Verb Tenses

• Verb tense


  Tells you when the verb happened
• Verb tenses

  • Past
  • Present
  • Future
• Categories of verb tenses

  • Simple
  • Perfect
  • Continuous
  • Perfect continuous
• Past simple


  1. Subject + verb in past form

  2. E.g. I walked to work today, She arrives late to school, I ate my lunch in the cafe, I saw my friend in the shop
• Irregular verbs have different past forms (e.g. eat - ate - eaten)
• Past continuous

  1. Subject + was/were + verb-ing

  2. E.g. I was working all day to finish my homework, We were walking home when my mum called me, He was waiting an hour when the bus finally arrived
• Past perfect continuous

  1. Subject + had been + verb-ing

  2. E.g. It had been raining all day so I couldn't walk to work, We had been looking for my phone for one hour when Jasmine found it under the sofa, She had been preparing dinner when I arrived home
• Present simple

  1. Subject + verb in present form

  2. E.g. I walk to work every morning and I visit the town center every weekend, She works as a teaching assistant in the school
• Present perfect

  1. Subject + have/has + verb in past form

  2. E.g. I have walked to school every day, They have traveled to China twice, Stacy has worked as a teaching assistant for three years now
• Present continuous

  1. Subject + am/is/are + verb-ing

  2. E.g. It is snowing outside, I am studying for my exam, She is eating her lunch
• Present perfect continuous

  1. Subject + have/has been + verb-ing

  2. E.g. I have been studying for three hours now, They have been living in the same house since 1999, It has been snowing all morning
• Future simple

  Subject + am/is/are going to + verb

  2. Subject + will/shall + verb

  3. Subject + will/shall + verb

  E.g. I am going to the shop, She is going to buy some clothes, We will go to the market on Wednesday, I shall ask my friend to help me with my homework tomorrow
• Future perfect

  1. Subject + will have + verb in past form

  2. E.g. I will have finished my homework by tomorrow evening, She will have worked as a teacher for three years by the end of this year, They will have arrived in China by now
• Future continuous


  1. Subject + will be + verb-ing

  2. E.g. I will be going to work tomorrow at 8:00 a.m., She will be moving house next month, I will be traveling to Turkey next weekend
• Future perfect continuous


  1. Subject + will have been + verb-ing

  2. E.g. I will have been cleaning the house for three hours when she arrives home, She will have been completing her homework for two hours, They will have been very tired from traveling for five hours