The different tenses of verbs. Learn about them!
TENSES OF VERBS – These are the simple present, simple past, and simple future tenses and how to use them in a sentence.
What is a verb? This is an action and in a sentence, any word that expresses an action or movement is the verb. But there are different kinds of verb such as action, linking, helping, transitive, and intransitive. They have different functions and in this post, we will be talking about its tenses.
Tenses are changes or additions to tell when the action was done – past, present, or future. In the grammatical aspect, it adds details when it comes to duration or the time the action took and also, how long the action occurred. This is essential in speaking correct English.
Simple present, simple past, and simple future
The present tense is the standard tense and usually, the root form of the word. The past and future tenses, on the other hand, require some transformations or additions. Usually, the suffix -ed is added on the past form and will is for the future.
In some cases, the past tense can also have the addition -d or -t.
The present form is used to write about facts, opinions, and others that regularly happens.
Example:
- They hire content writers. (Present)
- They hired content writers. (Past)
- They will hire content writers. (Future)
In the simple present, most regular verbs use the root form apart from the third-person singular as this end in “s”.
First-person singular: I swim.
Second-person singular: You swim.
Third-person singular: He/she/it swims. (Note the “s”)
First-person plural: We swim.
Second-person plural: You swim.
Third-person plural: They swim.
Some ends in “es” and this happens to forms that ends in “o”, “ch”, “sh”, “th”, “ss”, “gh”, or “z”.
First-person singular: I go.
Second-person singular: You go.
Third-person singular: He/she/it goes. (Note the “es”)
First-person plural: We go.
Second-person plural: You go.
Third-person plural: They go.
In making simple present negative, the formula is: do/does + not + [root form of verb]. You may also use the contractions don’t and doesn’t instead of do not and does not, respectively.
I don’t think there is enough food for everyone.
My parents do not agree.