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Present perfect, present, and future tenses (SVFL)
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True or false: There are three ways of expressing the future in Swedish.
It’s almost noon. Michael sends a text to Lina. Är du hungrig? Jag äter nu. Tyvärr, jag har redan ätit Michael is asking about something happening right now. Verbs change form depending on when in time something is happening.
They form different tenses. The tense the verb takes if the thing is happening now is called present tense. är äter Lina answers that she has already eaten. She is using the present perfect tense, which begins with an auxiliary. har We use Present perfect when we say that something has already happened. The event is finished - Lina has finished eating.
But the auxiliary is in present tense, because Lina having eaten is still relevant now - it still applies. Here are two other examples of present perfect: Vi bor inte där längre, vi har flyttat. Leon har skadat knät, så han missar träningen idag. Present perfect is a tense that is often used together with present tense. Here we are using present tense and present perfect in the same sentence.
We are talking about the past, but we are looking at the past from the present. How is it going with Michael and Lina? Synd. Kommer du att äta tidigt imorgon också? Nä, ska vi äta tillsammans?
Michael is asking about what will happen tomorrow. He’s using a tense that shows he is talking about the future: future tense. In Swedish auxiliaries are used to form future tense. kommer Lina’s answer is also about the future, but she is using a different auxiliary. ska With this auxiliary you talk about the future, but at the same time show that you’ve decided to do something.
In Swedish there are actually three ways to talk about future. Here are all three of them: Ni kommer att göra era läxor i kväll. Ni ska göra era läxor i kväll Ni gör läxorna i kväll. ... Leon kommer att cykla till skolan Leon ska cykla till skolan. På måndag cyklar Leon till skolan.
These forms have slightly different meanings. The first form shows that something will happen, no matter what you think about it. It’s already set. This form can be used for things that will happen, like it will be night, and then day again. The second form is also about the future, but is also expressing an intention or wish for something to happen.
Either as a request, or because someone is promising to do something. The third way of talking about the future is to use present tense together with a time expression in the future. This form is suitable for talking about activities that are planned for the future. Present tense isn’t future tense, but it can be used to talk about the future, as long as it comes with a future time expression. Here we have three tenses: present perfect, present and future tense!
Of these, only present tense is formed without an auxiliary. It’s a simple tense. Äter Gör Cyklar Present perfect and future tenses however, do need an auxiliary - they are compound tenses. Present perfect sounds like this: Har ätit Har gjort Har cyklat Present perfect is thus formed with two verbs. An auxiliary, and a main verb. The main verb is in a form that is only used about the past: a past participle.
With future tense it is a bit easier. You combine the auxiliary with the main verb in its basic form, the infinitive. Like this: Ska se slutet på filmen. Kommer att höra slutmelodin. Ska snart göra quizzet.