Introduction to verb aspect | The parts of speech | Grammar | Khan Academy

Hello grammarians.

So, I've talked about the idea of verb tense, which is the ability to situate words in time. But today, I'd like to talk about verb aspect, which is kind of like tense but more. Let me explain what that means.

So, with basic verb tense, we can distinguish between the present, the future, and the past, right? So, now, later, then, right? Past, present, and future.

So, I could say, you know, simply, I walk; I will walk; and I walked. So this is the past, this is the present, and this is the future. So that's verb tense.

But what's really cool about verb aspect is it's this tool that really allows us to expand all the possible ways of expressing something in time.

So, you could just say I walk, true, but you could also say I am walking or I'm walking, or you could say I have walked; I have been walking.

All of these things are different aspects. They're different versions of the verb to walk in the present tense, and we'll explain all of those. They'll each get their own video.

But I just wanted to impress upon you the idea that within every tense—past, present, and future—there are also four many tenses, or baby tenses.

And this is what we call aspect, and we'll get to the names of those later. Don't worry about that now. I just wanted to just plant the seed.

You can learn anything. Dave it out.