Tense locates an event in time; aspect describes its internal contour. Aspect is a grammatical category that presents a situation as bounded and complete, ongoing, habitual, or otherwise structured in time.

Perfective aspect often views an event as a whole; imperfective aspect views it from inside as ongoing or repeated. English marks progressive aspect with be + -ing and uses perfect constructions to relate a prior event to a later point. Many languages grammaticalize aspect more elaborately.

Aspect interacts with tense, modality, and the inherent meaning of verbs. Translation problems frequently arise when aspect systems differ. Fieldworkers document aspectual inventories carefully because they shape how speakers package experience in narrative.

• Grammatical view of an event’s temporal structure
• Includes perfective, imperfective, and progressive values
• Distinct from but linked to tense
• Expressed differently across languages