simple tenses

The Learning English Grammar Tenses

Went, Going, Gone!

There are only three basic tenses in the English language: the past, the present, and the future.

• The past tense is used for anything that happened before this moment in time.

• The present tense is used for anything that happens right now or for general statements.

• The future tense is used for anything that will happen at some point later than right now.

(There is also a perfect tense, but this article will stick to the three basic tenses described above.)

Of course if it were that simple, you wouldn’t be reading this guide!

These tenses have a few variations that make them more specific.

These variations talk about the exact time during which actions happen.

All three tenses have two main types of variations: simple and continuous.

• The continuous tenses are used for actions that happen repeatedly over a period of time.

• The simple tenses are used for…everything else!

You’ll discover exactly when to use either in the guide below.

Since the past and the present tenses are very closely linked, it’s better to look at them together.

The future tense will be discussed later in this article. (Actually, that last sentence used the future tense! Did you notice?)

Here is a basic guide that will help you begin to understand when to use which tense.

Simple Tenses

Look back at the very first example used in this blog: “I eat fish.” This sentence uses the simple present tense.

·         Simple Present

The simple present tense is mostly used for three things:

1. To describe things that are permanent or unchanging.

2. To describe how often something happens.

3. To talk about scheduled events.

To use the tense, add an -s to the end of the verb when “he” or “she” is doing the action (he speaks, she eats).

Use the unchanged verb when anyone else is doing it (we speak, I eat).

So you would use this tense if you wanted to tell someone about yourself or your hobbies, share something you believe to be true, or ask about when you can catch the next bus at the stop.

Base verb (+ es/es for third person):

I watch the news every day.

Here are some examples:

If your hobby is the violin, you can say “I play the violin.” Since it’s just a hobby though, you can add: “I am not a professional violinist.”

You might be worried about your friend if you notice he’s biting his nails because “he bites his nails when he’s nervous.”

You’ll need to get ready quickly if you want to make it to your friend’s party, because she just told you that “the party starts in an hour.”

Maybe you should remind your friend to bring a gift since “he never remembers birthdays.”

·         Simple Past

The simple past is used in a very similar way to the simple present.

Simple past verbs use -ed (I walked, he smiled). There are many irregular verbs that don’t use the -ed form, which you will need to learn (I spoke, he ate).

Instead of talking about now, this tense talks about something that has already happened or is no longer true.

Use the simple past if you want to describe an action that already happened.

This description of a trip uses the simple past tense: “Last year I visited New York. I lived in a hotel for a month. I rode the train, took many pictures and walked all around Central Park.”

You can also use this tense for many of the same reasons as the simple present. It can be used to describe a hobby or habit you had in the past, or something you used to believe was true.

In fact, the words “used to” are often used for this tense. You can say it either way: “I used to play the violin when I was young” has the same meaning as “I played the violin when I was young.”

Verb+ed or irregular verb:

I watched the news.