Each language has its own way of regulating the relationships between chronology and its grammatical expression, that is between time and tenses. No one-to-one relationships exist between a given tense and the time references it is used for. A significant example is provided by Italian presente indicativo that is used in connection with:

- actions (1) that are either permanent or last indefinitely:

- habitually repeated actions:

- actions in progress:

- future actions that are planned or are sure to take place:

- actions that were started in the past and are still going on:

The different values of Italian presente indicativo are highlighted by the various ways in which they are translated into English:

are examples where the present tense (or simple present) is used for permanent states and for actions that are habitual or last indefinitely; in

we find forms of the present continuous (or progressive) for actions in progress or planned; and finally the present perfect is used in:

The names of English tenses have not been translated in order to emphasise that the two systems are not parallel and, above all, in order to point out that perfect and continuous are not tenses but aspects. For example, the present perfect is the perfective aspect of the English present tense and this explains why it is the most suitable form to express a duration form. Therefore, referring to the present perfect as "passato prossimo inglese" would be misleading, even though there are cases where it can be used to translate an Italian "passato prossimo".

As the differences between the two systems lead us to this type of remarks, let us see the following table, where x represents a possible correspondence and a hyphen stands for the lack of any correspondence:

Legenda:

V the ‘simple form' of the verb (play, take, do)

V-s the 3rd pers. sing. of the present tense (plays, takes, does)

V-ed the Simple Past form (played, took, did)

V-en the Past Participle form (played, taken, done)

V-ing the ‘-ing form' (playing, taking, doing)

to-V the ‘to-infinitive' (to play, to take, to do)

PR presente; PS passato (remoto); IM imperfetto; FU futuro; PP passato prossimo; TP trapassato prossimo; TR trapassato (remoto); FA futuro anteriore.

The numbers refer to the following notes:

1. The present simple corresponds to an Italian futuro in subordinate clauses introduced by IF, WHEN, AS LONG AS, etc.:

Se pioverà resteremo a casa Û If it rains, we'll stay at home.

2) In ‘duration forms.'

2. The present perfect corresponds to Italian futuro anteriore in subordinate clauses introduced by IF, WHEN, AS LONG AS, etc.:

Uscirò quando avrò finito Û I'll go out when I have finished.

3. Only in colloquial Italian, where ‘Se lo sapevo non ci andavo' stands for

‘Se l'avessi saputo non ci sarei andato' Û If I had known, I wouldn't have gone there.

Also, in duration forms in the past:

Lo sapevo da molto tempo Û I had known that for a long time.

4. This is the present continuous referring to arranged future:

Partirò domani Û I'm leaving tomorrow.

5. In duration forms in the past:

7) After verbs like HOPE: Spero che venga Û I hope he'll come.

8) After verbs like HOPE in the past: Speravo che venisse Û I hoped he would come.

9) It is the ‘future in the past': Disse che sarebbe andato Û He said he would go.

10) In colloquial Italian (cf. no. 4 and in such cases as: Lei doveva scendere alla stazione Û You should have got off at the station).

The only purpose of this brief introduction into the use of English tenses compared with Italian tenses has been to recall the several cases where the two systems differ: if there were a high level of correspondence, all the x's in the table would tend to follow the line between the top left-hand corner (where presente indicativo and present simple cross) and the bottom right-hand corner (condizionale passato and would have V-en). Minding inter-language differences, however, might obscure the internal coherence of the English system:

Notice how the changes SAYS Û SAID and WILL Û WOULD are perfectly matched; it is only when one translates into Italian that one discovers that would help cannot be translated as aiuterebbe but as avrebbe aiutato.

In other cases, similarities or differences depend on the expressions we choose to compare. For example, if we look at

we perceive structural differences that disappear if we express regret with ‘magari':

The imperfetto congiuntivo avessi and the congiuntivo trapassato avessi saputo directly correspond to the past tense had and to the past perfect had known that follow wish in English.