Teaching the Yiddish Tenses

Alan Huffman

This essay focuses on cross-linguistic non-equivalences in choice of verb tenses and the problems they pose for English-speaking learners of Yiddish.  The explanation posits two different kinds of systems of Time: a “fixed reference-point” system of Time, versus a “floating reference-point” system.  The analysis is supported and illustrated with a complete Yiddish short story by a major author, Sholom Asch.  This essay is included here as a companion piece to Max Miller’s article in this volume, which analyzes the use of past, before  in English.

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