Verb Tense and Irregular Verbs

Definition of Verb

A verb is a word that expresses action or state of being (existence).

Present tense – expresses an action (or existence) which is happening now or which happens continually, regularly

Future tense – expresses action that will take place

Tense refers to when an action happened

Simple Present Tense:

◦Today I teach English 100.◦Today I am teaching English 100.◦Today I eat vegetables.

Simple Future Tense• Tomorrow I will teach English 100.

A verb has 3 principal parts: the present, past, and past participle.

Walk (present tense) Walked (past) Walked (past participle)

Eat (present tense) Ate (past) Eaten (past participle)

Past Tense: Regular or Irregular

Regular Simple Past Tense:◦Yesterday I walked in the woods.◦Yesterday I painted the kitchen.

Irregular Simple Past Tense Yesterday I taught English 100. Yesterday I ate vegetables.

Simple past tense expresses an action which is completed at a particular time in the past

What is a past participle ?

The past and the past participle of regular verbs are formed by adding ed to the present form

The past and past participle of irregular verbs are usually different words

Irregular Past Participles

Written Gone Come

Done Begun

The Present Perfect Tense

The present perfect tense expresses action which began in the past but continues in the present or is completed in the present

To form the present perfect tense, add has or have to the past participle

Past Perfect Tense

•The past perfect tense expresses action which began in the past and was completed in the past

•To form the past perfect tense , add had to the past participle

Future Perfect Tense

The future perfect tense expresses action or existence which will begin in the future and will be completed by a specific time in the future.

To form the future perfect tense, add shall have or will have to the past participle

Verb Tense Timeline

• Perfect Past• I had written• I had been writing• An action that led up to

some moment in the past

Simple Past I wrote, I was writing, I did write – happened at a particular time in the past

• Present Perfect Tense• I have played• I have been playing• An action leading up to

now

Simple Present I write, I am writing, I

do write - happening right now

• Future Perfect • I shall have written, I

shall have been writing• An action continuing up

to some point in the future

Simple Future I shall write, I shall be writing -

action that will take place