Sisu juurde
Vasta

Past or present tense for stories

kelle poolt Alkanadi, 2. september 2014

Postitused: 4

Keel: English

Alkanadi (Näita profiili) 2. september 2014 8:51.44

I noticed that some stories are told in the past tense, while others are told in the present tense. Which way is correct?

Example:
La heroo mortigis la drakon.
La heroo mortigas la drakon

sergejm (Näita profiili) 2. september 2014 9:09.21

The both are correct.

nornen (Näita profiili) 2. september 2014 13:29.40

I would say that this is mostly about style.
When you tell a story, which obviously happened in the past, in the present tense, it is called "historic present".
It is a literary means of throwing the reader directly into the action.

tommjames (Näita profiili) 2. september 2014 13:49.03

PMEG has some info on this usage of the present tense for the past, here (last paragraph).

Tagasi üles