Verb Tenses- Future,Present and Past | Turito

Session: Verb tenses

Verbs are the only grammatical elements that can take tenses.

In English, there are twelve tenses. For convenience, this session will solely focus only on two tenses; the simple present and the simple past.

1. Simple Present Tense:

The simple present tense is used to:

a) Express general truths like:

• The sun rises in the east.
• Cow gives us milk.

b) It expresses habitual actions like:

• I wake up at 5am every day.
• He drinks coffee every morning.

c) Simple present tense is also used sometimes to describe events that have future implications. It can indicate a future event that is a part of a fixed schedule like:

• The match starts at 9pm.
• The train leaves at 8am.
• The shop reopens on Monday.

Now let us look at the structure of a sentence that is written in simple present tense. Take the example of:

I play football.

This sentence also follows the same structure the other given sentences in the examples have taken. That is:

Subject (S) + Base form of the verb(V1) + Remaining Part (RP)

More examples:

• Fortune favours the brave.
• Matthew reads a lot.
• I write novels.

1. Simple Past Tense:

The simple past tense is used:

a) To indicate an action that was completed in the past like:

• He left yesterday.
• We cooked last night.
• I received the letter from him last weekend.

b) It can also indicate past habits like:

• We always argued with each other back then.
• She always carried a water bottle in her bag.
• I studied for many hours every day until I got this job.

Now let us look at the structure of a sentence that is written in simple past tense. Take the example of:

I played football.

This sentence also follows the same structure the other given sentences in the examples have taken. That is:

Subject (S) + Past participle form of the verb (V3) + Remaining Part (RP)

More examples:

• He cleaned the house yesterday.
• We went to the church together.
• My mother gifted me a book for my birthday.