Latin Tutorial: Verbal Aspect

While the tense of a verb tells when an action occurs, the aspect of a verb tells how that action is distributed through time: is it instantaneous, gradual, repetitive, just beginning, or none of these? Aspect answers that question. Most languages have no clear way of indicating aspect but hint at it through their uses of tenses, adverbs, and various other grammatical constructions.

There is no overarching method for describing the many possible aspects, but the most important aspects are the simple, the progressive, and the perfect. Aspects are not exclusive; therefore it is possible to have a "perfect progressive" aspect, or other combinations with other aspects.

o The simple aspect simply states that an action occurred. The action was neither continual nor specifically completed, but it merely happened. To use a mathematical metaphor, the simple aspect is a point on the temporal timeline.

o The progressive aspect states that an action is continual in sense: the beginning and end of the action are blurred rather than definite. It is an open-ended line segment on the temporal timeline.

o The perfect aspect states than an action has a definite ending point at which it is complete ("perfect" comes from the Latin for "thoroughly finished"). The edges and extent of the action are clearly demarcated. It is a close-ended line segment on the temporal timeline.

English Tense and Aspect
do, doing, did, done = "to do"	Simple Aspect	Progressive Aspect	Perfect Aspect
Present Tense	Simple Present I do	Present Progressive I am doing	(Present) Perfect I have done
Past Tense	Simple Past I did	Past Progressive/Imperfect I was doing	Past Perfect/Pluperfect I had done
Future Tense	Simple Future I shall do	Future Progressive I shall be doing	Future Perfect I shall have done

Latin does not always distinguish its aspects as clearly as English. In the present tense, Latin has no verb form for the progressive aspect, so it uses the simple present for both, and context must be used to distinguish between the two. In the past tense, Latin has no verb form for the simple past, so it uses its present perfect for both, and context must be used to distinguish between the two. In the future tense, Latin has no verb form for the future progressive, so it uses the simple future for both, and context must be used to distinguish between the two.

Latin Tense and Aspect
ago, agere, egi, actus = "to do"	Simple Aspect	Progressive Aspect	Perfect Aspect
Present Tense	Simple Present ago I do	Present Progressive ago I am doing	(Present) Perfect egi I have done
Past Tense	Simple Past egi I did	Past Progressive/Imperfect agebam I was doing	Past Perfect/Pluperfect egeram I had done
Future Tense	Simple Future agam I shall do	Future Progressive agam I shall be doing	Future Perfect egero I shall have done

Latin also shows an aspect that English does not make much use of: the inchoative. The inchoative aspect states that an action is just beginning. In English, instead of employing the inchoative, we use a different verb. The inchoative form of "to be" for example, is "to become" or the inchoative form of "to die" could be "to wither" or "to sicken." Sometimes Latin employs separate verbs, but sometimes it uses the inchoative.

The inchoative aspect is marked by verbs ending in -esc-. For example: paleo, palere, palui means "to be pale." The inchoative form is palesco, palescere, palescui, meaning "to grow pale." The -esc- toward the end of a verb always indicates that the action is just beginning and is in the process of happening.

English sometimes shows inchoative forms, too. For example: the inchoative of "to be white" is "to whiten." The inchoative of "to be dark" is "to darken." An inchoative can also be supplied by the using "to grow" as an auxiliary verb. The inchoative of "to be green" is "to grow green." The inchoative of "to be tired" is "to grow tired."

There are further possible aspects and gradations of the aspects listed above, but they are either not used in Latin and English or unnecessarily complicated in their terminology and conceptualization. The simple, progressive, perfect, and inchoative aspects are by the most important.