在语言学与修辞学中，历史现在时（英语：Historical present），或称戏剧现在时、叙事现在时，是指在叙述过去的事件时，使用现在时时态的情况。历史现在时一般用于历史描述（尤其是编年史）、小说、新闻头条及日常对话中。在英语对话中，历史现在时常常和一些表示沟通的动词合用，如tell（告诉）、write（写下）、say（说）、go（写着、说）。在《牛津英语词典》中，历史现在时被称为Historic present，而在《韦氏词典》中，则是Historical present。

文学评论家和语法学家认为，历史现在时可以让过去的事件显得更加生动。

In linguistics and rhetoric, the historical present or historic present (also called dramatic present or narrative present) refers to the employment of the present tense when narrating past events. It is widely used in writing about history in Latin (where it is sometimes referred to by its Latin name, praesens historicum) and some modern European languages; in English it is used above all in historical chronicles (listing a series of events); it is also used in fiction, for "hot news" (as in headlines), and in everyday conversation (Huddleston & Pullum 2002: 129–131). In conversation, it is particularly common with "verbs of communication" such as tell, write, and say (and in colloquial uses, go) (Leech 2002: 7). "Historic present" is the form recognised by the Oxford English Dictionary, whereas "historical present" is the form in Merriam Webster.