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Verb Tenses
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What Are Verb Tenses For?
What Verb Tenses Are for in 130 Seconds
Verb tenses are used to express when an action is taking place.
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Past actions:
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have already happened
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are finished
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Present actions:
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are repeated
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are facts, beliefs & generalizations
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are happening now
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are a result of past actions
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Future actions:
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haven't happened yet
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are taking place at a future time
Past
Last night, Hubert the inventor finally solved the problem he was having on his project.
Actions are completed.
Present
“It is an excellent idea! I’m telling you!”
Actions are repeated regularly or are in progress.
Future
“Okay, next time I will listen to you. It will be safer.”
Actions are expected to happen in the future.
Simple Verb Tenses
Simple Past
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past actions
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completed actions or events
Simple Present
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regular repeated actions or events
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facts and generalizations
Simple Future
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actions or events taking place at a future time
Simple Past
Hubert was happy with the time machine he just finished.
Simple Present
He is an inventor and he builds a lot of machines.
Simple Future
Hubert will work on his inventions as long as he can.
Continuous Verb Tenses
Past Continuous
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also known as the past progressive
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past actions or events
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an action interrupted by another action
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actions still in progress at a particular time in the past
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often used with the simple past
Present Continuous
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also known as the present progressive
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present actions or events
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actions still in progress at the moment
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temporary habits and routines
Future Continuous
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also known as the future progressive
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future actions or events
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actions still in progress at a particular time in the future
Past Continuous
The machine caught fire while he was testing it.
Present Continuous
Hubert and his assistant are fixing the machine because of yesterday’s incident.
Future Continuous
Hubert will be taking no chances when they test the time machine again tonight.
Perfect Verb Tenses
Past Perfect
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actions or events which happened before other actions or events in the past
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often used with the simple past
Present Perfect
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past actions or events with a present result
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actions or events happened at indefinite time
Future Perfect
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actions or events completed in the future
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often used with time expressions
Past Perfect
The assistant agreed to test the machine because Hubert had promised it would be safe.
Present Perfect
The assistant has come back from his time travel with some souvenirs.
Future Perfect
The assistant will have visited many time periods by the end of the week.
Perfect Continuous Verb Tenses
Past Perfect Continuous
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actions or events that began, continued and were completed in the past
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actions or events that continued up to a moment in the past
Present Perfect Continuous
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actions or events began in the past and are still continuing
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actions or events’ duration
Future Perfect Continuous
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actions or events that will be continuing in the future
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actions or events’ duration
Past Perfect Continuous
Hubert and his assistant had been travelling back to the present when the machine broke down.
Present Perfect Continuous
The machine has been working for 24 hours non stop, it needs to cool down.
Future Perfect Continuous
The machine will have been cooling down for a full hour in 3 minutes.
Signal Words
Signal words are keywords that can indicate when actions are taking place or give context to the situation.
Signal words can be placed:
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At the beginning of the sentence:
Every morning, Hubert drinks a lot of coffee.
Yesterday, he drank only one cup of coffee.
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At the end of the sentence:
Hubert drinks a lot of coffee every morning.
He drank only one cup of coffee yesterday.
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Between a verb and its auxiliary:
Hubert is currently drinking a cup of coffee.
He has always taken his coffee with sugar.
Conditionals and Imperative
The conditionals and the imperative are not verb tenses: they are verb moods. Where verb tenses indicate the time when an action is taking place, verb moods express the speaker’s attitude.
Conditionals
The conditional mood expresses that a condition must be met for something to happen.
It often uses the:
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modals: could, would or should
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conjunction: if
Several verb tenses are used to express the conditional mood.
For example:
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If Hubert found the time, he would fix his time machine.
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If Hubert fixes his time machine, he will travel to the future.
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If Hubert had fixed the time machine, he would have travelled to the future.
Imperative
The imperative mood gives a command or makes a request. It uses the base form of the verb and the subject is implied, not written nor said.
For example:
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Fix the machine.
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Don’t speak so loud.
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Help me!