2分钟英语课堂：时态 What are tenses

Lily: Hello James, let’s talk about verb tenses in English today.

丽丽：哈喽，詹姆斯，我们今天讨论动词时态

James: Okay! Verb tenses are used to describe the time of an action, whether it is in the present, the past, or the future.

詹姆斯：好的，动词时态通常是描述一段时间内的动作，不管是现在时，过去式还是将来时。

Lily: For example, when we talk about current news or actions we use present tense. What tense do we use when talking about events that are over?

丽丽：比如，我们讨论现在的消息或动作时用现在时。我们讨论过去发生的事时用哪个时态呢

James: We use the past tense to talk about events which are completed, and we use the future tense to talk about events that haven’t happened yet.

詹姆斯：用过去式讨论过去发生的完成的事，用将来时讨论现在还没有发生的事

Lily: There are also variations of these three verb tenses to indicate if the action is a continuing one, or if it is a past action that influences the present, or if it is a future action that will continue for a while, and so on. Today we’ll only talk about simple past, present and future tense.

丽丽：动词时态还有一些变化，当一个动作是否是进行时，或过去发生的动作对现在产生影响，或者将来进行时等等。今天我们只说简单的过去式，现在时和将来时。

James: So how do we make the verb tenses?

詹姆斯：我们怎么知道动词时态呢

Lily: Tenses are created by modifying a verb. For example, the verb "call." Can you think of the present, past and future tenses for this verb?

丽丽：修饰动词会产生动词时态。拿call 为例。你能想起这个动词的现在时，过去式和将来时吗

James: Sure I can! Present tense is "call," past tense is "called" and future tense is "will call."

詹姆斯：能啊。现在时是 call, 过去式是 called ，将来时是 will call

Lily: “Please call your brother” is present tense. It shows that the action is now.

丽丽：请给你哥哥打电话 是现在时。表示的是现在发生的动作。

James: “I called my mother yesterday” shows that the action happened before now.

詹姆斯：昨天我给妈妈打电话了 表示过去发生的动作

Lily: “I will call my sister tomorrow” shows that the action will take place in the future.

丽丽“我明天将给妹妹打电话 表示将来发生的动作

James: English has regular verbs and irregular verbs. Regular verb tenses are all made the same way. The present tense is the verb without anything added. To make the past tense, add “ed” to the present tense. So the past tense of call iscalled, the past tense of walk is walked, and the past tense of exercise is exercised.

詹姆斯：英语中有规则动词和不规则动词。规则动词的变化都一样。现在时没有任何添加成分，过去式加 ed 。所以call 的过去式是 called，walk 的过去式是 walked，exercise 的过去式 是 exercised。

Lily: How do we make the future tense then?

丽丽：将来时如何构成的

James: Just add “will” to the present tense of the verb. I will walk to the store tomorrow morning. He will exercise three times a week.

詹姆斯：在现在时动词前 加 will。我明天将去杂货店。他将一周锻炼三次

Lily: Let’s see some example dialogues which will help us understand regular verb tenses.

丽丽：我们看几段对话帮助我们更好的理解规则动词时态

Fan of outdoor sports?

户外运动的爱好者

James: I learned to ski on my trip to Utah.

詹姆斯：我在去犹他州的路上学会了滑雪

Nathan: Well, James, it sounds like you enjoyed your trip.

那桑：好的，看来你很喜欢这段旅行

James: It was a long drive but my friends and I listened to music all the way.

詹姆斯：这个路程很长，但是我的朋友和我一路上都是听歌过来的

Nathan: Did you ski on the more difficult trails?

那桑：你在复杂跑道上滑雪了吗

James: Yes, and it scared me.

詹姆斯：，恩，吓死我了

Nathan: You will learn to enjoy it, I’ll bet. I love outdoor sports.

那桑：你将会学会喜欢上它的。我敢打赌，我很喜欢户外运动

James: Probably I will like it when I get better at it, but I think you enjoy them more.

詹姆斯：或许我更熟练地时候会喜欢上的吧。但是我觉得你一直都很喜欢

A hard day at work

工作辛苦的一天

Alice: I hoped you would clean the apartment.

爱丽斯：我希望你能打扫公寓

Christie: I cleaned the apartment yesterday and I will clean it again tomorrow.

克里斯汀：昨天我刚打扫过的，明天我再打扫一遍

Alice: What happened this morning?

爱丽斯：今天上午怎么了

Christie: I worked from 8 in the morning until now.

克里斯汀：我从上午八点一直工作到现在

Alice: Sorry, I believed you had the day off. Shall I fix you some dinner?

爱丽斯：抱歉，我以为你今天休息。要我给你做点晚饭吗

Christie: Thank you. I will want some later, but not now.

克里斯汀：谢谢，但是我想一会再要。