History Main / TimeTravelTenseTrouble

** ''The Bible'' also tends to record prophecies as though the future events they describe have already happened.

* In ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', any attempt to discuss the StableTimeLoop surrounding [[spoiler: Harry's future self leaving a letter with Xavier fifty years in the past to give to himself in the present]] tends to just lead to confusion and headaches.

** When Vimes goes back thirty years in ''Discworld/NightWatch'', he is told to "just imagine [[SanDimasTime things happening one after another]]" and sticks with that as less confusing.
** In ''Discworld/EqualRites'', when it is explained that the dead are unbound from ''all'' dimensions, the narrator describes the fact that a cat appears to simultaneously be its own age, a newborn kitten, and a decrepit moggy, as resembling a kind of white, cat-shaped carrot, "which will have to suffice until someone is able to devise effective fourth-dimensional adjectives".
** ''Discworld/ReaperMan'':

** In ''Discworld/TheLastContinent'', Scrappy tries to explain to Rincewind that he knows Rinso can save [=FourEcks=] because he's already done it, but he can't just go home because he hasn't already done it ''yet''.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

[[folder:Film — Animation]]

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

Or... will have happened?

* In ''Series/DayBreak'', Brett often ran into this whenever he tried to explain the GroundhogDayLoop to another character.

--> Professor Farnsworth: Nonsense! I would never do such a thing unless you were already having been going to do that!

* Mikuru from ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' is aware of the tense trouble, but she keeps flubbing it anyway. Considering that Mikuru is spacey and {{Moe}}, this leads to Adult Mikuru showing Kyon a mole on her breasts while saying something like "But you were the one who told me about it... wait, has that not happened yet? oops...". Later in that episode Kyon casually asks Mikuru if she has a mole "right about here" and points to the location on his own chest. She turns around, checks, and starts trying to beat the information out of him. That would be where Kyon "told her about it" -- it's a paradox.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E8SilenceInTheLibrary "Silence in the Library"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E9ForestOfTheDead "Forest of the Dead"]] is the Doctor's first encounter with River Song, [[spoiler:and her last]]. As a result, she experiences this trope when she talks about her relationship with him since that's all in his future.

[[folder:Fan Works]]

* The Thirteen Generals of Dawn's Gate figure out quickly what Barid Bel Medar is proposing when he suggests using balefire on Paaren Disen, but he still has to say he has a plan "to have won" the War of Power in "Lost Violent Souls," a WheelOfTime prequel.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E6Shada Shada]]":

** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E4TheTwoDoctors The Two Doctors]]", the Sixth Doctor comments on the Second Doctor in this convoluted way.

** ''Series/DeadRingers'' features "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35uYgSYXtfA Christmas Day with Doctor Who]]"

** A non-comedic use: Rose, in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E13ThePartingOfTheWays The Parting of the Ways]]", is sent back home to avoid a bloodbath taking place in the future. Jackie brushes it off, but it tears Rose up enough that she tears up other things...
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E2TheBeastBelow The Beast Below]]", Amy ends up encountering this telling a little girl she's getting married "a long time ago tomorrow morning." Which does ''technically'' make sense in the same way as "a week tomorrow" (specifically, she'd gone forwards in time from the night before her wedding).

** From "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens The Pandorica Opens]]":

** In the Eleventh Doctor episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E4TheDoctorsWife The Doctor's Wife]]", Idris, in addition to liking biting ("It's like kissing, only there's a winner!") has some initial trouble clarifying her tenses. [[spoiler:It makes sense, since she's the spirit of the Doctor's vehicle trapped within a flesh body. She jumps across space and time without regard to those silly simian concepts of past, present, and future.]]

** In the episode "Future Echoes":

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In ''Film/GroundhogDay'', Phil never really has to worry about his tenses because he's the only one who realises he's in a GroundhogDayLoop, but that just makes some of what he says funnier for the audience.
-->'''Phil:''' [After being told something will be handled tomorrow] Well what if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today!

-->''Anything that happens, happens. Anything that, in happening, causes something else to happen, causes something else to happen. Anything that, in happening, causes itself to happen again, happens again. [[MindScrew It doesn't necessarily do it in chronological order, though]].''

** ''The Discworld Companion'' entry for a character existing in a StableTimeLoop says "Dios was (or is, or will be - certain temporal uncertainties make the choice of tense very difficult)".

-->And at the end of all stories Azrael, who knew the secret, thought:\\

** ''[[Series/DeadRingers Dead Ringers]]'' featured "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35uYgSYXtfA Christmas Day with Doctor Who]]"

** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E2TheBeastBelow The Beast Below]]", Amy ends up encountering the TimeTravelTenseTrouble, telling a little girl she's getting married "a long time ago tomorrow morning." Which does ''technically'' make sense in the same way as "a week tomorrow" (specifically, she'd gone forwards in time from the night before her wedding).

** In the short comic relief specials [[Recap/DoctorWho2011RNDSSpaceAndTime "Space" and "Time"]]; Rory and Amy get to meet their past (future?) selves, and get confused when explaining that the Doctor will tell them to go back, to tell themselves this, in order to make a StableTimeLoop.

* Topical PanelGames like ''Series/HaveIGotNewsForYou'' also get confused by tenses when describing something that might happen between recording and broadcast (and might have changed by the repeat. And heaven knows what'll be happening by the time it's on Dave...)
** Sometimes averted by having a special Friday Morning recording, usually so an election’s results are known...
--->'''Iain:''' Amazing the candor a politician can show!\\

** ''MAKE IT STOP''

* The opening cutscene to ''VideoGame/SpiderManEdgeOfTime''. "Earlier...in the future."
** This is also lampshaded in a [[Funny/SpiderManEdgeOfTime funny moment]]:
--->'''Amazing Spider-Man:''' *after the time rift shifts and creates a deadlier path* O’Hara, can you do something to help me in the present?\\
'''ComicBook/SpiderMan2099:''' Which present? You’re in my present. You mean your past present or my present future?\\

-->[[spoiler:'''Masaki Osoto:''' I remember now! In the future, I went to hell because of you!]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Neko Tsukahara:''' Your English grammar is wrong!]]

* Not in-universe, but TheRant for ''{{Webcomic/Comc}}'', is occasionally written the day before the str'ps are posted. Usually when this happens, Krixwell (the author) starts off with a comment where "yesterday", "today" and "tomorrow" are essentially equivalent. From the commentary for [[https://sites.google.com/site/comccomic/archive/comc41 str'p #41]]:
-->Tomorrow, I'll be continuing what I started two days ago by writing this yesterday, i.e. today. For the record, tomorrow is today, because today is yesterday. Did you see this[[note]]a link to a different post[[/note]], which was written after this but posted yesterday?
-->[...]
-->Meanwhile, I'm off to do whatever I'll be doing yesterday.
-->P.S. yesterday: [...]

-->'''[=FCG2=]: OK I'M SHUTTING THIS MEMO DOWN FOR MY PAST SELF.\\
[=FCG2=]: SINCE HE'S CURRENTLY LYING UNCONSCIOUS ON THE FLOOR AN HOUR AGO.\\
[=FCG2=]: SEE YOU IN THE FUTURE-NOW.'''

* ''VideoGames/TasokareHotel'' In Chapter 8, this exchange takes place when [[spoiler:Neko opens Kiriko's box to send Osoto to hell.]]

* ''VideoGames/TasokareHotel'' In Chapter 8, this exchange takes place when [[spoiler:Neko opens Kiriko's box to send Osoto to hell.]]

-->[[spoiler:'''Masaki Osoto:''' I remember now! In the future, I went to hell because of you!]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Neko Tsukahara:''' Your English grammar is wrong!]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

-->[[spoiler:'''John Sheridan:''']] The question of who [[spoiler:stole Babylon 4]] is one of the greatest mysteries in Earth military history! And you're telling me it was... me!? Uh, is me? Is going to be me?

* ''WebComic/EightBitTheater'':

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Mikuru from ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' is aware of the tense trouble, but she keeps flubbing it anyway. Considering that Mikuru is spacey and {{Moe}}, this leads to Adult!Mikuru showing Kyon a mole on her breasts while saying something like "But you were the one who told me about it...wait, has that not happened yet? oops...". Later in that episode Kyon casually asks Mikuru if she has a mole "right about here" and points to the location on his own chest. She turns around, checks, and starts trying to beat the information out of him. That would be where Kyon "told her about it"- it's a paradox.

* In ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'', Dr. Manhattan, who is able to perceive the past, present and future, says "Yes, yes, he [[spoiler:killed Blake and half of New York]]. Excuse me, Rorschach, I'm informing Laurie 90 seconds ago," to Laurie "Silk Spectre" Juspeczyk, being confused by tachyon interference, before saying the same thing to Rorschach 90 seconds later. He's even in the exact same pose and position (relative to the walls of the panel) both times he says it. Also, the whole flashback (flashnow?) scene on Mars.

* Comicbook/{{Cable}} is this trope ''personified'', as there's often no telling from which point in his life the Cable you're dealing with is actually from. It would be ''completely possible'' for him to be KilledOffForReal, and ''still'' continue to appear in comics simply because he hasn't died ''yet''. The best you have is a few markers, like whether or not he's currently infected with the T-O virus, or if he has Belle.[[note]]A sentient A.I. who helps manage his time travel abilities.[[/note]] However even ''that'' isn't a given.

--->'''Shinji''':''“You were right, this is really strange from the other side,”''\\
'''Daniel''':''“You get used to it, Shinji. And technically, I will be right. I haven’t said that yet. This is six months in my past, too.”''

--->'''Ching''':''“20th Century German can’t handle discussing time loops very well. Avaloni has tenses for that, if you get a chance to learn it.”''

-->''"Months of treating you like crap... and you still wanted me." She sat down on the bench beside him. "And I wanted you. Couldn't admit it to myself, but I did. Do. Whatever fucking tense I should be using."''

* In ''FanFic/HogyokuExMachina'':

'''Ichigo:''' Are. Sorry. She got… will get better.

* In ''FanFic/EquestriaAHistoryRevealed'', the narrator's confusing take on time travel and method for dealing with the Starswirl inconsistency tends to invoke this trope more than a few times.

* ''FanFic/TheTwilightChild'': Comes up during one chapter, when there's two different Twilight Sparkles, one from "now", and one from next Tuesday, who are being watched from a character for whom they are both Past-Twilight. The character's attempt to keep everything straight in her head fails, and on more than one occasion the narration just ''gives up'' trying to make sense of it.

''(later)''\\

-->Ever gallant, wasn’t he? No wonder I’d crushed at him. Was crushing? Had been currently crushing? I hated time travel tenses.

-->'''Valerie''': (''confused'') Uh, Danny? What are you talking about?
-->(''Danny sighs'')
-->'''Danny''': You know what? I really don't know anymore.
* "Fanfic/BrotherOnBrotherDaughterOnMother" has this line from [[spoiler:Eleya's time-traveling future daughter]]:
-->"I was--''will be'' born in 2421."

[[folder:Film — Animated]]
* The tagliney prophecy which drives the action of the animated Science Fiction film ''[[Animation/{{Gandahar}} Light Years]]'' makes use of it: "In a thousand years, Gandahar was destroyed. A thousand years ago, Gandahar will be saved."

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

--> '''Marty:''' It's my fault -- the whole thing is my fault. If I hadn't bought that damn book, then none of this would've happened.\\

--> '''Will Riker:''' Someone once said, "Don't try to be a great man; just be a man, and let history make its own judgement."\\

* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}''

-->'''Gordon''': We've found his next target. He's put it in tomorrow's newspaper.\\
'''Kevin''': Then we'd have been too late. If only there will be something we could do.

-->'''Joe''': In seventy years, time travel will have been invented.

* The first thing Agatha says after being pulled from the [[PoweredByAForsakenChild pre-crime unit]] in ''Film/MinorityReport'' is "Is it now?".

-->'''Svetz''': Maybe we can go around you. Zeera, try this. Send me back to an hour before the earlier Zeera arrives. Ford's automobile won't have disappeared yet. I'll duplicate it, duplicate the duplicate, take the reversed duplicate and the original past you in the big extension cage. That leaves you to destroy the duplicate instead of the original. I reappear after you've gone, leave the original automobile for Ford, and come back here with the reversed duplicate. How's that?\\
'''Zeera''': It sounded great. Would you mind going through it again?\\
'''Svetz''': "Let's see. I go back to--

-->[[spoiler:'''John Sheridan''']]: The question of who [[spoiler:stole Babylon 4]] is one of the greatest mysteries in Earth military history! And you're telling me it was... me!? Uh, is me? Is going to be me?
* Taken to ridiculous extremes in ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', thanks to Sheldon's...eccentricities...when the guys are trying to figure out the timeline of ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII''.
-->'''Sheldon''': Wait, whoa whoa. Is "placed" right? Is "placed" the right tense for something that would have happened in the future of a past that was affected by something in the future?\\
'''Leonard''': Had will have placed?\\
'''Sheldon''': That's my boy.

-->'''Prue''': We barely got away as it was. ... Is. Will be. You know, I've never been good with tenses.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E6Shada "Shada"]]:
--->'''Chronotis:''' I am, I was, I will be, Professor Chronotis. Oh dear ... we Gallifreyans have never managed to come up with a satisfactory form of grammar to cover these situations.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E4TheTwoDoctors "The Two Doctors"]], the Sixth Doctor comments on the Second Doctor in this convoluted way.

--->'''Seventh Doctor:''' ''An anti-gravitation matter transmitter. Didn't you give me this next year?''
** A non-comedic use: Rose, in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E13ThePartingOfTheWays "The Parting of the Ways"]], is sent back home to avoid a bloodbath taking place in the future. Jackie brushes it off, but it tears Rose up enough that she tears up other things ...
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E2TheBeastBelow "The Beast Below"]], Amy ends up encountering the TimeTravelTenseTrouble, telling a little girl she's getting married "a long time ago tomorrow morning." Which does ''technically'' make sense in the same way as "a week tomorrow" (specifically, she'd gone forwards in time from the night before her wedding).
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E6TheVampiresOfVenice "The Vampires of Venice"]]:
*** The Doctor says the girls are like Houdini: "He was shorter. Will be shorter. I'm rambling ..."
*** Rory says he's getting married in 430 years ... which is why they have to have this conversation RIGHT NOW.
** From [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]]:

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang "The Big Bang"]]: Even a Time Lord has trouble sometimes:

** In the Eleventh Doctor episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E4TheDoctorsWife "The Doctor's Wife"]], Idris[[spoiler:!TARDIS]], in addition to liking biting (it's like kissing, only there's a winner!) has some initial trouble clarifying her tenses. [[spoiler:It makes sense, since she's the spirit of the Doctor's vehicle trapped within a flesh body. She jumps across space and time without regard to those silly simian concepts of past, present, and future.]]

--->'''Iain''': Amazing the candour a politician can show!\\
'''Lembit Opik''': I'm not a politician any more – I can do what I like!

--->'''Lister''': Hey, it hasn't happened, has it? It has "will have going to have happened" happened, but it hasn't actually "happened" happened yet, hactually [sic].\\
'''Rimmer''': Poppycock! It will be happened; it shall be going to be happening; it will be was an event that could will have been taken place in the future. Simple as that. Your bucket's been kicked, baby.

--->'''Lister''': We don't exist here anymore!\\
'''Kryten''': Actually sir, we don't ever have existed here anymore, but this is hardly the time to be conjugating temporal verbs in the past impossible never tense!

--->'''Janeway''': ''(returning to Voyager from the 29th Century)'' See you in the 24th Century.\\
'''Seven of Nine''': I look forward to it. Or should I say backward?\\
'''Janeway''': Don't start.

---> '''Picard:''' We must anticipate, and try not to make the same mistake . . . once."
** [[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Captain Archer]] isn't too fond of temporal grammar either.
---> '''Archer:''' So you're telling me you brought me back...what, ten months ago? What about Jonathan Archer ten months ago? Where's he?\\

-->"They say, or said, that it's based on a jet fighter, or was, but it isn't wasn't."

[[folder:New Media]]
* From [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki's]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Traveler_Convention#Time_Traveler_Convention article]] on the MIT Time Traveler Convention: "The spacetime coordinates continue to be publicized prominently and indefinitely, so that future time travelers will be aware and have the opportunity to have attended."
* ''[[WebAnimation/WeeblAndBob Parsley Boobs]]'' has this exchange between the future counterparts of Carl and Steve:
-->'''Steve:''' Close the door! Don't you know he suffers from amblyopia?
-->'''Future Carl:''' Yes I do... for I are he! Only, I'm from the future.
-->'''Future Steve:''' You know, I really do think it's "I AM he".
-->'''Future Carl:''' It's all this time traveling! It really confuses me as to what tense we should be using!
** [[DontExplainTheJoke The joke being that he's using incorrect number and person, not tense.]]

* In ''VideoGame/LegacyOfHeroes'', Shimmerstorm speaks exclusively in this
--> '''Shimmerstorm''': "Like I'll tell you yesterday, I was ready."

[[folder:Webcomics]]

-->'''Sarda''': [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2009/01/22/episode-1085-hardly-knew-ye/ He's gone to a better place.]]\\
'''Cleric''': Like, metaphorically, or...\\
'''Sarda''': No. Like the beach. But '''''not''''' the moon.\\
'''Ranger''': Am I the only one confused by that?\\
'''Rogue''': I'm a little lost on the whole beach/moon thing as well.\\
'''Cleric''': Sir, could you be more specific? Thanks.\\
'''Sarda''': Absolutely. He is [[JustOneSecondOutOfSync locked in perpetual orbit around a point three seconds to the left of the future]].\\
[BeatPanel]\\
'''Ranger''': That didn't help me.\\
'''Rogue''': He '''''was''''' specific. You have to give him that.\\
'''Cleric''': What does that mean?\\
'''Sarda''': It means there's not much point talking about him.\\
'''Cleric''': That doesn't make '''''sense'''''. Things don't just '''''happen'''''. [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2009/01/24/episode-1086-shit-just-got-realer/ I demand a rational explanation.]]\\
'''Sarda''': Your brain can't '''''process''''' six of the verb tenses needed to explain it to you.

-->'''Sarda:''' You can't do something you haven't yet done differently than how it will come to be done.\\

--->'''Bob''': Okay, if I told you what I did, how did I get back?\\
'''Prometheus''': Don't you mean, if you ''will'' tell me what you ''will'' do, how ''will'' you get back?\\
'''(BeatPanel.)'''\\
'''Bob''': How about, if you ''won't'' tell me how I ''did'' get back, I ''will'' shove my boot up your ass?

-->'''Luigi''': [[spoiler:Now you listen here young lady, I'm going to teach you better manners than that.]]\\
'''[[spoiler:Rosa]]''': [[spoiler:Shut up, you're not my dad...]]\\
'''Luigi''': [[spoiler:What?]]\\
'''[[spoiler:Rosa]]''': [[spoiler:Yet.]]

''(Later)''\\
'''Kim Possible''': But if the Supreme One has the time monkey in the future... or the past... or... Wow. Aah! Brain pain.\\
'''Rufus 3000''': Time travel does that.

-->'''Fry''': No, no! What have I will have done?

I REMEMBER WHEN ALL THIS WILL BE AGAIN.#

--->'''Chronotis:''' I am, I was, I will be, Professor Chronotis. Oh dear . . . we Gallifreyans have never managed to come up with a satisfactory form of grammar to cover these situations.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E2TheBeastBelow "The Beast Below"]], Amy ends up encountering the TimeTravelTenseTrouble, telling a little girl she's getting married "a long time ago tomorrow morning." Which does ''technically'' make sense in the same way as "a week tomorrow" (specifically, she'd gone forwards in time from night before her wedding).

[[folder:Boardgames]]
* In ''TabletopGame/TimeAgent'' the objective is to have always been winning by using time travel to have changed the past, while never having had time travel invented. The flow of causality operates according to the SchrodingersGun trope, which means that technologies often work until you discover that even before you had been making changes to the timeline, they had never been working. In one instance the player commander of the Zytal had to leave and be replaced by another player, but from the board's perspective, the new player had always been the commander of the Zytal, for the previous commander had never been playing.
** ''MAKE IT STOP''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* The sisters (Prue in particular) in ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' always run into difficulty when trying to get their heads around the concept of tenses when time travel is involved.