Grammar Building

This page explains the basic English tense system for EFL/ESL

students.

DEFINITION
"Verb" is the sentence element used to express the action or the state of a noun.

The verb is the most difficult sentence element in English grammar. In order to

understand the English verb correctly, Logically Structured English Grammar book is

strongly recommended.

The minimal structure employed to present the verb in this page is:
1. Categories of Verbs
2. Tenses Chart
3. Verb Forms: Common Aspect, Active Voice
4. Verb Forms: Common Aspect, Passive Voice
5. Verb Forms: Continuous Aspect, Active Voice
6. Verb Forms: Continuous Aspect, Passive Voice
7. Auxiliary and Modal Defective Verbs
8. Confusing Verbs
9. Forming verbs

ATTENTION
These Grammar Notes are not sufficient to understand the topics presented.

For accurate and detailed information we recommend

LOGICALLY STRUCTURED ENGLISH GRAMMAR.

http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verb-tenses_sys-tenses.htm

Learn English tenses through pictures! :

http://www.learnenglish.de/PictureIt/tensespage.htm

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24 Tenses		past	present	future*
ACTIVE	simple tenses	past	present	future
	complex tenses formed with auxiliary verbs	past perfect	present perfect	future perfect
		past continuous	present continuous	future continuous
		past perfect continuous	present perfect continuous	future perfect continuous
PASSIVE		past	present	future
		past perfect	present perfect	future perfect
		past continuous	present continuous	future continuous
		past perfect continuous	present perfect continuous	future perfect continuous

Some grammar books use the word progressive instead of continuous. They are exactly the same.

The use of tenses in English may be quite complicated, but the structure of English tenses is actually very simple. The basic structure for a positive sentence is:

subject + auxiliary verb + main verb

An auxiliary verb is used in all tenses. (In the simple present and simple past tenses, the auxiliary verb is usually suppressed for the affirmative, but it does exist for intensification.) The following table shows the 12 tenses for the verb to work in the active voice.

		structure		past	present	future*
		auxiliary	main verb	past	present	future*
simple	normal			I worked	I work	I will work
simple	intensive	do	base	I did work	I do work
perfect		have	past participle	I had worked	I have worked	I will have worked
continuous		be	present participle -ing	I was working	I am working	I will be working
continuous perfect		have been	present participle -ing	I had been working	I have been working	I will have been working

* Technically, there are no future tenses in English. The word will is a modal auxiliary verb and future tenses are sometimes called "modal tenses". The examples are included here for convenience and comparison.

Basic Tenses: Regular Verb

This shows the basic tenses with the regular verb work. It includes the affirmative or positive form (+), the negative form (-) and the interrogative or question form (?).

The basic structure is:

positive:	+	subject + auxiliary verb + main verb
negative:	-	subject + auxiliary verb + not + main verb
question:	?	auxiliary verb + subject + main verb

These are the forms of the main verb that we use to construct the tenses:

base verb	past	past participle	present participle -ing
work	worked	worked	working

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Basic Tenses: Irregular Verb

This shows the basic tenses with the irregular verb sing. It includes the affirmative or positive form (+), the negative form (-) and the interrogative or question form (?).

The basic structure is:

positive:	+	subject + auxiliary verb + main verb
negative:	-	subject + auxiliary verb + not + main verb
question:	?	auxiliary verb + subject + main verb

These are the forms of the main verb that we use to construct the tenses:

base verb	past	past participle	present participle -ing
sing	sang	sung	singing

		past	present	future
SIMPLE do + base verb (except future: will + base verb)	+	I did sing I sang	I do sing I sing	I will sing
	-	I did not sing	I do not sing	I will not sing
	?	Did I sing?	Do I sing?	Will I sing?
SIMPLE PERFECT have + past participle	+	I had sung	I have sung	I will have sung
	-	I had not sung	I have not sung	I will not have sung
	?	Had I sung?	Have I sung?	Will I have sung?
CONTINUOUS be + -ing	+	I was singing	I am singing	I will be singing
	-	I was not singing	I am not singing	I will not be singing
	?	Was I singing?	Am I singing?	Will I be singing?
CONTINUOUS PERFECT have been + -ing	+	I had been singing	I have been singing	I will have been singing
	-	I had not been singing	I have not been singing	I will not have been singing
	?	Had I been singing?	Have I been singing?	Will I have been singing?

The basic structure of tenses for regular verbs and irregular verbs is exactly the same (except to be). The only difference is that with regular verbs the past and past participle are always the same (worked, worked), while with irregular verbs the past and past participle are not always the same (sang, sung). But the structure is the same! It will help you a great deal to really understand that.