaking. Tense is a grammatical category that situates a situation in time—typically past, present, or future—through verb morphology or auxiliary systems.

Absolute tense anchors directly to speech time; relative tense anchors to another event. Many languages combine tense with aspect in portmanteau forms. Some languages grammaticalize only a past/non-past split; others mark multiple degrees of remoteness.

Tense errors are common in additional-language writing when systems differ. Narrative and reported speech create complex tense-shifting patterns. Descriptive grammars illustrate tense with timelines and authentic text examples rather than isolated paradigms alone.

• Grammatical location of events in time
• Commonly past, present, and future
• Expressed by morphology or auxiliaries
• Interacts closely with aspect