Active verb tenses
Present, future and past; simple, progressive and perfect
English verbs can refer to present, future or past time.
- present: I’m watching you.
- future: She will see you tomorrow.
- past: Who said that?
For each kind of time, there are three possibilities with most verbs: simple; progressive or continuous (be + -ing — see here); and perfect (have + past participle — see here).
- simple present: I start
- present progressive: I am starting
- present perfect: I have started
Some grammarians use the word ‘tense’ only for simple forms like goes or went; for forms like is going or has gone they prefer to talk about progressive or perfect ‘aspect’, and they say that English has ‘no future tense’. These are principally questions of terminology, not grammatical fact, and have no practical importance. In Practical English Usage the term ‘tense’ is used for all verb forms and structures that indicate time.
Tenses and time
There is not a direct relationship between verb forms and time. For example, a past verb like went is not only used to talk about past events (e.g. We went to Morocco last January), but also about unreal or uncertain present or future events (e.g. It would be better if we went home now). And present verbs can be used to talk about the future (e.g. I’m seeing Daniel tomorrow). Also, progressive and perfect forms express ideas that are not simply concerned with time—for example continuation, completion, present importance.
Table of active verb tenses
This is a list of all the active affirmative forms of an ordinary English verb, with their names, examples, and very brief descriptions of typical uses. For more information about the forms and their uses, see the entries for each tense in Present tenses, Talking about the future, Past and perfect tenses.
| NAME | CONSTRUCTION | EXAMPLE | TYPICAL USE |
|---|---|---|---|
| simple present | same as base form/infinitive, but -s on third person singular (e.g. I/you/we/they work; he/she works) | It always rains in November. | ‘general’ time; permanent situations (see here) |
| present progressive | am/are/is ...ing | I can’t talk to you now; I’m working. | actions continuing at the moment of speaking (see here) |
| present perfect | have/has + past participle | I have worked with children before, so I know what to expect. | past action with some present connection (see here) |
| present perfect progressive | have/has been ...ing | It has been raining all day. | continuation up to the present (see here) |
| (simple) future | will + infinitive (I/we shall also possible) | It will rain tomorrow. | information about the future (see here) |
| future progressive | will be ...ing (I/we shall also possible) | This time tomorrow I’ll be lying on the beach. | continuing situation at a particular future time (see here) |
| future perfect | will have + past participle (I/we shall also possible) | I will have finished the repairs by this evening. | completion by a particular future time (see here) |
| future perfect progressive | will have been ...ing (I/we shall also possible) | In June I will have been working here for ten years. | continuity up to a particular future time (see here) |
| simple past | regular verbs: base form/infinitive + -(e)d; irregular verbs: various forms | I worked all last weekend. I saw Jack yesterday. | past events (see here) |
| past progressive | was/were ...ing | I saw Jack when I was coming out of the supermarket. | action continuing at a particular past time (see here) |
| past perfect | had + past participle | I couldn’t get in because I had lost my keys. | action before a particular past time (see here) |
| past perfect progressive | had been ...ing | I was tired because I had been working all day. | continuation up to a particular past time (see here) |
For irregular past tenses and past participles, see here.
For question forms, (see here).
For negatives, (see here).
For the use of present forms to talk about the future, (see here).
For past verbs with present or future meanings, (see here).
For subjunctives (e.g. ... that she go), (see here).
For passive verb forms, (see here).
For infinitives, (see here).
For imperatives, (see here).
For -ing forms, (see here).
For auxiliary verbs, (see here).
For verb forms constructed with modal auxiliary verbs, (see here).