ABSTRACT
In this chapter we look at the use o f the most fundamental finite verb forms. The forms themselves have been presented in Chapter 16. The use of compound or periphrastic 'progressive forms' is covered in Chapter 18, and the use o f the subjunctive forms is covered in Chapter 19. The sets o f verb forms here combine i n various ways the categories o f tense and aspect. The category o f tense relates the t ime o f the event or state presented by the verb either to the time o f the speech event (with values past, present, and future), or to some other time ment ioned i n the discourse or inferred from the context (anteriority or relative tense, for example pluperfect, future perfect). Aspect i n Ca t a l an involves two systems: perfective versus imperfective, a dis t inct ion w h i c h is made only wi th in the past tense, and the perfect, which , strictly speaking, occurs only wi th in present tense; see 17.2 on perfect and other c o m p o u n d forms.
