Verb Tenses

Verbs come in three tenses: past, present, and future. The past is used to describe things that
have already happened (e.g., earlier in the day, yesterday, last week, three years ago). The
present tense is used to describe things that are happening right now or continuous things.
The future tense describes things that have yet to happen or thing that is going to happen later
in the future (e.g., later, tomorrow, next week, next year, three years from now).
But before continuing that, these verbs are also divided into a few parts. For example, the
present is divided into the simple present, present progressive/present continuous, present
perfect, and present perfect continuous. The same thing also applies to the past and future
tenses.

A. Simple Present
The simple present is a verb tense with two main uses. We use the simple present
tense when an action is happening right now, or when it happens regularly (or
unceasingly, which is why it’s sometimes called present indefinite). Depending on the
person, the simple present tense is formed by using the root form or by adding -s or
-es to the end. So, we can say that the simple present expresses daily habits or usual
activities and also expresses general statements of facts. It is used for the events or
situations that exist always, usually, or habitually in the present, past, and future.

For example:
1. I take a shower every day (daily habits)
2. It doesn’t snow in Indonesia (general statements of fact)

B. Present Progressive / Present Continuous

The present continuous verb tense indicates that an action or condition is that
happening right now, frequently, and may continue into the future.

The Present Continuous Formula: to be [am, is, are] + verb [present participle] / v-ing
For example:
1. He can’t talk to the phone right now because he is going outside.
2. It is raining right now.

C. Present Perfect
The present perfect tense is used in sentences with since and for to express situations
that began in the past and continue to the present. Or we can also say that The present
perfect tense refers to an action or state that either occurred at an indefinite time in the
past (e.g., we have talked before) or began in the past and continued to the present
time (e.g., he has grown impatient over the last hour). This tense is formed
by have/has + the past participle.
 Another example:
1. I have walked on this road before. (Present perfect using have/has and past
participle)
2. I have lived here since 2005. (Present perfect using since/for)

D. Present Perfect Continuous

The present perfect continuous tense (also known as the present perfect progressive
tense) shows that something started in the past and is continuing at the present time.
The present perfect continuous also talks about how long an activity has been in
progress before now. The present perfect continuous is formed using the
construction has/have been + the present participle (root + -ing).

For example:
1. I have been reading War and Peace for a month now.
From this sentence, we know that he/she has been reading War and Peace sometime
in the past and still haven’t finished reading it till now or the present times.

E. Simple Past
The simple past is used to talk about activities or situations that began and ended in
the past (e.g., yesterday, last night, two days ago, in 2010). The simple past tense
shows that you are talking about something that has already happened. Unlike the past
continuous tense, which is used to talk about past events that happened over a period
of time, the simple past tense emphasizes that the action is finished.

Most simple past verbs are formed by adding -ed to a verb, some verbs have irregular
past forms hence why all past forms of verbs don’t always use -ed.

For example:
1. I was at home yesterday.
2. They didn’t work yesterday.

F. Past Progressive / Past Continuous

The past continuous tense, also known as the past progressive tense, refers to a
continuing action or state that was happening at some point in the past. The past
continuous tense is formed by combining the past tense of to be (i.e., was/were) with
the verb’s present participle (-ing word). Past Continuous is also used when an action
taken in the past was being interrupted by the other action. It can also be used to
describe a habitual action in the past.

For example:
1. I was eating with my family when my friend arrived.
 2. She was talking constantly in class in those days. (Certain habitual action in the
past)

G. Past Perfect
The past perfect is a verb tense used to talk about actions that were completed before
some point in the past. The past perfect tense is also used for talking about something
that happened before something else.
The formula for the past perfect tense is had + [past participle]. It doesn’t matter if
the subject is singular or plural; the formula doesn’t change.

For example:
1. I had read at least 10 books by the time I was twelve.
2. When I came home, they had already eaten the meal.

H. Past Perfect Continuous

The past perfect continuous tense (also known as the past perfect progressive tense)
shows that an action that started in the past continued up until another time in the past.
The past perfect continuous tense is constructed using had been + the verb’s present
participle (root + -ing).

Unlike the present perfect continuous, which indicates an action that began in the past
and continued up to the present, the past perfect continuous is a verb tense that
indicates something that began in the past, continued in the past, and also ended at a
defined point in the past.

For example:
1. He had been drinking milk out the carton when Mom walked into the kitchen.
2. I had been working at the company for five years when I got the promotion.

I. Simple Future
The simple future is a verb tense that’s used to talk about things that haven’t
happened yet. Use the simple future to talk about an action or condition that will
begin and end in the future. There are a few ways to express future time, and some of
them are by using the form going to and using will in the sentences.

The formula for the simple future is will + [root form of verb].
There is another way to show that something will happen in the future. It follows the
formula [am/is/are] + going to + [root form verb].

For example:
 1. I will learn a new language.
2. I am going to learn a new language.

J. Future Progressive / Future Continuous

The future continuous tense, sometimes also referred to as the future progressive
tense, is a verb tense that indicates that something will occur in the future and
continue for an expected length of time. It is formed using the construction will + be
+ the present participle (the root verb + -ing).

For example:
1. I will be watching the horse race.
2. I will be reading War and Peace soon.

K. Future Perfect
The future perfect is a verb tense used for actions that will be completed before some
other point in the future. The future perfect tense is also used for talking about an
action that will be completed between now and some point in the future.

The formula for the future perfect tense is pretty simple: will have + [past
participle]. It doesn’t matter if the subject of your sentence is singular or plural. The
formula doesn’t change.

For example:
1. She will have cooked dinner.
2. He will have arrived.

L. Future Perfect Continuous

The future perfect continuous, also sometimes called the future perfect progressive, is
a verb tense that describes actions that will continue up until a point in the future. The
future perfect continuous consists of will + have + been + the verb’s present
participle (verb root + -ing).

When we describe an action in the future perfect continuous tense, we are projecting
ourselves forward in time and looking back at the duration of that activity. The
activity will have begun sometime in the past, present, or in the future, and is
expected to continue in the future.

For example:
1. They will have been playing football on that field before you reach.
2. I will have been reading for at least two hours before dinner tonight.
And then there’s also an exception where two of the tenses were combined or merge with
each other. And those tenses are The Past Future Tense.

M. Simple Past Future

Simple Past Future Tense states an action that will be performed, makes predictions,
and makes promises in the future while in the past.

Formula:
S + would + V1
S + was/were + going to + verb

For example:
1. She said she would bring me a cake yesterday.

N. Past Future Continuous

Past Future Continuous Tense is a form of verb to express an ongoing situation or
imaginary action, if the indirect condition is met.

Formula:
S + should/would + be + v-ing

For example:
1. I did not make a promise that I would be doing this all day long.

O. Past Future Perfect

Past Future Perfect Tense can be used to talk about an action that did not happen In
the past. However, there are 3 times that could have happened in the past, where it
refers to a future time, a certain time in the past, but the action that happened in the
past must have been completed before the future time.

Formula:
S + should/could/would have + v3

For example:
1. He told us that we should have be calm in any situation.

P. Past Future Perfect Continuous

Past Future Perfect Continuous is used to express an imaginary action or situation that
was taking place, at a certain point or during a certain period in the past.

Formula:
S + should/would/could have + been + v-ing
For example:
1. We heard that you would have been eating all of this in 5 minutes.