VERB TENSES
A Study Guide to Fourth-Grade Verb Tenses
The Special Verb “be”

Past Tense of “be”: was, were

Present Tense of “be”: am, is, are
Past Tense Verbs
Rules

Examples
For most verbs: Add –ed
Play --- played
For verbs ending with “e”: Add –d
Graze --- grazed
For verbs ending with a single vowel and
consonant (short vowel sound): Double the
consonant and add –ed
Stop --- stopped
For verbs ending with a consonant and y:
Change the “y” to “i” and add –ed
Carry --- carried
Past tense already happenED.
Irregular Verbs
Verb
begin
break
bring
come
drive
eat
give
grow
know
make
say
sing
take
tell
throw
wear
Past Tense
began
broke
brought
came
drove
ate
gave
grew
knew
made
said
sang
took
told
threw
wore
Past Tense with Helping
Verb
(has, have, had) begun
(has, have, had) broken
(has, have, had) brought
(has, have, had) come
(has, have, had) driven
(has, have, had) eaten
(has, have, had) given
(has, have, had) grown
(has, have, had) known
(has, have, had) made
(has, have, had) said
(has, have, had) sung
(has, have, had) taken
(has, have, had) told
(has, have, had) thrown
(has, have, had) worn
Present Tense

HappenING now!
For most verbs:
Add -ing
sing --- singing
stay --- staying
For verbs that end with s, x, z, ch, or
sh:
Add -es
pitch --- pitches
buzz --- buzzes
For verbs that end with a consonant
and y:
Change the y to i and add -es
study --- studies
fly --- flies
Future Tense

WILL happen

Always look for the helping verb: WILL

Example: The bats will hunt tonight.
Present Perfect Tense

(has, have) + (main verb)

It is used to connect the past with the present.

The action or state happened in the past.

It is still true in the present through memory or
continued use.
Present Perfect Tense: Examples

Experience: I have seen the movie Garfield.

Change: John has broken his leg.

Continued Situation: I have been in school since
Kindergarten.
Present Perfect Tense Quiz


Here is a quiz for you to practice using present
perfect tense verbs.
http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verbtenses_present-perfect_quiz.htm