Making Sense of Tenses  

You know, it’s no bloody wonder Indonesians find tenses in English confusing.  The books that you’ve learned from make it very confusing.  Check your books and they probably say something like the following for one of the conditions when the present continuous tense is used.

Membicarakan suatu rencana yang segera terjadi.   …or

Digunakan untuk menyatakan suatu rencana yang sudah pasti akan dilakukan dalam waktu dekat.  …or 

Dipergunakan untuk menyatakan suatu pekerjaan, perbuatan ataupun peristiwa yang akan terjadi pada waktu yang akan datang.

All of which are true, and sometimes you are given good examples like:

I am going to visit my uncle in Jakarta next week.

I am going to a movie tonight

They are taking the 8:00 train.

We are visiting him tonight.

Yeah, not great examples, but not bad.  Then many of the books say the following for one of the conditions for using the simple present tense.

Digunakan untuk menyatakan atau menunjukkan suatu perbuatan yang direncanakan akan segera dilakukan dalam waktu dekat.  … or

Dipergunakan untuk menyatakan suatu kejadian atau peristiwa yang sudah pasti (sudah dijadwalkan) dan akan terjadi maupun dilaksanakan pada waktu yang akan datang.  … or

Kejadian yang akan datang yang sudah terencana atau terjadwal.

Now, my Bahasa isn’t perfect, but that sure sounds like the same thing they said for when to use the present continuous tense!!

Some of the better examples are:

My father leaves by the 4:30 train this afternoon.

The meeting begins at 9 o’clock.

The bus leaves Surabaya at seven tomorrow and arrives in Jogjakarta at 3 p.m.  We spend two days in Jogjakarta and continue the journey to Bandung.

Our basketball team plays in Senayan next week.

She leaves for Bandung next week.

So why can’t you say:  “She’s leaving for Bandung next week.”  and  “Our basketball team is playing in Senayan next week.”  … You can!!  So how do you know which to use when?  The fact is, many times there are 2 or 3 tenses that are appropriate and could be used.  And when you say “…in Senayan..” you mean in the area, Senayan, like “…in Kuningan..”.  If you’re talking about the stadium then you have to say “…at Senayan…”, like “…at PasFes..”.

Likewise, my question regarding Bahasa is, what’s the difference between ‘digunakan’ and ‘dipergunakan’ and how do I know which one to use when.  In actual fact, I never use either one.  I simply say ‘pake’.  :)   And how about ‘ketemu’ and ‘bertemu’?  Usually you can use either one, but most people will typically use one or the other depending on the specific situation.  English is the same.  One or the other is more common depending on the situation, but there are often several ways of expressing the idea.

Tenses in English are really not that difficult.  They are simply a way of expressing the idea of time.  (pernah, sering, telah, sedang, akan, …)  Bahasa isn’t nearly as precise as English so it’s very difficult to capture the subtle differences by translating.  You have to develop a feeling for it based on the specific idea that is being expressed and it’s very difficult to do that with single sentences.  You need to know the whole conversation, and with a little guidance it will soon become very clear how it all works.  Are you willing to try?

Another important point to remember is that the rules (grammar) are derived from what we say.  They are like a mathematical formula trying to explain a natural phenomena.  It’s an approximation at best.  You’ve all heard the expression “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?”.  And it’s impossible to say.  With language it’s easy.  Language came first and then people started coming up with a bunch of rules.  Kids don’t start by learning the rules and neither should adults.

Let’s take a look at some simple expressions and see if you can understand the differences between each.  How would you express each idea in Bahasa?

What did you do today?

What were you doing all day?

What have you done today?

I haven’t done it (yet).

I didn’t do it yet.

I didn’t do it.

I haven't finished (it) yet.

I’m doing it now.

I’ll do it tomorrow.

I’m going to do it tomorrow.

I do it every day.

I’ve done it for years.

I’ve been doing it for years.

I should’ve done it yesterday.

I would’ve done it yesterday, but I didn’t have time.

I was going to do it yesterday, but I didn’t have time.

I could have done it yesterday, but my modem wasn’t working.

I would have done it yesterday, but my modem wasn’t working.

I’ll be doing it for the next 3 weeks while she’s on holiday(s).

I’m going to be ….

I wasn’t going to do it, but he talked me into it.

I wasn’t planning on doing it, but he talked me into it.

I didn’t want to do it, but he talked me into it.

I had no intention of doing it, but he talked me into it.

I wasn’t going to go, but he talked me into it.

I wasn’t planning on going, but he talked me into it.

I didn’t want to go, but he talked me into it.

I had no intention of going, but he talked me into it.

I wasn’t going to _____, but he talked me into it.

I wasn’t planning on ______, but he talked me into it.

I didn’t want to _____, but he talked me into it.

I had no intention of _____, but he talked me into it.

Are you done?  /  Are you finished?

Have you finished (yet)?

When will you be done/finished?

When are you going to be done/finished?

When do you think you’ll be done/finished?

When do you expect it to be done/finished?

When do you expect it’ll be done/finished?   (…it will…)

When are you expecting it to be done/finished?

When do you expect it to arrive?  / … get here?

When are you expecting it to arrive? /  … get here?

I'm going to meet someone at 1 o'clock.

I'm meeting someone at 1 o'clock.

I'm in a meeting.

That’s a small sample of expressions using various ways to express similar ideas.  Can you see the differences and similarities?  Do you know which tenses were being used in each case?  Don’t ask me or any other native speaker what each of the tenses used are because we don’t know!  And we don’t care!  It’s not important.  It doesn’t matter.  What matters is the idea which is ‘attached’ to each expression and for a native speaker that ‘idea’ is immediately clear.  What you, the student, need to develop is a clear understanding and ‘feeling’ of the differences and be able to use them all correctly.  And NOT mix half of one and half of another!

Anyway, we sort of got off track.  .. Have you ever heard that expression before?  All languages use expressions that can be very confusing, but if you don’t take them literally, you can easily catch the meaning.  To ‘get off track’, means just that, to deviate from the planned topic; like a train taking a ‘sidetrack’.  .. Another common expression: ‘get sidetracked’.

So, getting back on track, let’s review the tenses, one by one.  We always teach the present continuous tense first, even (and especially) to kids, because it’s the one that’s most commonly used.  Especially if your language doesn’t have tenses, it is very, very important to do this.  Otherwise the students learn: “I go.  I do.  I work. …” and when you then ask them “What are you doing?”, or “Where are you going?”, they reply, “I work.”, and “I go home.”  The old guy near where I live always says to me, “Mister, where you go?” every time he sees me leaving my house.  If he’d simply learned “Where are you going?” before he learned anything else, and before he learned anything about tenses, then he’d have no problem asking me correctly, “Mister, where are you going?”  (Note that you could also say, …before he’d learned anything else,…)

So, we use the present continuous tense when we talk about something which is happening at the time of speaking:

o                Please don’t make so much noise.  I’m studying.  (I’m trying to study.)

o                Where’s Mary?   She’s having a bath.  (She’s taking a bath.)

o                Let’s go to the park now.  It’s not raining anymore.   (It isn’t raining anymore.)  (It’s stopped raining.  …it has…)

o                Hi, are you having a good time?   (Hi, are you enjoying the party?)

Note, in the one example you can use the … tense.  What tense?  … have/has ___ed ….   Whatever, we’ll worry about that later.

The action doesn’t have to be happening exactly at the time of speaking either.  For example:

o                Tom and Mary are talking and drinking in a café.  Tom says, “I’m reading a really good book at the moment.  I’ll lend it to you when I’ve finished (it).    ;  or,  …. when I’m finished (it).  ;  or, when I finish (it).

At the exact moment, they are talking and drinking.  Tom is not reading at that exact moment, but he is ‘sedang baca’.  Note, the simple present tense is used for “Tom says, ….”  Then, simple future is used: “I’ll lend it to you ….” because there was no previous plan or intention to lend it to her.  It was a ‘spur of the moment’ idea.  Then it gets confusing.  “…when I’ve finished …” , etc.

All three are perfectly correct and common.  I looked in a variety of books but couldn’t find a clear explanation for each.  For the present perfect case, ‘...I’ve finished…’, all the books say it’s for ‘masa lampau’, but he’s talking about the future.  I can’t even figure out what tense this is!  You could also say, “…when I’ve finished reading it.”  And you can similarly say, “…when I’m finished reading it.”  or  “…when I finish reading it.”

Okay, that’s your homework.  Find out what each of the tenses are and explain why you can use each of them.  :)

I'll lend it to you when I've finished it.

I'll lend it to you when I'm finished (it).

I'll lend it to you when I finish (it).

I'll lend it to you when I've finished reading it.

I'll lend it to you when I'm finished reading it.

I'll lend it to you when I finish reading it.

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