Students'Approachto The Translation of The Present Perfect From English Into Arabic
Students'Approachto The Translation of The Present Perfect From English Into Arabic
Students'Approachto The Translation of The Present Perfect From English Into Arabic
Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the master degree
inscience of language
2011- 2012
Appendix
Students’ Test
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7 . I have gained five pounds since I started my diet. At the same time I have gained a
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8 .Bernard Show says:"Few people think more than two or three times a year. I have made
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9.We have reached the period when the Arabic language has become the vehicle for fresh
and original work in the newly introduced sciences like medicines, astronomy, chemistry,
10.Russell Davies became a freelance writer and a broadcaster soon after leaving
Cambridge University in 1969. He has been a television critic of the Sunday times, and
lately has been writing a column about sport for the Sunday telegraph. For television and
radio, he has presented many literary and political features, a history of radio comedy.
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General Introduction
human sciences .Translating across languages is only the most obvious from of an activity
which is perhaps the most common of human activity. This may be the explanation why
people usually take translation for a granted, as something does not require any effort and
that the same time, why translation is so challenging matter and full of possibilities. There
is nothing easy or simple about translation, even there is nothing easy or simple about any
human activity. There are hindrances that appear during this process because every
language describes the world in different ways and has its own grammar structure and
grammar rules and so on. Therefore, these hindrances cause many problems to the students
during translating tenses particularly the present tense. The present study examines the
status of tenses as a part of the English curriculum in the department of English, University
of Biskra; and the way it is perceived and dealt with by students of English. It explores
mainly the way tenses are practiced, and points out and draw the main problems
2. Research Questions
-Why do students think that the present perfect is a present tense not a past one?
- What are the hindrances that a first master students may face when translating the present
- Are there techniques that students follow to find an equivalent to the present perfect in
- Does the Mother tongue interfere or influence the use of present perfect?
3. Hypothesis
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-First year master students face hindrances when rendering the present perfect from
English into Arabic because of lack of an exact Linguistic equivalence between Arabic and
-First year master students face hindrances when translating the present perfect because of
because there are several constructions of grammar that could not be clearly understood,
in the sense that it is not clear how they should be represented , or what rules should be
used to describe them in the target language. However, it is not a coincidence that there are
many cultural issues which rising in parallel with the linguistic level. Tenses occupies quite
an important status in the field of English grammar, one fundamental topic is to match an
accurate and a suitable equivalents in Arabic for English tenses and particularly “The
Present Perfect”.
The study attempts to investigate the difficulties and the confusions which first master
students of English face and the techniques they may follow when translating the present
perfect from English into Arabic. This tense is of a great importance in the English
language but it is not in the Arabic language which causes problems to first year master
students.
human beings to exchange ideas and thoughts regardless of the different tongues used. It
requires complete knowledge of the structure and make-up of the two languages involved.
It necessitates artistic talent to reconstruct the original text in the form of a product that is
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presentable to the reader who is not supposed to be familiar with the original. It is also a
skill because it includes the ability to smooth over any difficulty in the translation, and the
ability to provide the translation of something that has no equivalent in the target language.
(2007:1). This research aims to carefully examine translation from English into Arabic in
terms of tenses and more particularly the present perfect tense. It is focused on assessing
tense spot in both languages. Primary research aims and purposes can be stated as follows:
a- Reveal some insights about the students’ awareness of tenses that are probably to affect
the quality, of the work; their problems and the possible factors drawing their translation
task.
b- Make students realize the complex differences at the grammatical level between English
c- Investigate the most appropriate and suitable tense in Arabic that matches the English
present perfect.
6. Literature review
There are various studies conducted to investigate the notion of translation and its
problematic area for reaching the equivalence at the linguistic and cultural level.
First we will investigate the concept of translation according to many scholars who
were interested in the field of translation as the first definition is presented by Catford
(1965, p.20). He states that translation is the replacement of textual material in one
language by equivalent textual material in another language. In this definition, the most
important thing is equivalent textual material. Yet, it is still vague in terms of the type of
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However, it has already been propounded by many other scholars such as Mona
Baker (1992) and Peter Newmark (1988) that the notion of equivalence is problematic in
the study of translation, and to overcome this problem, diverse translation techniques have
been suggested by various scholars within the field of translation. Although it is not easy to
accomplish exact textual equivalence, one may hint that equivalence could be
possible to that of the source text. For this to happen, it is important for translators to have
a thorough grasp of semantics, which is “the study of the meanings of words” (Walpole,
1941, p. 20).
Next, Nida and Taber (1969) explain the process of translating as follows:
equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms
of style.
In Translation: Applications and Research, Brislin (1976, p.1) defines translation as:
“The general term referring to the transfer of thoughts and ideas from one language (source) to
another (target), whether the languages are in written or oral form; whether the languages have
established orthographies or do not have such standardization or whether one or both languages is
based on signs, as with sign languages of the deaf”.
statement in one language by the same message and/or statement in another language".
Which focus on the linguistic aspect which is a necessary condition, but not yet sufficient
for the professional practice of translation. In other hand Mona Baker defines equivalence
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as the relationship between a source text (ST) and a target text (TT) that has allowed the
Nida suggested that there are many problems of correspondence that the translators
may face in finding the equivalent from the source text to the target text.
These problems may differ depending on the closeness and remoteness in the relation with
the linguistic and cultural between two or more languages concerned, she argues that
"differences between cultures may cause more severe complications for the translator than
among languages that leads to problems in the process of translation will be discussed to as
it was suggested by different scholars such as Mona Baker and Peter Newmark.
According to Baker “Grammar is the set of rules which determine the way in which units
such as words and phrases can be combined in a language and the kind of information
Ivir (1981), stated that "languages are differently equipped to express different real
world relations, and they certainly do not express all aspects of life with the same equal
difficult"(p.56).
Jarvie states that “the word tense is from Latin tempus, ‘time’ and it is used to show
the time when the action of a verb takes place” (1993,p.37).Also he investigated the notion
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of aspect and he claims that “Aspect is a category indicating the point from which an
With the aim of accomplishing suitable translation for the target system, Mona
Baker (1992) provides certain techniques that can be used during the process of translation.
These techniques are intended to deal with instances where there is a lack of suitable
equivalence between the two languages at word, sentence and textual levels.
Firstly, Baker refers to is that a translator may translate applying a more general
word, or what we also refer to as a super ordinate. She says, is “one of the commonest
strategies for dealing with many types of non-equivalents, specifically in the area of
propositional meaning” (Baker, 1992, p.26). Secondly, she emphasizes that a translator
may use “a more neutral\less expressive word” (ibid.). Thirdly, a translator may recourse to
loan word plus explanation could be applied. The fifth technique is to render by
paraphrasing applying a related word, and the sixth one is to render by paraphrasing
applying unrelated words (ibid.). The seventh technique is to render by omission (ibid).
With this technique, the translator excludes either a word or an expression from the source
text in his or her translation. There are diverse explanations for this to occur, for example,
when the omission of such a word or expression does not hinder the meaning of the source
text. Finally, the last technique is to render by demonstrating. According to Baker, this is
“a useful option if the word which lacks an equivalent in the target language refers to a
physical entity which can be illustrated, particularly if there are restrictions on space and if
the text has to remain short, concise, and to the point” (ibid. p.42).The proper applications
of the previous techniques, can provide us with appropriate meaning in the target language.
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he refers to as deletion, and the use of loan word plus explanation, which he refers to as
translation couplet.
However, the application of all the translation techniques has to comply with
certain factors that may prove essential as far as meaning is concerned. For example,
Geoffrey Finch states that “in working out the meaning of what is said to us we have to
take into account not only the words themselves as individual items, but also the
circumstances in which they are uttered, the medium used, and the person who is
addressing us” (1998,p.134). He further assumes that the relationship between the
addressor and addressee is also very essential as it has an effect on the meaning related
with certain words. He illustrated his idea by giving the argument which is the declaration
“I love you”. This sentence has a distinct meaning when spoken by someone to his or her
lover compared to when spoken by a child to his or her parent. For this reason, Finch states
that “it is not enough to know what words mean in isolation. We have to be able to
interpret them in concrete situations” (ibid, p.35). That’s to say, in order to get the real
7. Methodology
The material which is intended to be used in this research is a test given to the
subject. A test is given to first year master degree of English students at Biskra University
to know their understanding of the present perfect and to what extent they will be able to
use translation of the present perfect tense approppriately .In addition, the test is given to
know the exact equivalence of the present perfect into Arabic in order to provide support to
the hypothesis.
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Chapter One
Translation
Introduction
Throughout at least recent history of translation studies, there have been different
answers to the questions: what is a translation? And what is its central notion, otherwise
named equivalence? This later is the common goal of the translators tend to reach. The
different explanations of the word Translation refers to its birth and its development at
different periods. Back to history of translation, various changes have been occurred that
differ from one place to another. For instance, in the western world, translation has taken
not the same paths as those in the Arab world, as each of them have particular theories
depending on the different events and era. In fact, it is important to define translation
reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source-language
message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style” (1969, p.12). The
“As a subject, translation is generally used to refer to all the processes and methods used to
convey the meaning of the source language into the target language. That is, the use of: (1) words
which already have an equivalent in Arabic language; (2) new words for which no equivalent was
available in Arabic before; (3) foreign words written in Arabic letters: and (4) foreign words
8
He provides us with some examples:
1-“Speak”………. ""ﯾﺘﻜﻠﻢ
3-“Aspirin” ……….""أﺳﺒﺮﯾﻦ
Another definition was set by Reiss who describes translation as "a bilingual
,the speaker’s intention and the listener interpretation should be identical in order to
understood, the more appropriate interpretation in Target Language would be; that’s to say;
understanding is the basis for producing a correct translation of any written or oral
products.
of transmitting message from the author of the SL into TL. He states that translation as
“rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the way that the author intended
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Nevertheless, there is no indication that culture is taken into account except in that of
Nida and Taber (1969). Actually Nida and Taber themselves do not mention this point very
deduce that cultural consideration is considered. They insist that the equivalent firmly
sought in every effort of translating is the one that is not remote that the meaning or
message can be well transferred accurately. In addition to Nida and Taber’s definition,
Newmark (1981, p.134) clearly wrote: "the more the translator understands the linguistic
meaning and the referential [socio-cultural] meaning the more easily he can translate
"transfer" it to the target language». More clearly, the translator should have a deep
knowledge to both linguistic and cultural of source language and target language, in order
Presenting Translation types has been always seen from different point of view in
the sense that you find diverse categories suggested by many researchers. Each one reflects
a particular perspective in which scholars seek to identify and clarify these types in order
to make the translator’s task easier and to fill in the gap between different languages. In
accordance to Jacobson taxonomy of translation , the vast majority of people expect that
the translation process occurs only between tow linguistic products , however , translation
source text with the target text. The process is usually an interlingual translation in that the
Intralingual translation, a process which a text in one variety of the language or in one
words translating the verbal signs by non verbal signs as translating thoughts or emotions
into an art work or translating these non-linguistic products into a different semiotic system
What all these three processes have in common is that they involve the replacement
Translation does not concern only the linguistic products, but also non-linguistic
expression.
Another classification has been suggested by Ghazala stating that the two main
types of translation are literal and bound translations. He explained the two concepts as
Literal translation is an old method which has a range of diverse uses; it is made up
consists of translating English words counterpart that fit Arabic words following the same
order as in English.
Example:
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This subtype of literal translation chooses each word apart without taking
consideration the grammar, word order, or context .In addition, the whole focus is devoted
for the source language; in other words, the target language is a mirror of the SL .that is
why it is a widespread method used by most of the students. However, this method leads to
detours because it ignores totally the target language. Hence, Arabic and English language
belong to different families that both Arabic and English have different grammar.
Furthermore, this method neglects both languages word order. This method also does not
take context into account which is basic in understanding. Similarly, it disregards the
Eventually, this method cannot reach equivalents which do not exist in the target language.
So, the two examples (a) and (b) above can be corrected as illustrated below:
This type of translation comprises of translating a word into a word and a phrase
into a phrase. So, a noun is translated into a noun, tow adjectives into tow adjectives, a
proverb into a proverb, an idiom into an idiom, a collocation into a collocation, and a
Example:
b-He is a young man. He is kind-hearted. .ھﻮ ﯾﻜﻮن طﯿﺐ اﻟﻘﻠﺐ.ھﻮ ﯾﻜﻮن ﺷﺎﺑﺎ طﯿﺐ اﻟﻘﻠﺐ
(1995, p.7)
This method of translation is the same as the first one in two basic aspects:
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(2) It consists of having the same grammatical class and number of words. However, it
conclude, this method of literal translation is much more better than the first one. The
having a near, an accurate, and clear meaning in the TL. It is called a direct or close
translation since it translates meaning in its right context. It takes into account the grammar
and the word order of the TL. Furthermore, it considers the metaphorical and the
exceptional use of the TL. Ghazala describes this method as “full translation of meaning”
(1995, p.9). It is the best method of literal translation since it views the literal meaning as
distinctive meanings of a word which can occur in different contexts and diverse
structures. This can be exemplified through the word “run” which does not always mean
“ "ﯾﺠﺮيin all contexts and structures. “ "ﯾﺠﺮيis the most frequent (common) meaning of
this word but it is not its literal meaning. “Run” reflects diverse meanings in various
contexts, and each meaning is considered to be a literal meaning as shown in the following
examples:
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4- “To run short of money ()ﯾﻨﻔﺬ ﻣﺎ ﻋﻨﺪه ﻣﻦ ﻣﺎل
“The teacher asked the student to draw a right angle زاوﯾﺔ ﻗﺎﺋﻤﺔ,but insisted that the student
draw it with his right hand ﯾﺪه اﻟﯿﻤﻨﻰwhile the student was left handed. Of course he didn’t
draw it right ﻟﻢ ﯾﺮﺳﻤﮭﺎ ﻣﻀﺒﻮطﺔand the teacher gave him low marks. Right away ﻋﻠﻰ اﻟﻔﻮرthe
student went to the headmaster and complained that it was his right ﺣﻘﮫto draw with
whatever hand he liked.The headmaster who was an upright man رﺟﻞ ﻋﺎدلagreed that he
was right ﻋﻠﻰ ﺣﻖand that the teacher did not treat him right ﯾﻌﺎﻣﻠﮫ ﺑﺎﻟﻌﺪل أو ﻛﻤﺎ ﯾﻨﺒﻐﻲand
ordered the teacher to right ﯾﺼﺤﺢthe student’s mark.” He stated that the word’s meanings
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indicates that the literal meaning in this type of translation is both the denotative and the
connotative meanings.
This method is based on translating the given written or oral products freely
because the translator is not bounded to the constraints of text or context or the denotative
meaning , but he exceeds words and phrases denotative meanings and out of texts and
outside of contexts. So, it does not mean the way he likes but only the way he
pragmatic, and creative are used in the current studies in order to refer to the same concept.
This type of free translation comes directly from the context even if it goes beyond
it in some ways, simply the way of describing, exaggeration and emphatic language.
3-She was sad deep down أﺻﺒﺢ ﻓﺆادھﺎ ﻓﺎرﻏﺎ/ ﺗﻔﻄﺮ ﻗﻠﺒﮭﺎ ﻣﻦ اﻟﺤﺰن
These translations have a frequent point which is the use of a very formal Arabic.
c- Collocations (3).
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Moreover, there are other examples which may be expressed through proverbs,
collocations, and strong expressions. As a result, these translations have exceeded the
context but, they are extracted from the original in one way or another. Nonetheless, this
This type does not have direct relationship to the original, yet it is a conclusion
which the translator can deduce for different personal reasons, as these examples show:
3- “Thank you, thank you ladies and gentlemen” ھﺪوء أﯾﮭﺎ اﻟﺴﺎدة
What these translations have in common that they are indirect and pragmatic ones
because of having implied meaning of the speaker intention through what is interpreted of
his/her saying. Hence, in example (1), “thank you” implies meaning of (you may leave)
rather than telling it explicitly. Example (2) is said to indicate that the time of a meeting or
a class is finished, i.e., we can leave or do something else. Furthermore, example (3)
indicates that the speaker intended to be respectful and courteous with people, so he uses
“thank you” rather than “quiet” or “silence, please” to attract to pay attention. In example
(4), the speaker intends that she / he cannot stay in her / his own because she / he is scared,
so she / he asks the listener to stay with her / him. In addition, making mouths in example
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(5) expresses despicable behavior. So, the Arabic equivalent sentence is the result of this
implication.
Eventually, “no bacon” in example (6) expresses that the speaker is a Muslim since
in Islam pig’s meat is strictly forbidden. Thus, Arabic translation takes religion into
account. These translations are loose since they left their direct contexts totally. Farther,
they let the translator to realize the original version in order to translate his personal
conclusion deduced from it neglecting both the source language and its context. (Ghazala,
1995, p.14)
Thus, these translations are beating about the bush because they are
misinterpretations of the original source language. Hence, the translator’s main job is to
give an equivalent to the ST in the TL. Moreover, it is not the responsibility of the
translator to deduce the implied meaning of these sentences, but this is the task of the
readers themselves to tackle with. To sum up, it is inadvisable for translators to use this
type of free translation because it is far from the original text. The third method of literal
translation (direct translation) is most appropriate, practical, convincing and orderly used
Equivalence is the core of the translation process .Translators and learners face
According to Baker “Grammar is the set of rules which determine the way in which
units such as words and phrases can be combined in a language and the kind of information
which has to be made regularly explicit in utterances (2002 ,p.83).That’s to say ,any
language is the mirror which reflects the information its interlocutors need to express and
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the grammatical system is the one which demonstrates and bounds certain notions such as
gender, number or time …Greek and Romans believed that notional concepts are
generally universal and that languages vary only in the way of expressing grammatical
concepts.
The matter that languages distinguish leads translators to make big efforts with
appropriate solutions for translating grammatical concepts which differ across languages .
Expressing some grammatical concepts such as number and time is not an easy
task. Sometimes they are not described in the same way across languages or even they do
not exist in other languages. Some of these grammatical concepts are mentioned by Baker
(2002) who indicated the problems of rendering these concepts from the source language
into the target language because of the variety across languages in terms of these
grammatical categories.
As far as English and Arabic are concerned , they are two systems that belong to
two different language families .While English originated from Indo-European languages ,
Arabic is a part of Semitic languages .Thus, there are diverse difficulties confronted by
students and translators when translating from one language to another due to the fact that
there is no absolute equivalence that exist between these two different systems at the level
of grammatical rules .for example, most English tenses do not have a suitable grammatical
equivalent in Arabic , more particularly the present perfect which does not have an
equivalent tense in Arabic grammar . For the sake of imparting and preserving the spirit of
source language meaning, translators try to seek for an appropriate solution for such
problems they encounter. For example Ghazala provides us with some examples and
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solution of rendering English tenses which correspondent to only one Arabic version as
following:
(Ghazala,1995,p.61)
equivalent in the Target language , Baker states that “…in translation, grammar often has
the effect of a straitjacket, forcing the translator along a certain course which may or may
not follow that of the source text as closely as the translator would like it to.” (2001, p. 85).
Basically, this indicates that the translator is not often in an obligation to follow the source
Moreover, syntactic English sentences should be all verbal that should contain only
one verb, whereas, in Arabic, they are not only verbal, but also nominal excluding verbs
(Ghazala:1995:28)
from the point of view of word order which has Subject-first word order followed by verb ,
while Arabic sentences tend to start mainly with Verb-First followed by subject word order
.For example:
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(Ghazala: 1995, p.49)
1.3.2.Stylistic problem
Back to Nida’s definition of translation (1969, p.12), Style occupies second priority
message from source language into target language. It surely stands very high in
importance. It is obvious that a poor form results in transmitting the message in insufficient
and inadequate way .Since the quality of the translated message is relevant to degree of
understanding in way or another to the style, it is very important to set a definition of style
according to some scholars .Traditionally speaking, style is seen as a manner or way that
Lynch provides us with more or less what is traditionally defined. He states that
broadly, it means everything about your way of presenting yourself in words, including
grace, clarity, and a thousand indefinable qualities that separate good writing from bad. (As
In that He added, for example, regardless to the similar theme, one writer tends to
utilize simple words and straightforward sentences grammatical structure, while another
tends to utilize difficult vocabulary and complex sentence grammatical structures. Thus,
the differences in the authors’ styles make the experiences of understanding the two works
distinct. So, misunderstanding results from using a bad style and sometimes leading to
translator and students should be aware to control overproducing a clear and an appropriate
Students and translators face difficulty concerning the functional notion which is
called Style. Ghazala (1995,p.222) provides us with the following examples that show us
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how the style which neglects clarity makes a translated text nonsense and how it is
connected to the meaning .The following sentences express the similar notion of death :
According to these statements from a-to-g , they all mention a commen idea which
is death of “her father”, and this is the important thing to it .However , they are all
translated into one sentence and the unique version in Arabic (e.g., ) ﻣﺎت واﻟﺪھﺎ أﻣﺲ.It is
not worthy the cause behind his death , whether “her father died” naturally ,unnaturally ,
got killed , out of illness ,or in car accident .What matters is that he is dead now.
crucial to concerned people .Therefore, natural death is quite acceptable to people, whereas
an unnatural death caused by killing is quite serious and unacceptable to them. It makes a
big difference by describing him as just killed or dead .Hence, it is not agreed to translate
all these different statement into one and the same Arabic version of translation, as above.
Differently speaking, each statement expresses a particular semantic meaning with its own
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.ﻗﺗل واﻟدھﺎ اﻣس
(Ghazala,1995,p.223)
normal death ;(b) is abnormal death ;(c)is amurder from behind ;(d)is unfavourable ;(e) is
In our relevant discussion appearing above , we notice that the major points
process to bear in mind , are devoted exclusively to linguistic aspects . In addition to those
of linguistic problems discussed above, culture poses another acute problem to both
translators and learners of foreign languages. Culture plays indisputable role in the process
describe culture as concept, thus the obstacle here that there is no very often an agreement
notion of culture mediates wide range of intermediary notions such as customs , art ,and
way of life and so on .More specifically which interested with language and translation ,
Newmark defines culture as “the way of life and its manifestations that are peculiar to a
community that uses a particular language as its means of expression” (1988,p.94), thus
recognizing that each language group shares its own culturally particular characteristics .
Similarly, House stated that” Culture refers to a group’s shared values and
conventions which act as mental guidelines for orienting people’s thoughts and behaviors”
(2009, p.12). However, what matters here how such distinct cultural habits and views are
expressed and represented to others in the social group. He further clearly added that the
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translators should be more aware when shifting a text from one culture to another in both
kind and degree of ” the conventionalization meaning” in the source and target cultures
(ibid).That’s to say what can be considered acceptable in one culture , could be regarded
as totally offensive or strange to another particular social group. In other word, the more a
Aziz stated that “Translation across cultures results in ideological shifts. The shifts
are greater where the gap between the source culture and the target culture is wider” (1999,
p.29). The more distant between the source culture and target culture the more unenviable
challenge would be for the learners and translators. In the same way, the degree of
difficulty depends on whether the languages involved are close or remote culturally. As
matter of fact, Arabic and English settings are geographically distant communities, thus it
finding a corresponding Target Language equivalent for the Source Language item, the
translator most often recourses to a non-corresponding equivalent item, which may have an
equivalent function in the Target Language culture. Ilyas (1989,p.124) supported this
point by an example saying that translating the phrase as white as snow into a language
whose people do not experienced the snow can be carried out effectively by seeking a
non-corresponding but functionally equivalent Target Language expression that would fit
the SL. This can be accomplished by translating it like: as white as cotton for instance,
since both fulfill the same function of emphasizing the feature of whiteness in descriptive
way. This is very much similar to what is mentioned as "Functional Equivalence" (de
Waard and Nida, 1986).The awareness of Intercultural competence rise out of experience
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of culture, are far more complicated fact than it may seem to the translator and learners of
foreign languages.
As we have seen, translation can be looked at from different points of view, and can
operate at different levels of language, and these depend to a considerable extent on what
you need to use translation for. Translation may be needed to facilitate communication
Another important purpose to which translation has been used for a long time is
pedagogical tool: translation has been proposed as an activity for learning and teaching a
foreign language. However, this suggestion has been at the center of ongoing controversy
about the role of grammar and the mother tongue in foreign language learning and
teaching.
(1964, p. 53) strongly states that translation is distinct from language practice, the real aim
counterproductive means. Mainly, because it makes the learning process more difficult by
the intervention of the mother tongue, which certainly augments its interference or what is
called negative transfer (1950/1967,p. 2). For instance, he named the use of translation in
this way as ‘bad pedagogy’ because it pushes students to think in their first language when
they should think directly in foreign language ‘‘without having to think” (ibid). He clearly
added that ‘Why use two languages when the time allowed for learning one is so short?”
(1948/1967, p.70).
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Despite this overwhelmingly negative view, translation both into the foreign
language and from the foreign language has always been widely employed in learners’
which obtained significant importance in Europe from the early nineteenth century
onwards. Both translation and grammar are key feature of this method (House, 2009, p.62).
Through the study of the grammar of the target language, Freeman argued that, students
would become more familiar with the grammar of their native language and this familiarity
would help them to translate successfully (1986, p.4). Also, Chamot described the
translation technique as ‘using the first language as a base for understanding and/or
producing the second language’ (1987, p.77).Following his view, translation promotes an
explicit knowledge about the foreign language and helps in developing and rising
awareness of differences and similarities that exist between the native and the foreign
Furthermore, it is important to mention that many scholars, who favored the use of
method; Malmkaejer said that translation is just one of diverse means in teaching and
strengthens learner’s linguistic knowledge (1996, p.142).By translation, we draw and shape
the similarities and dissimilarities across languages; in other words, translation is a tool to
26
Conclusion
context. The translators and learners of foreign languages may encounter with difficulties
during the process of translation in which they must be aware of the differences and
similarities that exist between given languages. These differences rise at diverse levels
such as linguistic and cultural levels which make the translators task a more complex
matter. English and Arabic, for instance are two distinct languages. Each language has its
independent system .Hence; the purpose of this research is to accommodate one’s language
who learns English as a foreign language. Therefore, these two languages have no absolute
equivalents in terms of grammar and particularly in terms of tenses which cause problems
to learners who are in the process of translating tenses from English into Arabic and
have a deep knowledge in both SL and TL at linguistic and cultural levels as well as some
27
Chapter Two
Tenses
Introduction
This chapter attempts to spot light on both tenses (English, Arabic), and more
particularly the present perfect tense. This theoretical chapter is divided into two parts. The
first part deals with English tense and aspect in details i.e., definition of both tense and
aspect, and the formation or the structure of the twelve tenses, and finally the formation of
both present and past simples which are the structure of the present perfect, then English
perfect tense. The second part deals with the same elements as mentioned above but
concerning Arabic as well as some distinctions between English and Arabic in terms of
tenses.
The use of verb form is one of the most difficult areas for English language learners
to master. New research shows that several factors are responsible for the difficulties in
learning to use appropriate and exact verb forms. In order to understand the difficulties and
how to deal with them, we first have to examine basic concepts of tense and aspect
underlying these forms and their uses. The two concepts are used to describe time and
action in verbs- tense and aspect. In what follows, we look at each in turn.
2.1.1. Tense
Jarvie states that “the word tense is from Latin tempus, ‘time’ and it is used to show
the time when the action of a verb takes place” (1993, p.37). According to the Oxford
Learner’s Pocket Dictionary, tense means “verb form that shows the time of the action or
28
state: the present/ past/ future ~” (2003, p.445).Moreover, Jarvie added that tense is
marked by inflation in English especially for past and present tenses. So, we should make a
careful distinction between ‘tense’ and ‘time’. “Time is an extra linguistic category”
(Bernd Kortmann; Elizabeth Closs Traugott, 2006, p.22). That is, it exists independently of
language. “Tense is a linguistic concept: it denotes the form taken by the verb to locate the
situation referred to in time” ( ibid), i. e. to mention the temporal relation between the time
of the situation in question and an ‘orientation time’ which may be either the ‘temporal
zero-point’ which is usually the time of speech. The term tense is used to show the relation
between the action or state described by the verb and the time.
with the different forms of the verb according to different time of the situation. However, it
In addition to Declerk, Suzanne Fleischman defines, by her turn, the term tense as
reference time” (ibid, p.16). This reference time is usually the particular moment of speech
According to Ron Cowan, tense in verbs indicates the time that an action happens
in reference to speaking moment. It has three divisions: present, past, and future .Cowan
29
As a matter of fact, however, among these three dimensions (A), only two are
expressed in English by changes on main verb as in the present and the past. Thus, present
time, for third person singular, is expressed by adding (s ) to a regular verb, as in (B1), and
past time is expressed by adding (ed) to a regular verb, as in (B2), or inflecting the form of
an irregular verb such as go, as in (B3). Many languages also express future time with the
modal auxiliary verb (will), shown in (B4), or the semi modal be +going to, in (B5).
In addition to verb form, Cowan added that time is also indicated by time adverbs,
such as yesterday, today, tomorrow, at noon, etc…, and by prepositional phrases, such as
To conclude, verb forms are tense forms if they relate a situation time directly or
indirectly to the zero-point. There is a broader use of the word tense: a form of the ‘verb
2.1.2. Aspect
have to look inside the situation. “In terms of its internal dimensions, a situation may be
represented as fixed or changing, it may be treated as lasting for only a moment or having
30
Besides, Ron Cowan (2008, p.351) states that “aspect expresses how the speaker
views the action of the verb. For instance, an action that is seen as limited and complete is
- John has written only one novel since 1998. “Complete- perfect aspect” (ibid).
Moreover, Jarvie claims that “Aspect is a category indicating the point from which
an action is seen to take place. Two contrasts of aspect are marked in English: progressive
aspect and perfect (or perfective) aspect. The former states that the action is in progress,
ongoing or continuous at the point of time; the latter states that the action is retrospective
There are 12 tenses in English which have resulted from the combination of both
According to Celce, there are “four aspects simple (sometimes called zero aspect),
perfect, progressive, and their combination perfect progressive.” (1999, p.110). Here Celce
imperfective, simple aspect expresses the events which are understood to be complete. This
simple aspect comprises three main simple tenses which are: simple present tense, simple
past tense, and simple future tense with will (or contracted‘ll’ (ibid).
Example:
31
2.1.2.2. Perfect aspect: It expresses the meaning that this aspect covers is “prior”, which
implies that it is used through connecting it with some other point in time. This aspect
consists of the present perfect, the past perfect, and the future perfect (ibid).
Example:
"He will have read the book" (perfect ,future) (Cowan,2008 ,p.355).
event or a limited one. This aspect comprises of the present progressive or continuous, the
Example:
2.1.2.4. Perfect Progressive Aspect: This aspect is formed with the combination of
perfect, i.e., prior and progressive, (incomplete). It is composed of three tenses which are:
present perfect progressive, past perfect progressive, and future perfect progressive (Celce
ibid.).
Example:
We can conclude that both tense and aspect are categories associated with the verb, and
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2.2. English Tenses
In English, the aspect terms progressive, or continuous, and perfect are combined
with the three times – past, present, and future – to produce, along with each time on its
The simple past tense is sometimes called the preterite tense. We can use several
tenses to talk about the past, but the simple past tense is the one we use most often. It is
represented by the (ed) inflection on regular verbs and by other changes in the case of
irregular verbs, for example; I bought a new car. Ron Cowan (2008,p.359) states that "the
simple past tense frequently occurs with expressions that indicate a specific point in time
when the action was carried out, such as yesterday, a week ago, last Monday, in the
Example:
“The past perfect tense is formed with the auxiliary have i.e., (had) and the past
participle form." (Cowan, 2008, p.369). The past perfect simple is formed with the
auxiliary “had” and the past participle form. It is used to describe an event that was
completed before another took place (Declerk, 2006). This tense talks about “past in the
past”. For example, I had a car. In addition, it expresses a past action completed prior to
another event or time in the past. For example: He had already mailed the letter when John
called him.
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2.2.3. Past continuous
According to Parrott (2000, p.198), the past continuous tense is formed with the
The past continuous describes an action that was ongoing in the past time that is an event
which is still in progress during a certain time in the past. The past progressive, or past
continuous, tense is formed with a past form of verb (be) (was or were) and a present
participle. Its basic meaning is ongoing action in the past; for example: He was playing
football.
The past perfect continuous tense is like the past perfect tense, but it expresses
longer actions in the past before another action in the past. It is formed with had + been +
the present participle. For Ron Cowan (2008, p.373) The Past perfect continuous
“expresses an ongoing action in the past that is related to another past action which is often
The simple present tense talks about now and it indicates that the action is general,
happens all the time, or habitually and the statement is always true; for example: I live
here. In addition, Cowan (2008, p.357) added that “it is represented by the third person
As a matter of fact, the present perfect tense, the core of this research, is the most
difficult for English learners therefore is given more attention. It is consist of the auxiliary
“have” in the present tense preceded by the past participle form. (Declerk, 2006, p.270).
34
In addition to Declerk, Cowan (2008, p.367) stated, “The present perfect tense is
formed with a present form of have (i.e., has or have) and a past participle of the main verb
.It occurs with a time expression of duration, e.g., for six years, since 1999, over the last
We often use the present continuous tense in English. It is very different from the
simple present tense both in structure and use. It is formed with be and the present
participle of the main verb (verb + ing).We use the present continuous to talk about action
happening now and action in the future. For example: She is working with her mother. It
also describes “changing or developing states” as in: “modal standards are declining”
The present perfect continuous describes past activity that extends to the present. It
is formed with has or have + been + the present participle, for instance:
- He has been going to that health club since February. (Cowan, 2008, p.372).
happen at sometime in the future time .It can be expressed in a number of ways in English ,
but the tow most common with the modal (will) and semi modal (be going to ).
Example:
35
2.2.10. Future perfect
The future perfect is formed with (will) preceded by (have + past participle of the
I will have finished grading the papers (before/by) 4:00 pm. (Cowan, 2008, p.370).
The future perfect tense talks about the past in the future. It expresses action in the future
before another action in the future. This is the past in the future.
The future continuous tense consists of (will) followed by (be) and a present
participle. Its basic meaning is an action that will be ongoing in the (often near) as
illustrated below:
1-The president will be meeting with his staff (at ten o’clock/all morning) tomorrow.
“The future perfect continues is formed with (will + have + been and a present
participle), expresses an action that will continue into the future up to a specific time. The
duration of the action is usually indicated in a time expression with (for).The point at
which the action will be complete often is stated in the simple present tense in a
1- He will have been studying and practicing medicine for over ten years when he finally
2-By March, we will have been using the new system for a full year.”(Cowan, 2008,
p.373).
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•Since our work is concerned with the present perfect only, details are given about
this tense only. The present perfect simple tense is one of the most important tenses in
English as it expresses the relation between present and past tenses. Here are the
formations of both tenses, past and present which are the combination of the present
perfect:
The regular past tense indicative form consists of the stem of the verb and a
suffix usually written as -ed. The fact that the addition of the suffix is sometimes
Verbs that form their past tense this way are called weak verbs or regular verbs.
play _ played; love _ loved; cry _ cried; equip _ equipped; picnic _ picnicked
However, there are quite a few verbs in English that are irregular verbs or strong verbs.
These verbs do not form their past tense by the addition of a suffix (mostly written as -ed)
to the stem, but by various other means, most of which are illustrated by the following
examples:
lend _ lent, send _ sent, keep _ kept, , weep _ wept , feed _ fed, blow _ blew, grow _ grew,
know _ knew, throw _ threw , find _ found, drink _ drank, shrink _ shrank, hang _ hung,
As mentioned before, we use the present tense to talk about things in general. “We
use it to say that something happens all the time or repeatedly or that something is true in
general”. (Murphy 2000, p.4). The forms of the present tense of all verbs except be and
have are homophonous with the stem of the verb (e. g. write), except in the third person
37
singular (e. g. writes). The stem is that part of the verb that remains constant in the
“Perfect aspect formed with have and the past participle (verb + -ed), expresses
completed action. The three tenses formed by the combination of time and perfect aspect
are the present, past, and future perfect. Of these, the present perfect is the most difficult
for English learners to correctly use. ” (Cowan ,2008,p.367) .The present perfect simple
tense is one of the most important tenses in English as it expresses the relation between
present and past tenses. Its time extends from the past till the moment of speaking.
Moreover, he added (2008, pp.367-368), the present perfect describes a number of distinct
meaning which are due basically to the lexical aspect of verbs. He provides us with four
1- Expressing a situation that started in the past and continues to the present.
The duration of the situation is marked by phrases with either for or since, as shown
in (A).
3-I have loved her since the day I first saw her.
Sentences (A1), (A2), and (A3) consist of stative verbs, and (A4) restrains an activity verb
.Recall that both of these lexical aspect have possibly unlimited duration .We therefore
explain these sentences as describing past states or activities (situations) that have lasted up
to the moment of speaking and may last into the future. The time phrases with for and
38
2- Expressing a recently completed action.
(B) 1- The Japanese climbers have reached the peak of Mount Everest.
Sentences (B1) and (B2) include accomplishment verbs, which mark actions that happen
immediately ,for this reason the meaning recently completed action is conveyed by the
lexical aspect of these verbs. With achievement verbs, this meaning is rather less
important, but can be enhanced by adverbs such as recently and just as in (B3) and (B4).
These sentences comprise achievement verbs. The lexical aspect of the verbs hence
accounts for the actions’ having being completed .In fact, they have current relevance or
are significant is determined by sentence’s content (e.g., for example, reading all of
(e.g., having seen a movie is relevant when someone proposes going to see it).
4-Describing an action that happened over a period of time that is complete at the
time of speaking.
Sentences illustrating this meaning are presented in (D):
(D) 1- The value of his house has doubled over the past two years.
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3- His condition has improved considerably in the last three days.
These sentences comprise activity verbs that describe actions entailing inherent change
over time .The sense of change is enhanced by the time expressions of duration. The
perfect aspect conveys the meaning of completion, thus the interpretation that the evolving
Hence, we notice that the lexical aspect of the verbs combines with the basic
meaning of the present perfect to make different semantic interpretations such as “started
in the past time and continues to the present time,” “happened over a period of time that is
When we use the present perfect, there is a connection with now. The action in the past has
a result now:
-He told me his name, but I’ve forgotten it. (i.e., I can’t remember it now.)
- I can’t find my purse. Have you seen it? (i.e., do you know where it is now?)
We often use the present perfect to give new information or to announce a recent
happening:
Some authors consider that the English present perfect is not a separate tense, but is
rather a combination of another tense (present or past) and “an aspectual meaning
108-109).In addition, both Bernd K. and Elizabeth C. T, claim that the present perfect
locates a situation in the pre-present zone while the past tense locates it in the past zone.
The claim that the present perfect has a different temporal structure from the past tense is
supported by the fact that the two tenses behave differently with certain adverbs.
40
2.4. Arabic tense and Aspect
Elmoukatari (2007, p.118), states that there are three tenses of verbs in Arabic: the
past, the present, and the imperative. For instance: ْ إ ْﻓﺘـَﺢ، ﯾَ ْﻔﺘَــ ُﺢ،ﻓَﺘـَــ َﺢ. The past describes an
indicates an event that occurs at the moment of speaking or after it. For instance: ( ) ﯾَ ْﻨﺼُﺮ.
mood. It expresses a request that will occur after the moment of speaking. For example:
() أُ ْﻧﺼُﺮ.
Besides, Gellati (1998) states a detailed clarification of the tense system in Arabic
considering the mood; Arabic verbs are of three types: the participle, the indicative, and the
imperative. The participle comprises the imperfect which denotes an event occurring
before the moment of speaking such as: ( أ ْﻗﺒَ َﻞ، ) ﺷَﺎھَ َﺪ. The imperfect is specified by the “T”
the doer of the action, such as ( ُ) َذ َھﺒْﺖ. The perfect is different from the imperfect because:
A- The perfect tense indicates that an event or a state occurred in the past tense:
- If the perfect is followed by the particle ( ) ﻗﺪit indicates that the actions occurred in the
past (i.e., the past which is near to the present) such as: ﻗﺪ ﺟﺎءﻧﻲ أﺧﻲ
want to recite the Qur’an, seek refuge with Allâh from Shaitân (Satan), the outcast ( the
cursed one) » ( Sûrat An’nahl ‘The Bees’ 98) which indicates the meaning of conditions.
B- The imperfect indicates an event that occurred or which is happening at the moment of
speaking. It may also be used in a conditional sentence but it should not be followed by ()ﻟﻢ
and ( )ﻟ ّﻢ ــاotherwise it expresses the perfect. The imperfect is marked to clarify that an
41
event happens. In addition, it implies a state in present or future depending on the context.
Moreover, the imperfect is specified to start with one of the letters (ت،ي،ن،)أ.
● If the imperfect is preceded by ( )سor ( )ﺳﻮفit expresses the future such as:
َ ( " ﻗَﺎ َل َﺳﻼَ ٌم َﻋﻠَﯿ َﻚ َﺳﺄَ ْﺳﺘﻐﻔﺮ ﻟَـ47 )ﻣﺮﯾﻢIn English : Ibrâhîm (Abraham)
" ﻚ َرﺑــ ّﻲ إﻧّﮫُ َﻛﺎنَ ﺑﻲ َﺣﻔﯿّﺎ
said : " Peace be on you! I will ask Forgiveness of my lord for you. Verily He is unto me
- followed by a past tense such as: "...( " ﻓَ َﺠﺎ َء ْﺗ ﮫُ إﺣْ ﺪَاھُ َﻤﺎ ﺗَ ْﻤ ﺸﻲ َﻋﻠَﻰ اﺳْﺘﺤْ ﯿَﺎء25 )اﻟﻘﺼﺺ.In
English: “ Then there came to him one of the two women, walking shyly…” (Al’ Qasas
25)
- followed by ( )ﻛﺎنbecause it indicates the meaning of continuity of time for a given period
- Followed by ( ) ﻟﻢbecause it expresses that the event has not occurred in the past and it is
" ( "…ﻟَ ْﻢ ﯾَﻠﺪ َوﻟَ ْﻢ ﯾُﻮﻟَﺪ َوﻟَ ْﻢ ﯾَ ُﻜﻦ ﻟَﮫُ ُﻛﻔﺆً ا أَ َﺣﺪ4-3 )اﻹﺧﻼصIn English: “ … (3)He begets not, nor was
He begotten (4)and there is none co-equal or comparable unto Him.” (Al ikhlas 3-4).
C- The imperative indicates an event that is related to a request such as: .اﺟﺘﮭﺪ
demonstrate the singular feminine addressee, into the stem of the verb. The use of
The imperative is directed from the stronger to the weak such as: ،( "ﯾـَـﺎ أَﯾـﱡـﮭَﺎ اَ ْﻟ ُﻤﺪَﺛﺮ2-1 )اﻟﻤﺪﺛﺮ
"...ﻗُـ ْﻢ ﻓـَﺄﻧـْﺬرIn English: “(1) O you (Muhammed peace be upon him) enveloped in
garments! (2) Arise and warn!...” (Almoudathir 1-2) This tense can express other
42
1- Plea: which happens between two individuals of the same or near rank such as:
2- Invocation of God: this takes place when the request happens from the lowest position
to the highest such as: ( " َرﺑــﻲ ھــﺐْ ﻟﻲ ﻣﻦَ اﻟ ﱠ100 )اﻟﺼﺎﻓﺎت. In English: “My lord!
" َﺼــﺎﻟﺤﯿﻦ
3- Debility: it occurs when the addressee is asked to do something that he cannot do such
as: "ـﺈن ﷲ ﯾـَﺄْﺗـﻲ ﺑﺎﻟ ﱠﺸــ ْﻤﺲ ﻣﻦَ اَﻟ َﻤﺸـﺮق ﻓـَـﺄت ﺑــﮭَﺎ ﻣﻦَ ْاﻟ َﻤ ْﻐﺮب
( "ﻓَ ﱠ258 )اﻟﺒﻘﺮةIn English: “ Allâh brings
the sun from the east; then bring it you from the west” ( Al-Baqarah ‘The Cow’ 258).
(All the Qur’an’ verses are translated by Dr. Muhammed Taqi-ud-Din Al-Hilâli and Dr.
According to Yusuf (2006, p.51), the verb in Arabic is a term which clarifies the
action combined with a tense, for example; ﺷﺮب, this clarifies the action of drinking and
the tense here is the past اﻟﻤﺎﺿﻲ.Whereas ﯾﻘﻮدshows the event of driving and the tense is
the present اﻟﻤﻀﺎرع. Thus, in Arabic there are only two tense as far as the form is
concerned.
However, Elmensouri (2002) indicates that there are three types of tenses in Arabic:
This tense is used to express events that occurred in the past. There are two kinds of
the past tense. The first one with reference to the past as in ذھﺒﺖ إﻟﻰ ﻛﻨﺪا اﻷﺳﺒﻮع اﻟﻤﺎﺿﻲ, in
English: ‘I went to Canada last week'. The second one without any reference to the past as
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2.5.2. The Present (elhadir) اﻟﺤﺎﺿﺮ
It is used to indicate events in the present, that is, at the moment of speaking. It also
expresses truth or habitual actions as ﺗﻐﺮب اﻟﺸﻤﺲ, in English: (the sun sets). Occasionally
the present tense refers to the future as in راح ﯾﻤﺸﻲ ﻣﺴﺮﻋﺎ, in English: he left happily (Ibid
70).
The future tense in Arabic is formed by adding the prefix" "سor" "'ﺳﻮفto the main
Thomson and Martinet (2001, p.166), state that “the present perfect simple
describes both present and past tenses. It is the combination of the two tenses and it is
the present perfect is formed by the auxiliary (has / have + the past participle). For
instance, I have done my home work. Arabic has the perfective aspect, but it is structured
by the verb followed by the particle /qəd or laqəd / to express the present perfect for
example:
As a result, the form of the present perfect in Arabic is ( ﻗﺪ+ " )اﻟﻤﺎﺿﻲqəd + the perfective".
and more particularly the present perfect tense. In English, the present perfect is used to
describe something that occurred or never happened before now at unspecified time in the
44
past. “The present perfect tense describes both present and past tenses. It is the
combination of the two tenses and it is frequently used in news papers, letters, etc”.
starts in the past and continues up to the present. Several expressions of time mark the
past-to-present event like since, for, so far, up to now, until now, up to the present, etc.
whereas in Arabic, the past-to-present time is symbolized by the perfect of the verb and the
particle ﻗﺪ, ﻟﻘﺪ. However, when a negative present perfect verb is used, the particles ﻗﺪand ﻟﻘﺪ
Sometimes, the present perfect in English is used to refer to situations that began in
the past and going on up to the present, the equivalent in Arabic is the present simple tense
Consequently, Wolfgang and Eckehard Güther (2000, p.56) clarify that “the Arabic
perfect tense corresponds to both the English past tense and present tense”. However, the
present perfect in Arabic is indicated by adding adverbs such as "ﻗﺒﻞ ﻟﻠﺘﻮor ﺑﻌﺪ ﻟﻢto express
-He has just had his dinner ( ﺗﻨﺎول ﻋﺸﺎءه ﺗﻮاtanawala ach’aho tawa)
-He hasn’t had his dinner yet ﺑﻌﺪ/ ( ﻟﻢ ﯾﺘﻨﺎول ﻋﺸﺎءه ﺗﻮاlam jatanawal ach’aho tawa/ ba’ad)
45
The translation of the present perfect tense from English into Arabic depends on the
context; this means one will render the perfect in English as the particle (qəd + the verb) in
Conclusion
We conclude that English and Arabic are two distinct languages; each language has
a separate system. We have seen that the present perfect in English is formed by the
auxiliary (has / have + the past participle).Whereas Arabic has the perfective aspect, but it
is formed by the verb preceded by the particle /qəd or laqəd / to express the present perfect.
Thus; the purpose of this chapter is to accommodate one’s language who learns English as
a second language. These two languages have no exact equivalents in terms of grammar,
especially in the present perfect tense which causes problems to learners who are in the
46
Chapter Three
Field of Work
Introduction
This chapter is devoted to the analysis of the learners’ test scores about the translation of
the present perfect tense which is the practical part of this dissertation. This chapter aims at
testing the students’ awareness to what extent the form “( ”ﻟﻘﺪlaqəd) is overused by them. It
is composed of a test given to master one students at university of Biskra. This test
concerns translating ten sentences from English into Arabic. The aim of the test is to check
whether the students are able to translate the present perfect tense from English into Arabic
correctly. This chapter also aims at finding out which solutions or best cure to this
problematic issue which is the right translation of the present perfect tense from English
into Arabic.
The sample of the test comprises fourty students of first year master at the English
Department , Mohamed Kheider university , Biskra. So, the sample is heterogeneous and it
fits the research standards .The majority of these students come from language science
stream. The choice of students of first year is due to the fact that they supposed to have
sufficient knowledge about translation which was a module of theme and version as well as
sufficient knowledge about the grammatical rules and their application in the new
The test which comprises ten sentences consists mainly of the present perfect
simple whether it is, affirmative, negative, or interrogative .The students are asked to
translate these sentences from English into Arabic versions and in various context
47
situations .Basically, this test aims at checking whether students are able to translate
accurately the present perfect simple and whether they always use the particle ( ) ﻗﺪwhen
rendering it into Arabic. For the reason that the present perfect simple was used in diverse
The first five sentences are dialogue was extracted from the book “The Contrast
between the present perfect and simple past tenses” whose authors are Nutall, Gaist
(1937:10).
The sixtieth, seventieth, eightieth sentence were extracted from the book of Ibrahim (2006)
The tow last sentences were extracted from the book of grammar entitled “Grammar for
This analysis focus on each translated sentence (i.e., each sentence has been analyzed
Sentence one
This question has been translated in different ways as shown in the table below:
48
The technique The translation versions N Rate
No answer 1 2.5%
Total 40 100%
Table 1: Techniques of translating the present perfect in questions
100,00% 87,50%
0,00%
49
Most students translated the present perfect into Arabic through the use of (WH)
questions such as ()ھﻞ, and there is no reference to a given time in Arabic which has the
same meaning as in English. Three students translated the present perfect by using the
negation form ()اﻟﻢ. Only one student used ( )ﻗﺪbut the translation is not appropriate because
the time in the source sentence is not specified to any time but it consists the duration
which is the action started in the recent past and going on till the present moment. Just one
Sentence two
2- I haven’t, anyway. Why? What’s the matter?
Number of
The technique The translation versions students /40 Rate
lexical word
No answer 1 2.5%
Total 40 100%
Table 2: Techniques of translating the negation forms with the present perfect
50
90,00% 85%
80,00%
The translation with the use of
70,00% ne gation
30,00% No answe r
20,00%
10,00%
7,50%
5%
2,50%
0,00%
The accurate translation in this sentence is through the use of ( )ﻟﻢplus the past tense
in Arabic which is the most appropriate and equivalent of the past participle in this
sentence. But the source sentence does not comprise of the past participle because it is left
out and it is needless to repeat it in English language. This table shows that all these
translations depend upon the context because each student tried to imagine the real
situation where this dialogue occurred and make it according to his/her understanding.
However, the most appropriate translation is the one given by the three students where
there is a use of negation form ( )ﻟﻢplus the use of the past tense of the verb ()رأى.The vast
majority of the students mistranslated the verb into its appropriate equivalent in Arabic.
Sentence three
I’ve lost it
ﻟــﻘﺪ ﺿـﯿـﻌﺘـﮫ
51
The translation versions Number of Rate
The technique
students /40
Common use of
" " ﻟﻘﺪ
5 12.5%
. ﻟﻘﺪ ﻓﻘﺪﺗﮫ
Common use of
" " ﻟﻘﺪ . ﺿﺎع ﻣﻨﻲ/ أﺿﻌﺘﮫ/ ﻟﻘﺪ ﺿﯿﻌﺘﮫ 31 77.5%
Total 40 100%
Table 3 : Techniques of translating the present perfect through the use of ()ﻟﻘﺪ.
77,50%
80,00%
70,00%
60,00% The use of ﻟ ﻘﺪ ﻓ ﻘﺪﺗ ﮫ
50,00%
The use of ﻟ ﻘﺪ ﺧ ﺴﺮﺗ ﮫ
40,00%
30,00% The use of أ ﺿ ﻌ ﺘﮫ/ﺿ ﯿ ﻌ ﺘﮫ
20,00% 12,50%
10% ﺿﺎع ﻣ ﻨﻲ
10,00%
0,00%
Fig.3 : Translating the present perfect through the use of () ﻟﻘﺪ.
52
Involving the meaning, all these translations are correct because the verb “to lose”
has three meanings which are ﺧﺴﺮ، ﻓَﻘﺪ، and ﺿﯿﻊ. Thirty one students translated the verb to
lose by using " " ﺿﯿﻊor " " أﺿﺎعwhich are the most suitable and common meanings of this
verb. In addition, they added the particle ( )ﻗﺪproceeded by ( )ﻻم اﻻﺑﺘﺪاءin order to stress on
Sentence four
Total 40 100%
Table 4: Techniques of translating the present perfect used with adverbs of time.
53
90,00% 87,50%
80,00%
The majority of students rendered “yesterday afternoon” أﻣﺲ ﻣﺴﺎءwhich means that
they consider afternoon as " " اﻟﻤﺴﺎءwhich is correct. In addition, all students consider the
participle which is the negative form of the present perfect in English. Two students
Sentence five
54
. ﻻ أﻧﺎ ﻣﺘﺄﻛﺪ ﻟﻢ أره 2 5%
40 100%
Total
Table 5: Techniques of translating the present perfect where the past participle is
ellipted
87,50%
90%
80%
70%
60% ﻻ اﻧﺎ ﻣﺘﺎﻛﺪ ﻟﻢ أﻓﻌﻞ
50% ﻻ أﻣﻠﻜﮫ/ ﻻ أﻧﺎ ﻣﺘﺄﻛﺪ ﻟﯿﺲ ﻋﻨﺪي
40% ﻻ أﻧﺎ ﻣﺘﺄﻛﺪ ﻟﻢ أره
30%
ﻻ أﻧﺎ ﻣﺘﺄﻛﺪ ﻣﻦ ذﻟﻚ
20%
10% 5% 5%
2,50%
0%
Fig 5: Translating the present perfect where the past participle is ellipted.
This table shows clearly that 35 students translated the given sentence by the use of
the negative form in Arabic which is ﻟﻢplus the simple past. ( )ﻻ اﻣﻠﻜﮫ/ ()ﻟﯿﺲ ﻋﻨﺪي. But only
two students used ( )أﻓﻌﻞwhich is the correct transfer and meaning of this sentence into
Sentence six
George and Mary have moved into a new apartment.
55
The technique The translation versions Number of Rate
students /40
4 10%
The use of : اﻟﻤﺎﺿﻲ+ﻟﻘﺪ .ﻟﻘﺪ اﻧﺘﻘﻞ ﺟﻮرج وﻣﺎري إﻟﻰ ﺷﻘﺔ ﺟﺪﯾﺪة
Translation with the use .ﺟﻮرج وﻣﺎري اﻧﺘﻘﻼ إﻟﻰ ﺷﻘﺔ ﺟﺪﯾﺪة
18 45%
duality in Arabic
Total 40 100%
45%
45%
40% 35%
10%
5%
0%
which is the case of only one student who made it correctly, 18 students rendered it by the
use of the past tense in Arabic which is acceptable in this context. Remarkably, majority of
students translated it in a good way because it was so simple and clear. Four students used
the duality in Arabic, but they started with the subject and then the verb which is not
appropriate in Arabic which is a V.S.O (verb, subject, and object) structure, and not S.V.O.
Sentence seven
I have gained five pounds since I started my diet. At the same time I have gained a craving
. أرطﺎل ﻣﻨﺬ أن ﺑﺪأت ﻓﻲ ﺗﻄﺒﯿﻖ اﻟﺤﻤﯿﺔ و ﻓﻲ ﻧﻔﺲ اﻟﻮﻗﺖ ازداد وﻟﻌﻲ ﻟﺸﻜﻮﻻطﺔ اﻟﻤﻠﻜﻲ واي5 ﻟﻘﺪ ازداد وزﻧﻲ
Use of " "ﻟﻘﺪand use ﺑﺎوﻧﺪات ﻣﻨﺬ أن ﺑﺪأت اﻟﺤﻤﯿﺔ5 ﻟﻘﺪ رﺑﺤﺖ
26 65%
of past tense in the .وﻓﻲ ﻧﻔﺲ اﻟﻮﻗﺖ ﻛﺴﺒﺖ ﺷﮭﯿﺔ اﻟﺸﻜﻮﻻطﺔ
second part .
ﺑﺎوﻧﺪات ﻣﻨﺬ أن ﺑﺪأت اﻟﺤﻤﯿﺔ5 ازداد وزﻧﻲ
Use of past tense in وﻓﻲ ﻧﻔﺲ اﻟﻮﻗﺖ أﺻﺒﺤﺖ اﺷﺘﮭﻲ ﻟﺸﻜﻮﻻطﺔ 13
32.5%
both verbs .اﻟﻤﻠﻜﻲ واي
Use of ""ﻟﻘﺪ
in both parts of the وﻓﻲ ﻧﻔﺲ اﻟﻮﻗﺖ ﻟﻘﺪ ﺻﺮت اﻣﻠﻚ..........ﻟﻘﺪ زاد وزﻧﻲ 1 2.5%
sentence . رﻏﺒﺔ ﻋﺎرﻣﺔ......
Total 40 100%
Table 7: Translation of a sentence consists of two verbs in the same tense (present
perfect)
57
70%
65%
60%
Use of ﻟﻘﺪand use of
50% past tense in the second
part
40% 3 2 ,5 0 %
Use of past tense in both
30% verbs
0%
Fig 7: Translation of a sentence consists of two verbs in the same tense (present perfect).
It is noticed from the table that the form ﻟﻘﺪhas been used in only one part of the
sentence by the majority of students and only one student used ﻟﻘﺪin both parts of the
sentence. These students overused this form in any context which is not always appropriate
since there are many alternatives to express the same tense. The rest of students translated
the present perfect into a past tense in Arabic. This table shows that the most students
generalize the rule concerning translating the present perfect with the use of ;ﻟﻘﺪhowever, it
is not true since the translation of the present perfect is related to a context.
Sentence eight
Bernard Show says:"Few people think more than two or three times a year. I have made an
و، أﻣﺎ أﻧﺎ ﻓﻘﺪ ﺻﻨﻌﺖ ﻟﻨﻔﺴﻲ ﺷﮭﺮة ﻋﺎﻟﻤﯿﺔ،"ﻗﻠﺔ ﻣﻦ اﻟﻨﺎس ﯾﻔﻜﺮون أﻛﺜﺮ ﻣﻦ ﻣﺮة أو ﻣﺮﺗﯿﻦ ﻓﻲ اﻟﺴﻨﺔ:ﯾﻘﻮل ﺑﺮﻧﺎرد ﺷﻮ
."ذﻟﻚ ﺑﺎﻟﺘﻔﻜﯿﺮ ﻣﺮة أو ﻣﺮﺗﯿﻦ ﻓﻲ اﻷﺳﺒﻮع
58
The technique The translation versions N Rate
.ﻓﻲ اﻷﺳﺒﻮع
The use of the past ...........ﺑﺮﻣﺠﺖ ﻟﻨﻔﺴﻲ ﺷﮭﺮة ﻋﺎﻟﻤﯿﺔ/ﺻﻨﻌﺖ/أﻧﺎ ﺟﻌﻠﺖ 14 35%
.ﺑﺎﻟﺘﻔﻜﯿﺮ ﻣﺮة أو ﻣﺮﺗﯿﻦ ﻓﻲ اﻷﺳﺒﻮع.
No answer 6 15%
Total 40 100%
Table 8: Different forms were used for translating the present perfect tense.
35%
35,00% 32,50%
25,00%
15%
0,00%
Fig 8: Different forms were used for translating the present perfect tense.
59
Obviously, the form “اﻟﻤﺎﺿﻲ+ ”ﻟﻘﺪis used by 13 students in order to render the
present perfect simple into Arabic as in" "ﻟﻘﺪ ﺻﻨﻌﺖwhich can be accepted in this case. The
most appropriate and accurate translation of this form is by using the particle " " ﻗﺪwhich is
the case of 7 students as shown in the above table. The remaining students translated the
present perfect as a past tense by omitting the particle " "ﻗﺪor “ ”ﻟﻘﺪwhich are more
Sentence nine
We have reached the period when the Arabic language has become the vehicle for fresh
and original work in the newly introduced sciences like medicines, astronomy, chemistry,
وﺻﻠﻨﺎ اﻵن إﻟﻰ اﻟﻔﺘﺮة اﻟﺘﻲ أﺻﺒﺤﺖ ﻓﯿﮭﺎ اﻟﻠﻐﺔ اﻟﻌﺮﺑﯿﺔ أداة ﻟﻠﺘﻌﺒﯿﺮ ﻋﻦ اﻟﻌﻠﻮم اﻟﻤﺴﺘﺠﺪة ﻛﺎﻟﻄﺐ و اﻟﻔﻠﻚ و اﻟﻜﯿﻤﯿﺎء
واﻟﺠﻐﺮاﻓﯿﺎ و اﻟﺮﯾﺎﺿﯿﺎت
31 77.5%
The use of ""ﻟﻘﺪ ...ﻟﻘﺪ وﺻﻠﻨﺎ إﻟﻰ اﻟﻮﻗﺖ اﻟﺬي أﺻﺒﺤﺖ ﻓﯿﮫ اﻟﻠﻐﺔ اﻟﻌﺮﺑﯿﺔ
Use of the present ﻧﻤﻠﻚ اﻟﻮﻗﺖ ﻋﻨﺪﻣﺎ ﺗﺼﺒﺢ اﻟﻠﻐﺔ اﻟﻌﺮﺑﯿﺔ/ﻧﺤﻦ ﻧﺼﻞ... 4 10%
Total 40 100%
Table 9: Translating the present perfect that continues to the present time.
60
77,50%
80,00%
70,00%
60,00%
20,00%
10% 10%
10,00% 2,50%
0,00%
Fig 9: Translating the present perfect that continues to the present time.
It is noticed that the majority of the students which are 21, started the sentence with
the form" اﻟﻤﺎﺿﻲ+ "ﻟﻘﺪ. In this sentence, the event seems happened in the past with no
reference to the present. This can be accepted. But there are other alternatives and solutions
as stated by Ghazala (1995) who argued that the present perfect should be considered as a
past tense in Arabic. The majority of the students followed what they have been taught that
the present perfect in Arabic is formed with " اﻟﻤﺎﺿﻲ+ "ﻟﻘﺪwhich is not always appropriate
(this is better to be included in the discussion). Only one student rendered it by the use of
" "ﻗﺪat the beginning of the sentence. Also there are 4 students who render it in the present
which is inappropriate in this context. Once more, the difficulty in discovering other
possibilities to be adopted for translating present perfect events leads students to make
serious mistakes such as the use of the present " ﻧﻣﻠك/ "ﻧﺣن ﻧﺻلat the beginning of this
sentence.
Sentence ten
Russell Davies became a freelance writer and a broadcaster soon after leaving Cambridge
University in 1969. He has been a television critic of the Sunday times, and lately has been
61
writing a column about sport for the Sunday telegraph. For television and radio, he has
أﺻﺒﺢ راﺳﻞ دﯾﻔﯿﺲ ﻛﺎﺗﺒﺎ و ﻣﺬﯾﻌﺎ ﻣﺘﺤﺮرا ﻣﺒﺎﺷﺮة ﺑﻌﺪ ﺗﺨﺮﺟﮫ ﻣﻦ ﺟﺎﻣﻌﺔ ﻛﺎﻣﺒﺮﯾﺪج ﻓﻲ 1969و ﻗﺪ ﻋﻤﻞ ﻛﻨﺎﻗﺪ ﺗﻠﻔﺰﯾﻮﻧﻲ
ﻟﺠﺮﯾﺪة اﻟﺴﺎﻧﺪاي ﺗﺎﯾﻤﺰ أﺻﺒﺢ ﻣﺆﺧﺮا ﻛﺎﺗﺒﺎ ﻟﻤﻘﺎل رﯾﺎﺿﻲ ﻓﻲ اﻟﺴﺎﻧﺪي ﺗﯿﻠﯿﻐﺮاف ﻛﻤﺎ ﻗﺪم ﻓﻲ اﻟﺘﻠﻔﺰﯾﻮن و اﻟﺮادﯾﻮ ﺑﺮاﻣﺞ
No answer
3 3%
100%
Total 40
62
50%
50%
45%
40% The use of past
35%
30%
2 7 ,5 0 %
Use of "" ﻟﻘﺪ
25%
Use of "" ﻗﺪ
20% 15%
15% No answer
10%
3%
5%
0%
All translations provided here were dominated almost by only one form. This
would show that the 11 students ignore the different options of the present perfect tense.
For example:
The same with the use of ""ﻗﺪ, students here apply just the rule of ﻗﺪand ignore the
This means that our students are equipped with only one form and one rule
available for translating the present perfect tense. The majority of the students rendered the
present perfect into a past tense from the beginning to the end. For example:
. وﻗﺪم اﻟﻌﺪﯾﺪ ﻣﻦ اﻟﺒﺮاﻣﺞ... أﺻﺒﺢ ﻧﺎﻗﺪ ﺗﻠﻔﺰﯾﻮﻧﻲ....وأﺻﺒﺢ ﯾﻜﺘﺐ. This indicates that there is no connection
The result that we can get from this research is that the general rule of translating
the present perfect is accomplished through the use of (ﻗﺪ+ the past). In some cases, ( )ﻗﺪis
not used as in questions negations and actions which denote the past but they are not
specific. In addition, ( )ﻗﺪis not used in statements in which there is the meaning of
63
continuity such as: They have lived in Spain since 1987. This sentence is translated by the
use of the present tense in Arabic such as: 1987 ھﻢ ﯾﺴﻜﻨﻮن ﻓﻲ إﺳﺒﺎﻧﯿﺎ ﻣﻨﺬbecause the action is
continuing till the moment of speaking and may continue to the future.
As a result, the analysis of the students’ test reveals that the lack of linguistic and
stylistic and cultural equivalence between Arabic and English do really influence the
degree of student’s understanding of the present perfect tense. This lack causes for a
to overcome these difficulties some techniques are presented before by Baker (1992) such
as substitution and omission, and some of these techniques are also propounded by
and the use of loan word plus explanation, which he refers to as translation couplet. In
accordance with Baker’s and Newmark’s suggested techniques , Ghazala provided us with
solution of rendering English tenses which correspondent to only one Arabic version
(1995,p.61).
equivalent in the target language by the substitution into only one Arabic version, Baker
states that “…in translation, grammar often has the effect of a straitjacket, forcing the
translator along a certain course which may or may not follow that of the source text as
However, another important factor that intervene in drawing the meaning of the
present perfect which is the role of context. A considerable number of results showed that
students are not aware about the importance of the context in order to render correctly the
correct time .As a result, they render the present perfect tense as present time not the past
one .Thus, they should be also more aware about the significant role of context in
translation.
64
Conclusion
At the end of this chapter which is devoted to the analysis of the learners’ test
scores about the translation of the present perfect tense. We can conclude that while
translating the present perfect simple from English into Arabic we should take into
consideration the context because tense sometimes does not always indicate time,
especially the present perfect which has diverse aspects. Thus, context is considered as the
best solution in order to solve and get this problematic area. So, students should rely on the
contextualization.
Pedagogical implications
The outcome of this study illustrates that the students are not aware of the
general, and specifically the present perfect tense, and the significance of rendering present
perfect tense into Arabic equivalent , in order to get an adequate meaningful equivalents ;
and preserve the Arabic language identity .In addition, they seemed not careful about the
role of context in grammar which shapes the meaning of a given written or oral
focusing more on introducing tenses and specifically the present perfect tense.
Here are some recommendations will be propounded that might make the
translators and the learners more aware and reconsider the best method, which should carry
The undergraduate syllabus design concerning teaching grammar and theme and
version for first year master students of English does not comprise any course where the
students will be exposed to tenses and particularly to present perfect tense. Concerning
theme and version, students are practicing only translation as a general matter of written
65
products without introducing how rendering tenses in general and present perfect tense in
particular. Also, the syllabus does not contain the study of tenses translation and its
technique. For that, the students should be provided with the basics of translation as a
technique, and be exposed, in earlier stages of their academic acquisition to tenses most
commonly the present perfect tense, and its appropriate use according to the context. This
will them help to produce suitable equivalents. Moreover, the students should be taught to
be creative and avoid rendering , which decreases the quality of the translation, they need
to learn the techniques serve the Arabic language more, so they can translate and convey
66
General Conclusion
The purpose of this dissertation aimed at investigating the areas of translating the
present perfect tense from English into Arabic. It is examined by a translation test in order
to know the technique of master one student how to translate and perceive the present
perfect tense in Arabic, as well whether they are able or not to translate this tense
As a result, if master one students of English apply the rule which shows that the
English present perfect is transformed by the use of the particle (اﻟﻤﺎﺿﻲ+ )ﻟﻘﺪ, they will
generalize it in all contexts, so they sometimes produce inaccurate tense equivalent. The
analyses of the test showed that students lack of exposure to the present perfect tense in
Arabic. This was proved only through the use of (ا ﻟﻤﺎﺿﻲ+ )ﻟﻘﺪwhen translating this tense
from English into Arabic. However, this form is not always suitable in all contexts. As well
The outcomes proved that students are in need for more exposure to tenses,
specifically the present perfect. It is obligatory to make students differentiate between both
tenses - English and Arabic, and more particularly the present perfect tense. Finally,
67
References
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Declerk, R.(2006) A grammar of the English verb system. Berlin and New
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Elmoukatari, M. (2007). El Houlel Edahabia ala ettouhfa essenia. Sanaa : Maktabat El
Imam El Albani.
Selections 2. Articles from the journal English Language Teaching (pp. 65–70).
Mosul:University of Mosul.
Today 2, 4:51-9.
Jarvie, G. (1993). Grammar guide: The way the English language works. Edinb
of the meanings of THE NOBLE QUR’AN. King Fahd Complex for the printing of
Nida, E. & Taber,C. (1969/1982). The theory and practice of translation. Leiden. : E. J.
Brill.
Nutall, CE. & Gaist, J. (1973). Contrast of present perfect and past simple tenses:
Parrott, L. (2000). English Grammar for language teachers. New York: Oxford University
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Savory, Theodore. (1969). The Art of Translation. London: Jonathan Cape Ltd.
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Teaching Translation in Universities: Present and Future Perspectives (pp. 135–
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Web Sites
71
Dedication
In the Name of ALLAH, the Most Gracious, the Most
Merciful
work,
sacrifices,
daughters
-To all my family and my friends and all people who know
me.
Haidar BOULEGROUN
I
Dedication
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
“(1) Read! In the Name of your Lord Who has created (all that exists) (2)
He has created man from a clot (a piece of thick coagulated blood) (3)
Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous (4) Who has taught (the
writing) by the pen (5) He has taught man that which he knew not…”
love and support this project would not have been made
To all my friends.
Bilal BOULTIAH
II
Acknowledgements
First and foremost we offer our sincere gratitude to our supervisor, Mrs. Nashoua
HASSINA, who has supported us throughout our dissertation with her patience and
knowledge. We have been amazingly fortunate to have an advisor who gave us the
freedom to explore on our own, and at the same time the guidance to recover when our
steps faltered. Mrs. Hassina taught us how to question thoughts and express ideas. Her
patience and support helped us overcome many crisis situations and finish this
dissertation. We attribute the level of our Master’s degree to her encouragement and
effort and without her this dissertation, too, would not have been completed or written.
We hope that one day we would become as good advisor to our students as Mrs. Hassina
We would like to thank the head of Department and all the teachers who were extremely
kind and helpful as well for their hard work, expertise and patience.
III
Abstract
This research sheds light on the translation of the grammatical rules from English into
Arabic, more particularly the present perfect tense. The main aim of this study is to
analyse to what extent the technique (Laqad + el Madi) is used by the first year master
students of English in translating the present perfect tense into Arabic. The study also
tests students’ awareness about the appropriate use of the present perfect tense in various
collect data which reveals that most of students overuse the form ( اﻟﻤﺎﺿﻲ+ )ﻟﻘﺪ. The study
falls within the framework of Descriptive Translation Studies, English and Arabic
Tenses, and the analysis of the test. The conclusions drawn regarding the appropriateness
or otherwise of the strategies used are intended to increase an awareness of the problems
IV
ﻣﻞ ـخ ـص
ـ
إن ﺘرﺠﻤﺔ اﻟﻤﺎﻀﻲ اﻟﺘﺎم ﻤن اﻟﻠﻐﺔ اﻻﻨﺠﻠﯿزﯿﺔ إﻟﻰ اﻟﻠﻐﺔ اﻟﻌرﺒﯿﺔ ﻤن ﺨﻼل اﺴﺘﺨدام
ﻟﺘرﺠﻤﺘﻪ ﺘﻛون ﺒﺎﻟﺘﻤﺴك ﺒﻬذﻩ اﻟﻘﺎﻋدة ﻛوﻨﻬﺎ رﺴﻤﯿﺔ وﻋﺎﻤﺔ .ﻓﻲ ﺤﯿن ﯿﻌﺘﻘد اﻟﺒﻌض اﻵﺨر
ذا ﻤن اﺠل أن أﻓﻀل طرﯿﻘﺔ ﻫﻲ اﺨذ اﻟﺴﯿﺎق ﺒﻌﯿن اﻻﻋﺘﺒﺎر ﺒﻐﯿﺔ ﻨﻘل اﻟﻤﻌﻨﻰ ﺒدﻗﺔ وﻩ
زﺤزﺤﺔ اﻟﻨظرﯿﺔ اﻟﻘﺎﺌﻠﺔ ﺒﺄن اﻟﻤﺎﻀﻲ اﻟﺘﺎم ﯿﺘرﺠم داﺌﻤﺎ ﺒﺎﺴﺘﻌﻤﺎل )ﻟﻘد+اﻟﻤﺎﻀﻲ(ل ذاﻟك ﻓﺈﻨﻨﺎ
ﻨواﻓق اﻟﻨظرﯿﺔ اﻟﻘﺎﺌﻠﺔ ﺒﺄﺨذ اﻟﺴﯿﺎق ﺒﻌﯿن اﻻﻋﺘﺒﺎر ﻓﺈن ﻫذﻩ اﻟدراﺴﺔ ﺘﻘوم ﻋﻠﻰ اﻟﻤﻘﺎرﻨﺔ ﺒﯿن
اﻟﻠﻐﺔ اﻟﻌرﺒﯿﺔ و اﻟﻠﻐﺔ اﻻﻨﺠﻠﯿزﯿﺔ ﻛﻤﺎ ﺘﺤﺎول إﯿﺠﺎد أﻓﻀل طرﯿﻘﺔ ﻟﺘرﺠﻤﺔ اﻟﻤﺎﻀﻲ اﻟﺘﺎم إﻟﻰ
اﻟﻠﻐﺔ اﻟﻌرﺒﯿﺔ.
V
List of Tables
Questions 49
Perfect 50
of ()ﻟﻘﺪ 52
of time 53
participle is ellipted 54
Sentence 56
Table 8: Different forms were used for translating the present perfect
tense 59
Time 60
VI
List of Figures
questions 49
present perfect 51
adverbs of time 54
sentence 56
Fig. 8: Different forms were used for translating the present perfect
tense 59
time 61
VII
Table of Contents
General Introduction 01
Introduction 08
Conclusion 27
Introduction28
VIII
2.1.1. Tense 28
2.1.2. Aspect 30
2.2.9.Future tense 35
IX
2.5. Arabic Tenses 43
2.5.1. The Past Tense (almaadi) اﻟﻤﺎﺿﻲ 43
Conclusion 46
Introduction 47
Conclusion 65
3.5 PedagogicalImplications 65
General Conclusion 67
References 68
Appendix