4.3 The six tenses of simple and perfect

The six tenses:

The simple tense

Simple tenses indicate simple time relationships.

The present tense expresses an action in the present or one that occurs always, repeatedly, or habitually.

Example: The horses eat the hay every day.

The past tense conveys a definite completed action in the past.

Example: The horses ate the hay last week.

The future tense communicates an action that has not yet occurred but will take place in the future. This tense uses “ will ” or “ going to ” with the past participle.

Example: The horses will eat / are going to eat the hay tomorrow.

The past participle

The following hand out lists the present, past, and past participle for common irregular verbs: Irregular Verb tense list

The perfect tense

A verb in the perfect tense expresses an action that was or will be completed at the time of another action or a specific occasion. The perfect tense of an action uses have or has with the past participle.

The present perfect tense expresses an action that is completed at the present time or is continuing into the present. This tense uses have or has + the past participle of a verb.

Example: The horses have eaten all the hay this morning.

The horse has eaten all the hay this morning.

The past perfect tense conveys an action that was completed before a time in the past. This tense uses had + the past participle of a verb.

Example: The horses had eaten all the hay before it rained.

The horse had eaten all the hay before it rained.

The future perfect tense expresses an action that has not yet occurred but will take place in the future. This tense uses will or going to + have + the past participle of a verb.

Example: The horses will have eaten / are going to have eaten the hay before it rains.

The horse will have eaten / is going to have eaten the hay before it rains.

Objectives

Students will learn that verb conjugation depends on the time in which an action or idea is expressed.

The students will learn that the two basic forms of verb tenses for the present, past, or future times are the simple tense and the perfect tense. They will also learn that in the present tense, a singular subject takes a singular verb and that singular verbs end with – s . Furthermore, a plural subject takes a plural verb, which does not end with – s .

Students should also learn that the perfect tense always ends with the past participle of a verb.