Tenses

Introduction to Tenses

Tense indicates the time of the occurrence of an action or an event. In any sentence, an action or a state of being is denoted by the verb. Hence, tenses are directly related to verbs.

The different states of time are: Past, Present and Future. Very simply speaking, past is what happened yesterday; present is what happens today; and future is what will happen tomorrow.

Note how at different moments the same event (the test on English tenses) can be situated in the future (when the teacher informs the students about the test), the present (when the test is being conducted) and the past (when the students are discussing the test).

Tense indicates the time of the occurrence of an action or an event. In any sentence, an action or a state of being is denoted by the verb. Hence, tenses are directly related to verbs.

The different states of time are: Past, Present and Future. Very simply speaking, past is what happened yesterday; present is what happens today; and future is what will happen tomorrow.

Note how at different moments the same event (the test on English tenses) can be situated in the future (when the teacher informs the students about the test), the present (when the test is being conducted) and the past (when the students are discussing the test).

Simple Present

	Singular	Plural
First Person	I do it everyday	We do it everyday
Second Person	You do it everyday	You do it everyday
Third Person	He does it everyday	They do it everyday

Simple Past

	Singular	Plural
First Person	I did that yesterday	We did that yesterday
Second Person	You did that yesterday	You did that yesterday
Third Person	He did that yesterday	They did that yesterday

Simple Future

	Singular	Plural
First Person	I will do that tomorrow	We will do that tomorrow
Second Person	You will do that tomorrow	You will do that tomorrow
Third Person	He will do that tomorrow	They will do that tomorrow

In simple words:

The simple present tense indicates an action or event that takes place regularly, without fail.

The simple past tense indicates an action or event that took place at some moment in the past.

The simple future tense indicates an action or event that will take place at some moment in the future.

In the simple present and simple future tenses, the root form of a verb is used.

What is the root form of a verb?

The Root Form or Base Form is the simplest form of a verb.

For example:

Sing, Dance, Play, Break, Kick, Sleep, Eat They sing on the roof every afternoon. (Simple Present) I will sleep early today. (Simple Future)

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