Meanings
- uncountablegrammarA set of grammatical rules of a particular language, governing the agreement between the tenses of verbs in related clauses or sentences; agreement between tenses of verbs in accordance with said set of rules.
This analysis involves the Latin rules for consecutio temporum and deviations from these rules. The Latin rules concerning consecutio temporum are not strictly followed in non-direct speech and thought representation, as many grammars observe.
2017, Suzanne M. Adema, Speech and Thought in Latin War Narratives, BRILL, page 402 more examples
The consecutio temporum is constituted by the connections between clauses and their verb forms.[…]The connections that have been determined with respect to the consecutio temporum depend on the assumption that there are larger groups of clauses in the text than combinations of main and subordinate clause only.
1988, L. J. de Regt, A Parametric Model for Syntactic Studies of a Textual Corpus, Van Gorcum, page 50The problem as expressed by the informant, then, is to explain the difference in consecutio temporum between the second and the last sentence (highlighted in bold in (14)). The consecutio temporum in the second sentence stresses the contrast, the meeting of two different actions.
1993, Language and Linguistics in Melanesia: Journal of the Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea, Volume 24, Issue 2, page 209Synonyms: agreement of tenses, sequence of tenses, succession of tenses, tense harmony
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA set of grammatical rules of a particular language, governing the agreement between the tenses of verbs in related clauses or sentences; agreement between tenses of verbs in accordance with said set of rules.
Origin
- Latincōnsecūtiō temporum“sequence of tenses”
- Englishconsecutio temporum
Borrowed from Latin cōnsecūtiō temporum (“sequence of tenses”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 時態序列 /时态序列
- 時態序列 /时态序列 (shítài xùliè)sequence of tenses
Czech časová souslednost
- časová souslednostsequence of tenses
Dutch consecutio temporum
- consecutio temporumsequence of tenses
Finnish consecutio temporum
- consecutio temporumsequence of tenses
French concordance des temps
- concordance des tempssequence of tenses
German Consecutio Temporum
- Consecutio Temporumsequence of tenses
Greek ακολουθία των χρόνων
- ακολουθία των χρόνων (akolouthía ton chrónon)sequence of tenses
Hungarian igeidő-egyeztetés
- igeidő-egyeztetéssequence of tenses
Italian consecutio temporum, concordanza dei tempi
- consecutio temporumsequence of tenses
- concordanza dei tempisequence of tenses
Japanese 時制の一致
- 時制の一致 (jisei no itchi)sequence of tenses
Korean 시제의 일치
- 시제의 일치 (sije'ui ilchi)sequence of tenses
Latin cōnsecūtiō temporum
- cōnsecūtiō temporumsequence of tenses
Polish następstwo czasów
- następstwo czasówsequence of tenses
Russian согласова́ние времён
- согласова́ние времён (soglasovánije vremjón)sequence of tenses
Swedish tempusharmoni
- tempusharmonisequence of tenses
Cite this entry
consecutio temporum. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/consecutio%20temporum
“consecutio temporum.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/consecutio%20temporum. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “consecutio temporum,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/consecutio%20temporum.
Source: consecutio temporum on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.