English Language Arts

Verb Tenses

Concept sheet | English Language Arts

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What Are Verb Tenses For?
Simple Verb Tenses
Continuous Verb Tenses
Perfect Verb Tenses
Perfect Continuous Verb Tenses
Signal Words
Conditionals and Imperative

What Are Verb Tenses For?

What Are Verb Tenses For?

Rules

Verb tenses are used to express when an action is taking place.

Past actions:

have already happened
are finished

Present actions:

are repeated
are facts, beliefs & generalizations
are happening now
are a result of past actions

Future actions:

haven't happened yet
are taking place at a future time

Examples

Past

Hubert the inventor woke up because he had a great idea.

Last night, Hubert the inventor finally solved the problem he was having on his project.

Actions are completed.

Present

Hubert the inventor is telling his cautious robot assistant about the idea he had.

“It is an excellent idea! I’m telling you!”

Actions are repeated regularly or are in progress.

Future

Hubert the inventor, covered in bandages, tells his robot assistant he was right.

“Okay, next time I will listen to you. It will be safer.”

Actions are expected to happen in the future.

Simple Verb Tenses

Rules

Simple Past

past actions
completed actions or events

Simple Present

regular repeated actions or events
facts and generalizations

Simple Future

actions or events taking place at a future time

Examples

Simple Past

Hubert the inventor is proudly looking at his completed time machine.

Hubert was happy with the time machine he just finished.

Simple Present

Hubert the inventor is making adjustments to his time machine and is surrounded by his numerous other inventions.

He is an inventor and he builds a lot of machines.

Simple Future

Old man Hubert the inventor is fiddling with one of his machines.

Hubert will work on his inventions as long as he can.

Continuous Verb Tenses

Rules

Past Continuous

also known as the past progressive
past actions or events
an action interrupted by another action
actions still in progress at a particular time in the past
often used with the simple past

Present Continuous

also known as the present progressive
present actions or events
actions still in progress at the moment
temporary habits and routines

Future Continuous

also known as the future progressive
future actions or events
actions still in progress at a particular time in the future

Examples

Past Continuous

Hubert the inventor freaking out because his time machine caught fire.

The machine caught fire while he was testing it.

Present Continuous

Hubert the inventor fixing damage to the time machine with the help of his assistant robot.

Hubert and his assistant are fixing the machine because of yesterday’s incident.

Future Continuous

Hubert the inventor wearing his safety goggles and holding a fire extinguisher.

Hubert will be taking no chances when they test the time machine again tonight.

Perfect Verb Tenses

Rules

Past Perfect

actions or events which happened before other actions or events in the past
often used with the simple past

Present Perfect

past actions or events with a present result
actions or events happened at indefinite time

Future Perfect

actions or events completed in the future
often used with time expressions

Examples

Past Perfect

Hubert the inventor is promising to his robot assistant that testing his invention is safe.

The assistant agreed to test the machine because Hubert had promised it would be safe.

Present Perfect

Hubert the inventor is surprised to see his robot assistant coming out of the time machine covered in arrows.

The assistant has come back from his time travel with some souvenirs.

Future Perfect

Hubert the inventor is showing his robot assistant the time machine test planning calendar.

The assistant will have visited many time periods by the end of the week.

Perfect Continuous Verb Tenses

Rules

Past Perfect Continuous

actions or events that began, continued and were completed in the past
actions or events that continued up to a moment in the past

Present Perfect Continuous

actions or events began in the past and are still continuing
actions or events’ duration

Future Perfect Continuous

actions or events that will be continuing in the future
actions or events’ duration

Examples

Past Perfect Continuous

Hubert the inventor and his robot assistant step out of the smoking time machine.

Hubert and his assistant had been travelling back to the present when the machine broke down.

Present Perfect Continuous

The robot assistant tells Hubert the inventor that the time machine overheated.

The machine has been working for 24 hours non stop, it needs to cool down.

Future Perfect Continuous

Hubert the inventor is waiting for the time machine to cool down, His robot assistant tells him it should be cool soon.

The machine will have been cooling down for a full hour in 3 minutes.

Signal Words

Tips

Signal words are keywords that can indicate when actions are taking place or give context to the situation.

Signal words can be placed:

At the beginning of the sentence:

Every morning, Hubert drinks a lot of coffee.

Yesterday, he drank only one cup of coffee.

At the end of the sentence:

Hubert drinks a lot of coffee every morning.

He drank only one cup of coffee yesterday.

Between a verb and its auxiliary:

Hubert is currently drinking a cup of coffee.

He has always taken his coffee with sugar.

Past Tenses Signal Word Examples

Present Tenses Signal Word Examples

Future Tenses Signal Word Examples

Conditionals and Imperative

Be careful!

The conditionals and the imperative are not verb tenses: they are verb moods.

Verb moods express the speaker’s attitude.

Conditional: a condition must be met for something to happen.

→ If Hubert found the time, he would fix his time machine.

Imperative: gives a command or makes a request.

→ Fix the machine