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How does it write correctly and why? How can I write this in the past tense? and also in question form how to say this? I mean the second action that did not happen and then you don't know how to continue living on.

I cannot live without hugging you.

I cannot live without hugged you.

I cannot live without apologizing to you.

I cannot live without apologized to you.

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First, you need to use the present participle in these cases. "Without" is a preposition in these sentences and so requires a noun or pronoun as its object. The prsent participle of a verb can be used as a noun (meaning the act or state represented by the verb) and is then called a gerund. The perfect participle cannot be used as a noun. So

I cannot live without hugging you

is the correct form.

Second, modals do not have a future tense, and some (e.g, "must") do not have a past tense. You have to work around that.

I shall not be able to live without hugging you

is grammatical but ambiguous between

I shall not be able to live without hugging you now

and

I shall not be able to live without hugging you in the future.

Third, putting this thought into the simple past sounds strange to me.

I could not live without hugging you

is grammatical, but seems more like a conditional statement rather than a past statement. To make it clearly about the past, try

I could not have continued living without having hugged you.

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  • what about in question form: How will I live without hugging/hugged you? referring to the past tense of this word.
    – Boyep
    Commented Nov 28, 2019 at 19:49
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    You not really talking about a past tense. You are referring to perfect aspect. And it is not affected by whether it is a question or indicative. "How shall I live without having hugged you." "Live" is in the future. "Having hugged" refers to a preceding event, which we can infer has not yet happened, but may happen in the future.
    – Jeff Morrow
    Commented Nov 28, 2019 at 23:11
  • is it correct to say "kissed/kissing" as an action that didn't happen for some reason and then you don't know how to continue living on.?: "How shall I live without kissing you?" or "How shall I live without having kissed you?"
    – Boyep
    Commented Nov 29, 2019 at 11:36
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    The first, with "kissing," is ambiguous as to time and frequency. There may have been kissing in the past, and this refers to the future. It can be clarified with an adverbial phrase. The second, with "having kissed," implies that no kissing has occurred as yet. You cannot express every nuance by playing with verb forms. In fact, given the limited inflections on verb forms in English, verb forms frequently need to be supplemented by adverbs or adverbial phrases or by choice of verb.
    – Jeff Morrow
    Commented Nov 29, 2019 at 15:41
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    The verb in both sentences is "shall live," which is in the future tense. "Kissing" and "having kissed" are gerunds and do not have a tense.
    – Jeff Morrow
    Commented Nov 29, 2019 at 17:58

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