Verb Tenses

📖 Understanding Verb Tenses

Verbs show how things happen in time. They provide two types of information about time and perspective.

Verbs provide two types of information:

1Time - when things happen, whether now, in the past, or in the future.
2Aspect - how we view time (For example, an event that occurs only once, right now, or for a certain period?)

Think about both time and aspect while studying the twelve verb tenses of English.

🔧 Four Main Grammatical Parts

All verb tenses have four main grammatical parts:

1. Present

Current actions and states
Habitual actions
General truths

2. Present Participle

Ongoing actions
Continuous states
Progressive forms

3. Past

Completed actions
Past states
Historical events

4. Past Participle

Perfect tenses
Passive voice
Completed aspects

✈️ Example: The Irregular Verb "Fly"

Look at the twelve forms of the irregular verb fly. It may be easier to group tenses according to their main parts, rather than chronologically.

The Present: fly

1. Present

I fly

2. Future

I will fly

The Present Participle: flying

3. Present Progressive

I am flying

4. Past Progressive

I was flying

5. Future Progressive

I will be flying

6. Present Perfect Progressive

I have been flying

7. Past Perfect Progressive

I had been flying

8. Future Perfect Progressive

I will have been flying

The Past Participle: flew

9. Past

I flew

The Past Participle: flown

10. Present Perfect

I have flown

11. Past Perfect

I had flown

12. Future Perfect

I will have flown