habituals

Habituals refer to grammatical or lexical means by which a language marks actions or states that occur regularly, repeatedly, or as a matter of habit, rather than at a single moment. In linguistic analysis, habituality is an imperfective category that encodes frequency or generality over time. The habitual can be expressed through dedicated markers in some languages, by periphrastic constructions, or by relying on tense and aspect together with contextual cues.

In English, habitual meaning is often conveyed by the simple present to express routines, as in "I go to the gym on Tuesdays." Past habitual meaning is commonly expressed with would or used to, as in "When we were kids, we would play outside" or "She used to visit us every summer." The phrase be in the habit of can also indicate habitual behavior, typically in both past and present contexts.

Cross-linguistically, many languages encode habitual meaning with specific habitual aspect markers or verb forms. Some languages have a dedicated habitual marker; others rely on general tenses, aspectual particles, or periphrastic expressions to convey repetition or routine. The habitual is related to, but distinct from, the progressive (which marks ongoing events) and from iterative or frequentative forms (which emphasize repeated instances).

In usage, habituals help convey routine, general truths, and long-standing patterns, contributing to discourse by signaling the stability of behavior over time. Understanding habituality aids in cross-language typology and in interpreting how languages encode time, aspect, and event structure.