Learn English – Past present future all in one word

futurepast-tensepresent-tensesingle-word-requests

Does the English language have a mechanism for expressing past, present and future tense simultaneously?

In other words, consider the following three sentences:

1) The force was with me.

2) The force is with me.

3) The force will be with me.

Is there way to construct a sentence in English, such that all three can be combined into:

4) The force x with me.

Where x is replaced with one or more English words?

[Secondary question: is there any language other than English that has such a word, or a mechanism for combining past present and future into one?]

Best Answer

A clear indication of multiple time frames is not easily accomplished in English (and many other languages). The very concept appears in several variations in Christian liturgical tradition, often expressed in Latin as

sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper

This is often translated

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be

There are also statements about status that seem to transcend time, such as

l'etat, c'est mois (I am the state)

While the implication may suggest past and future roles in addition to the expressed present, these are not explicit. No tense in English unequivocally indicates past, present and future.

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