Present, Past and

Future Tenses
Tense means time
The tense of a verb tells
when an action takes
place
• The bear walks to the honey tree.
• The bear walked to the honey tree.
• The bear will walk to the honey tree.
 Present Tense (Time)
O The present tense of a verb names an action
that happens regularly. It can also express a
general truth.
Example Meaning
The mountains are tall and white Unchanging action

Every year, the school council elects new Recurring

members
H2O is the chemical symbolfor water Widespread truth
The present tense of the verb is
the base form of the verb.
When the subject is a singular noun or he,
she, or it, you usually add „s‟ to the verb.
 Present Tense
O Singular O Plural
O I visit O We visit
O You visit O You visit
O He, she or it visits O They visit
 The verb ‘be’
The present tense of the verb „be‟ differs from
the base form :
am, are, is,

I am. You are. She is.

 Past Tense (Time)
O The past tense of verb names an action that
already happened.
O Form past tense of most verbs by adding ed
to the base form of the verb.
Example Form

W.W.II ended in 1945 Regular –ed past

J.K. Rowling wrote “Harry Potter.” Irregular form

 Future Tense (Time)
O The future tense of a verb names an action
that will take place in the future.
O This tense is formed by using will/shall with
the simple form of the verb.
O Example: The speaker of the Parliament will
finish her term in May of 2013
The future tense can also be
expressed by using am, is or
are with going to.
O Example: The surgeon is going to perform
the first bypass in Canada.
 We can also use the present
tense form with an adverb or
adverbial phrase to show future
time.
O The president speaks tomorrow. (Tomorrow
is a future time adverb).