Verb Tenses

Verb Tenses Verb tenses are an attribute of verbs that show time.

Remember that verbs are words that show an action or a state of being.

So, when we use different verb tenses, we are showing the different times that these actions took place.

There are only six tenses for English verbs! Three of them are called simple tenses, and three of

them are called perfect tenses. One tricky thing is that each of those six tenses can

be made progressive, so it almost seems like there are 12 tenses. But those progressive forms are not really different verb tenses, they are just different forms of the six verb tenses.

Simple Tenses

Simple present tense verbs show actions that happen regularly or that are permanently happening.

We play football in the backyard.My niece skips down the road.

Simple past tense verbs are verbs that show actions that took place in the past.

We played football in the backyard.My niece skipped down the road

Simple future tense verbs are verbs that show actions that have not taken place yet, but that will take place in the future.

We will play football in the backyard.My niece will skip down the road.

Perfect Tenses

All English verbs also have three perfect verb tenses: present perfect tense, past perfect tense, and future perfect tense.All of these perfect tenses are formed with the helping verbs have, has, had, will and shall and the past participles (-ed form for regular verbs) of the verb.

Perfect Tenses

Present perfect tense verbs show an action that was finished recently or one that was completed at an indefinite time in the past. These use has or have.

We have played football.My niece has skipped down the road.

Past perfect tense verbs show an action that came directly before another action in the past. These use had.

We had played football.My niece had skipped down the road before I came.

Future perfect tense verbs show an action that will happen before another future action happens. These use will have and shall have.

By tomorrow, we will have played football.By noon, my niece will have skipped down the road.

Progressive FormProgressive/Continuous FormsBoth simple and perfect verb tenses can also be made into progressive verb forms. Sometimes they are also called continuous.That just means that they show an action that is in progress or that is continuing.

To form this type of verb, you add one of the forms of the verb be with the present participle of the verb. (The present participle ends in ing.)

We are playing. (present progressive)We were playing. (past progressive)We will be playing. (future progressive)We have been playing. (present perfect progressive)We had been playing. (past perfect progressive)We will have been playing. (future perfect progressive)