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If someone says

We leave London at 10.00 next Tuesday and arrive in Paris at 13.00. We spend two hours in Paris and leave again at 15.00..

What do here present tenses mean? Do they mean like:

we have to leave London at 10.00 next Tuesday and we have to arrive in Paris at... because It has been timetabled by someone else(not by us). and It is a fixed arrangement.

Eddie Kal
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mark M
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    As an aside, although most linguists call this a present tense (because its central purpose is to indicate present time), there are some who would call it a "nonpast" tense instead. –  Dec 11 '14 at 08:01

1 Answers1

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The simple present (as future form) can be used to express

  • plans and scheduled events like timetables
  • events in the near future
  • future facts

You example falls flatly in the first category.

Stephie
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  • In other words, yes. The arrangements are fixed, the timetable exists, the events are scheduled. These are present-tense facts, even though they are facts about future events. – Gary Botnovcan Dec 13 '14 at 06:40
  • Actually the present can also be used when you give instructions and when you describe a state of affairs in the present. – Eddie Kal May 10 '21 at 05:17