English Grammar for the Utterly Confused - Laurie Rozakis 2003
The Six Verb Tenses
Chapter 3. Using Verbs Correctly
Part 1 Welcome to grammarland
The tense of a verb shows its time. English has six verb tenses. Each of the six tenses has two forms: basic and progressive (also known as “perfect”). The basic form shows action, occurrence, or state of being that is taking place right here and now. The basic form also is the base for the future form (i.e., I will sleep; they will sleep).
The following chart shows the six forms for the verb to walk:
The tense of English verbs is formed from helping verbs and principal parts. Each English verb has four main parts, as shown in the chart on the next page.
Principal Verb Parts
1. The present tense
The present is used to form the present tense (“I look”) and the future (“I will look”). English uses the helping verb will to show the future tense.
2. The present participle
The present participle forms all six of the progressive forms (“I am looking,” “I was looking,” and so on).
3. The past tense
The past forms only one tense, the past. As with the present tense, the principal part stands alone.
4. The past participle
The past participle forms the last three tenses: the present perfect (“I have looked”), the past perfect (“I had looked”), and the future perfect (“I will have looked”). To form the past participle, start with a helping verb such as is, are, was, has been.Then add the principal part of the verb.
Quick Tip
When you conjugate a verb, you list the singular and plural forms of the verb in a specific tense.