Verb Tense Tutorial

Read this verb tense tutorial to learn more about verbs tenses.

There are 12 verb tenses in the English language:

Simple Present
Simple Past
Simple Future
Present Perfect
Past Perfect
Future Perfect

Present Progressive
Past Progressive
Future Progressive

Present Perfect Progressive
Past Perfect Progressive
Future Perfect Progressive

Simple Present Tense

He works hard.
My father smokes all the time.
I study law at the university.
I go out.
The man dislikes soccer.
He does not gamble.
The man runs to the station.
The driver does not smoke.
She talks a lot.
He never eats meat.
Every year they celebrate christmas.
Does the man drink tea?

All this happens now or the action is still going on and is a continious or a repeated process.

Using the Present Simple Tense

Simple Past Tense

He worked hard.
My father smoked yesterday.
I studied law at the university last year.
I went out last night.
The man disliked soccer but now he likes it.
He did not gamble last night.
The man ran to the station a few hours ago.
The driver did not smoke yesterday.
She talked a lot at the party last night.
He never ate meat.
Last year they celebrated christmas.
Did the man drink tea yesterday?

All this happened in the past. The beginning and the end of this action is located in the past.

Past Tense Questions

Simple Future Tense

There are two different forms:
"will" and "be going to."

Will + Verb (base form)

He will come tomorrow.
I will play chess tonight.
She will go to church later.
Will you visit your mother later?
Will you pay the rent tomorrow?

The action will happen some time in the future. Use simple future tense to talk about future activities.

When to use "Will"

Predictions
She will be angry tonight.
I think I will find work tomorrow.
The girl will leave in two days.
You will never catch the dog again.

Future Actions
I think I�ll (I will) drink nothing tonight.
I believe the car will be ready tomorrow.
I hope I'll get this job next week.

Actions that you decide to do now
I am tired. I�ll gonow.
I�ll have a piece of cake, please.
Ok. I�ll come in a minute.

Your boss looks angry. I�ll talkto him.
I'll do the washing now.

Promises
I�ll give you some money tonight.
You will not lose again.
I'll fire him for sure.
I will come back.

I promise I will not get drunk.

Requests
Will you pass me the butter, please? Will you please get the car?

Going to

Be going to is used to express an intention to do something.

Affirmative Form

He is going to get his car now.

Negative Form

He is not going to get his car now.

Question Form

Is he going to get his car?

Negative Question Form

Isn't he going to get his car now?

Future Simple vs 'Going to' Future

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Tense agreement and disagreement

Make sure to keep the tense uniform throughout a sentence When there are separate events in the same sentence that happen at the same time. If you're writing in the present tense, then stay in the present tense.

Example:

Joe went to the hairdresser and after that he played chess in the park.
'went' and 'played' are in past tense so there is a tense agreement.

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