Tense and aspect

 ‘Tense and aspect are gramtical categgories in a large

number of languages . The form of the verb in these
languages indicates two main types of information :
time relations and aspectual differences ‘ ( Baker
2011:108 )
 Time relations has to do with locating an event in time
.
 Aspectual differences takes acount of the temporal
distribution of an event . i.e is it complete or non-
complete momentary or continuous .
 For instance the English language has three usual
distinction: past, present and future . Other languages
have different ways of expressenig tense and aspect
which must be taken into consideration by the
translator .
Examples from other languages
 Bali has a rather precise system of time reference .
Apart from indicating past or future references , each
past or future reference is marked to show whether the
event in question is immediately connected to the
present ,or is separated from by a period of time .(
Baker 2011)
 Some languages such as Chinese , Molay , and Yurak
have no formal category of tense or aspect . The form
of the verb in these languages doesn’t change to
express temporal or aspectual distinctions . Time
reference can be indicated by means of various
particles and adverbials .( Baker 2001)
 The following examples show how time relations are
typically signalled in Chinese when the context
demands that such information be made explicit:
 ta xian-zai zai bei-jing gong-zuo (lit.: ‘he now in Peking
work’, i.e. ‘he is working in Peking’)
 ta dang-shi zai bei-jing gong-zuo (lit.: ‘he at that time
in Peking work’, i.e. ‘he was working in Peking’)
 ‘Because tense and aspect are not grammatical
categories in Chinese, their specification is largely
optional. Context is relied on much more often than in
English .to establish time reference. If the adverbials in
the above examples were not included in the clause,
one would have to rely entirely on the context to
establish the time of the event.’ ( Baker 2011: 109)
Tense and aspect in English and
Arabic.
 1. Tense and aspect in English :
 The English language has three usual distinctions :
past, present and future .
 According to Celce , ‘ There are four aspects: simple ,
perfect , progressive , and their combinations perfect
progerssive ‘ ( 1991: 110)
 For example , the pefect tense implies that an event or
a state happened in the past tense .
 If the perfect tense is preceded by the article ( ‫ )قد‬, it
expresses that the action happened in the past which
is near to the persent such as : ‫قد جائني صديق‬
 If the imperfect is preceded by(‫ )سين‬or (‫ )سوف‬, it
expresses the future such as : ‫سأستغفر لك ربي‬
Translating English tenses into
Arabic
 There are no precise equivalents for various English
tenses . According to Ghazala ‘ in English there are
fourteen tenses .However , Arabic consists of only two
tenses which cause problems for translators ‘ ( Ghazala
1995:69)
A. the present and the past
perfect
 It is difficult for translators to convey the same time of
the action of these sentences .They don’t have precise
equivalents in Arabic . Therfore they are translated
into the past simple in Arabic .Some translators
suggest ( ‫ ) قد‬for the persent perfect and ( ‫ ) لقد‬for the
past perfect .
Examples  Arabic
 English
‫ كتبت الرسالة‬-
- I wrote a letter
- I have written a letter
- I had written a letter
B .The present and the past
progressive
 If these tenses are transmitted literally, the meaning
will be destroyed because they have no equivalent in
Arabic . According to Ghazala , the present progressive
equals the simple present ( Ghazala 1995)
 The appropriate way to express the time of the present
progerssive in Arabic is to add some adverbs of time
such as ‫ االن‬for example:
 English  Arabic
- 1. It is raining ‫ تهطل األمطار‬-

- 2. It rains a lot in winter ‫ تهطل األمطار كثيرا في فصل‬-

‫الشتاء‬
- 3.He was wandering in
the garden ‫ كان يتجول في الحديقة‬-
C. Present and past perfect
progressive tenses
 These two tenses are more complex than the four
preceeding ones. They do not have exact equivalents in
Arabic . The Arabic version may be broken if students
translate these tenses literally . Both tenses can be
translated into (‫)كان‬+ perfect ( Ghazal 1995) . For
instance :
 English Arabic

 I had been studying the ‫ كنت أدرس طوال الليل‬

whole night

 Children have been playing ‫ كان األطفال يلعبون طوال اليوم‬

football all day .
Voice
 ‘ Voice is a grammatical category which defines the
relationship between a verb and its subject . In active
clauses ,the subject is the agent responsible for
performing the action . In passive clauses , the subject
is the affected entity and the agent may or may not be
specified , depending on the structures availabe in
each language ‘ ( Baker , 2001: 112)
 The use of both the active and the passive voices vary
from one language to another and even differentiate in
the way of expressing the category of voice . In the
English language ‘ the use of the passive is extremely
common in many varieties of written English and can
pose various problems in translation depending on the
availability of similar function in the target language (
Baker , 2001: 112)
 The main function of the passive is to allow the
construction of agentless clauses. That is to say it is
used when the agent is no specified. In some
languages such as Turkish , this seems to be its only
function . In other languages , the use of passive is
obligatory in certain context . ( Baker 2011)
 Most languages have a variety of mechanisms for
constucting ‘ agentless’ clauses . For instance «On
parle anglais» leaves the agent unspecified by using a ‘
dummy’ subject ‘on’ . It can be translated into English
either by using a similar dummy subject ‘ they speak
English’ or by using the passive voice ‘ English is
spoken ( Lyon 1968)
 The frequency of using the passive voice differs from
one language to another .For example German,
Russian, French and Arabic use the passive much less
frequently than English .Other languages such as
Tjalobal of Mexico and Nilotic languages use the
passive voice more frequently than English ( Baker
2001)
Translating active and passive
voices
 ‘ Rendering a passive structure by an active structure or
conversely an active structure by a passive structure
can have implications for the amount of information
given in the clause, the linear arrangements of
semantic elements such as agent and affected entity
,and the focus of the message’ (Baker 2001 :113)
 However, in some contexts where the use of the passive
might for instance , be stylistically less acceptable than
the use of the active . The rendering becomes
necessary in order to have a smooth natural translation
.For example in the case of Russian, Chinese and
Japenese languages , professional translators may
decide to replace passive structures in the ST with
stylistically more acceptable alternative stuctures such
as the active ( Baker 2011)
Passive voice in English and Arabic
 Arabic passive has only one form which is
« agentless » unlike English which has agentive and
agentless structure .Therfore Arabic tends to use less
passive than English and does not have a natural
method of expressing the agent in a passive sentence .
For example X is done by Y is rendered as X does .
Examples
English source text Arabic target text
 The letters will be mailed by ‫ سترسل السكريترة الرسائل‬
the secretary

 A hunderd men were killed at ‫ قتلت قوات الشرطة مئة رجل‬

the hands of the police .
. ‫ أرسلت لي هدية‬
 A gift was sent to me .
References
 Baker , M ( 2011) In other words . London: Routledge.
 Celce, M .& Larsen, F.D ( 1999). The grammar book .
An ESL/EFL teacher’s course book.
 Ghazala,H .( 1995). Translation as problem and
solution : A course for university students and trainee
translators .Malta: ELGA publication .