Verb Tenses
When you are writing paragraphs, you must use verbs that are in the same tense. Tense means
time. The tense of a verb helps show the time of the action. Verbs change from one tense to
another tense depending on when the action takes place so that you can tell whether something is
happening now, has happened in the past, or will happen in the future. There are six tenses that
you use every day in your speaking and writing. These six tenses are present tense, past tense,
future tense, present perfect tense, past perfect tense, and future perfect tense.
Simple Tenses
The present, past, and future tenses are called the simple tenses.
1. The simple present tense tells what happens now. (Examples: We climb over the rocks. We
eat dinner.)
A. Identify simple present tense verbs by their singular form -s or -es endings (climbs, eats)
or by their plural form – no -s or -es ending (climb, eat).
B. Simple present tense verbs have a singular form and a plural form.
C. No helping verbs are used with the simple present tense verbs.
2. The simple past tense tells what happened before now. (Examples: We climbed over the
rocks. We ate dinner.)
A. Identify past tense verbs by their -ed, -d, -t endings (climbed) or by their irregular past
tense spelling (ate).
B. Past tense verbs do not have a singular or plural form.
C. No helping verbs are used with the simple past tense verbs.
3. The future tense tells what will happen later. (Examples: I will climb over the rocks. We will
eat dinner.)
A. Identify future tense verbs by the helping verbs will or shall (will/shall climb, will/shall
eat).
B. Future tense verbs do not have a singular or plural form.
C. Only the helping verbs will or shall can be used with the simple future tense.
Perfect Tenses
The perfect tenses include the present perfect, the past perfect, and the future perfect. You can
identify the perfect tenses easily by following the guidelines below.
1. Present perfect tense verbs are identified only by the helping verbs has or have.
A. The helping verb has is singular, and the helping verb have is plural.
B. Use has or have with a main verb.
(has finished, have finished - has eaten, have eaten)
2. Past perfect tense verbs are identified only by the helping verb had.
A. The helping verb had does not have a singular or plural form because it is past tense.
B. Use had with a main verb. (had finished - had eaten).
3. Future perfect tense verbs are identified only by the helping verbs will have.
A. Future perfect tense verbs do not have a singular or plural form.
B. Use will/shall have with a main verb,
(will have finished, shall have finished - will have eaten, shall have eaten)
When you tell about something that is happening in two time periods, one earlier than the other,
you will use the perfect tenses. The word perfect means something that is completed. Therefore,
all perfect tenses tell about something that began at an earlier time and that is completed in a
present, past, or future time.
4. The present perfect tense tells about an action that has begun in the past but is completed in
the present. (Examples: He has finished his homework. We have eaten our dinner.)
5. The past perfect tense tells about an action that was completed before another event, which
was also in the past. (Examples: He had finished his homework before Mom came home. We
had eaten our dinner before company arrived.)
6. The future perfect tense tells about an action that will be completed at a certain time in the
future. (Examples: By Friday, he will have finished his homework. We will have eaten our
dinner by game time.)
Practice: Underline each verb or verb phrase. Identify the verb tense by telling if it is present,
past, future, present perfect, past perfect, or future perfect. Then circle R or I for regular or
irregular verb status.
1. The graduates have already received their diplomas. __________________
2. Dixie chased the raccoon off the porch and up a tree. __________________
3. 1 will have earned fifty bonus points by Friday.
__________________
4. Aaron studies his Latin for two hours every day.
__________________
5. Mitchell will swim tomorrow at the city pool.
__________________
6. Andrea had written several letters to her parents.
__________________
7. He purchased a new truck yesterday.
__________________
R or I
R or I
R or I
R or I
R or I
R or I
R or I
Guidelines for Finding the Simple and Perfect Tenses
When you are writing paragraphs, it is best to keep your writing in the same tense. Simple and
perfect tenses are used together to keep writing in the same tense. You are allowed to make a
reference to another time frame by using other tenses to make that reference. Therefore, it is
important to know how to recognize what determines the tense of each sentence you write. You
have learned about the six tenses: the three simple tenses and the three perfect tenses. To keep
from becoming confused about what tense you are in, just train yourself to quickly recognize
four things:
1. If there is only one verb in a sentence, the tense will be either simple present or simple past.
2. If there is a will or shall helping verb with a main verb, the tense will be simple future.
3. If there is a has, have, or had helping verb with a main verb, the tense will be either present
perfect or past perfect.
4. If there is a will or shall plus the helping verb have with a main verb, the tense will be future
perfect tense.
If you have a verb phrase, it is the helping verb, not the main verb that determines the
tense. If you have a present perfect tense helping verb, your writing will be in present perfect
tense even though a main verb has an -ed ending. Use the regular verb examples below and the
helping verb chart at the bottom of the page to help you learn the simple and perfect tenses.
(Present tense and past tense are not included in the helping verb chart because there are no
helping verbs with the simple present and past tenses.)
______________________________________________________________________________
Simple Present Tense: What to look for: one verb with -s, -es, or plain ending.
1. He walks to the park.
2. They walk to the park.
Simple Past Tense: What to look for: one verb with -ed ending.
3. He walked to the park.
4. They walked to the park.
Simple Future Tense: What to look for: will or shall with a main verb.
5. He will walk to the park.
6. They shall walk to the park.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Present Perfect Tense: What to look for: has or have with a main verb.
1. He has walked to the park.
2. They have walked to the park.
Past Perfect Tense: What to look for: had with a main verb.
3. He had walked to the park.
4. They had walked to the park.
Future Perfect: What to look for: will/shall have with a main verb.
5. He will have walked to the park.
6. They shall have walked to the park.
______________________________________________________________________________
Study the conjugation of the verb climb below. Use it as an example as you conjugate other
verbs.
Example of the Conjugation of the Verb climb
Present
Past
Future
No HV
No HV
will or shall
Singular/Plural
climbs / climb climbed will climb
shall climb
Present Perfect
has or have
Past Perfect
had
Future Perfect
will/shall have
has climbed
have climbed
had climbed
will have climbed
shall have climbed
Principal Parts of Verbs
Every verb has four principal parts, or basic forms that are used to make the six different tenses
of verbs. In order to speak and write correctly, you must learn how to use the principal parts to
form the different verb tenses with ease and confidence. The four principal parts are called
present, past, past participle, and present participle. Study the principal parts and examples
below.
Principal Parts
Present
Past
Past participle
Present participle
Regular Verbs
climb
climbed
climbed
climbing
How they are made_______________________
climb (climbs)
climb + ed
climb + ed
climb + ing
Principal Parts
Present
Past
Past participle
Present participle
Irregular Verbs
sing
sang
sung
singing
How they are made
sing (sings)
sang (vowel change)
sung (vowel change)
sing + ing
Helping Verb Needed
none
none
has, have,had
am, is, are, was,
were, be, been
1. Simple present tense is made from the present principal part (see the chart above). (climb,
sing)
2. Simple past tense is made from the past principal part (see the chart above). (climbed, sang)
3. Simple future tense is made with the helping verb will and the present principal part (see the
chart above). (will/shall climb, will/shall sing)
Principal Parts Used to Make the Perfect Tenses
1. Present perfect tense is made with the helping verbs has or have and the past participle part
(see the chart above). (has/have climbed, has/have sung)
2. Past perfect tense is made with the helping verbs had and the past participle (see the chart
above). (had climbed, had sung)
3. Future perfect tense is made with the helping verbs will and have and the past participle part
(see the chart above). (will/shall have climbed, will/shall have sung)
Progressive and Emphatic Forms of Verbs
Progressive form. Some principal parts are also used to make other verb forms of the six tenses.
Progressive verbs are made by using the present participle (-ing verb) and one of the be helping
verbs: am, is, are, was, were, be, been. Progressive verbs are used to show continuous action by
using -ing verbs. Progressive verbs can be made with all six tenses.
1. Present progressive verbs are made with the helping verbs am, is or are and the present
participle (.ing verb). (am/is/are climbing, am/is/are singing)
2. Past progressive verbs are made with the helping verbs was or were and the present participle
(-ing verb). (was/were climbing, was/were singing)
3. Future progressive verbs are made with the helping verbs will/shall and be and the present
participle (-ing verb), (will/shall be climbing, will/shall be singing)
4. Present perfect progressive verbs are made with the helping verbs has, have and been and the
present participle (-ing verb). (has/have been climbing, has/have been singing)
5. Past perfect progressive verbs are made with the helping verbs had and been and the present
participle (-ing verb). (had been climbing, had been singing)
6. Future perfect progressive verbs are made with the helping verbs will/shall and have and been
and the present participle (-ing verb). (will/shall have been climbing, will/shall have been
singing)
Emphatic form. Emphatic verbs are made by using the present principal part and one of the do,
does, did helping verbs. Emphatic verbs are used to give special emphasis to the action of a
verb. Emphatic verbs can be made in only two tenses: present and past.
7. Present emphatic verbs are made with the helping verbs do or does and the present principal
part. (do/does climb, do/does sing)
8. Past emphatic verbs are made with the helping verb did and the present principal part. (did
climb, did sing).
Guidelines for Finding the Tense of the Progressive and Emphatic Verb Forms
Remember, it is important to know how to recognize which verb to use to keep your writing in
the same tense. There are six tenses. Above, you just learned about the progressive and emphatic
forms and how they depend heavily on helping verbs; therefore, it is important that you expand
your knowledge of helping verbs.
Since the helping verb determines the tense of a verb phrase, you must be able to quickly
recognize the tense of a helping verb as soon as you see it. When you look at the verb phrase to
tell what tense it is, look at the helping verb, not the main verb. The progressive verb form can be
made in all six tenses. The emphatic verb form can be made in only two tenses: present and past.
Use the Helping Verb Chart below to help you learn the helping verbs which form the
progressive and emphatic verb forms. (Present and past tense are not included in the chart
because they have no helping verbs.)
Present· Progressive
Past Progressive
Future Progressive
Singular: am, is Plural: are
Singular: was
Singular or Plural:
will (shall) + be
I am eating.
He is eating.
He was eating. They were eating.
They are eating.
Plural: were
He will/shall be eating.
They will/shall be eating.
Present Perfect Progressive
Singular:
Plural:
has + been
have + been
Past Perfect Progressive
Singular:
Plural:
had + been
had + been
Future Perfect Progressive
Singular or Plural:
will/shall + have been
He has been eating.
They have been eating.
He had been eating.
They had been eating.
He will/shall have been eating.
They will/shall have been eating.
Present Emphatic
Singular: does
Plural: do
Past Emphatic________________________________
Singular: did
Plural: did
He does eat.
They do eat.
He did eat.
They did eat.