Time

Time is a semantic category that indicates when a given event occurs. It may be expressed by attributes or by relations.

Time attributes

The values for the attribute time are the following: {{#tree:id=time|openlevels=0|root=Time|

• absolute time
  • @past: at a time before the moment of utterance
  • @present: at the moment of utterance
  • @future: at a time after the moment of utterance
  • @recent: close to the moment of utterance
  • @remote: remote from the moment of utterance
• relative time
  • @anterior: before some other time other than the time of utterance
  • @posterior: after some other time other than the time of utterance
• other
  • @after
  • @before
  • @during
  • @following
  • @from
  • @from_on
  • @in
  • @prior_to
  • @since
  • @subsequent_to

}}

The UNL representation indicates the time rather than the grammatical tense of a form.

There is no simple one-to-one relationship between tense forms and time. In English, for instance, the present (grammatical tense) may be used to represent the future (time)

I’m going home tomorrow = go.@future.@recent (and not go.@present)

@present is used to indicate an action at the present, and not habits, routines and statements

I'm in Frankfurt. = @present

I always come to school by cycle. = no time information

The sun sets in the Occident. = no time information

Time values may be combined.

I'm going home tomorrow = go.@future.@recent

I had been there = @past.@anterior

Time relations

Time may be expressed by the following relations: {{#tree:id=rtime|openlevels=0|root=Time|

• tim (time)
  • tmf (time from)
  • tmt (time to)
  • fmt (from to)
  • dur (duration)

}}

Examples

• do now = tim(do,now)
• do since yesterday = tmf(do, yesterday)
• do until tomorrow = tmt(do, tomorrow)
• from yesterday to tomorrow = fmt(yesterday, tomorrow)
• do while walk = dur(do, walk)