Perfect Your English: A Guide to Simple Verb Tenses

Verb tenses is a simple concept in English but it trips a lot of students. 

In this guide, we will learn what simple verb tenses are and how to form them, with examples.

What is a Verb Tense?

The word “tense” in English verb tenses comes from the Latin word “tempus,” meaning time. The word tense has another meaning “to stretch,” but we’re not dealing with that. So, now you can tell whatever the verb tenses in English are about, they are somehow related to the concept of time. Now, let’s define verb tenses in English:

• Verb tenses can be defined as different forms of a verb that indicate when an action occurs — in the past, present, or future.

In other words, you know we use verbs to communicate how a certain action took place (e.g., He writes a letter.), a verb tense is any specific form of the verb (e.g., write, wrote, written) that indicates the time at which action took place or for how long it continued.

So, a verb tense describes when an action takes place and how long it continues to occur.

Types of Verb Tenses

There are only three main references of time: the past, the present, and the future. Based on these, there are three main types of verb tenses (remember, tense means time itself): Past tense, present tense, and future tense.

So, a verb can either describe the past, present, or the future. In English, the present tense of a verb is considered the standard form (e.g., play), while the past and future tenses of the same verb usually require some modification. For example, the past tense of the verb “play” is “played,” with the addition of “-ed” at the end (e.g., He played.), while the future tense uses the modal verb “will” before it. (e.g., He will play.).

Other than tenses, English grammar also has grammatical aspects- four of them to be precise.

What are Grammatical Aspects?

Grammatical aspects are also tenses (they show time) that further indicate the timing of an action, but in more detail. In practice, these grammatical aspects are modifications or additions to a sentence (like the addition of “has” or “has been”) that further clarify time.

While verb tenses clarify the time references in general (past, present, or future), grammatical aspects add to the detail of time of the action, like whether the action was continued for a long time, or discontinued after a short time, or if the action still takes place, or if an action has an impact on the present, etc. The four grammatical aspects are:

• Simple tense

• Perfect tense

• Continues (or progressive) tense

• Perfect continuous (or perfect progressive) tense

Every verb tense is paired with one the four grammatical aspects.

For example, each of the three verb tenses (past, present, and future) can be paired with the simple grammatical tense; the resulting tenses would be: present simple tense, past simple tense, and future simple tense.

If we were to use the perfect aspect instead, the resulting tenses would be: present perfect tense, past perfect tense, and future perfect tense.

Now, we can understand what simple verb tenses are.

What are Simple Verb Tenses?

A simple verb tense is a basic verb form that shows whether an action occurs in the past, present, or future without indicating its duration or completion.

“Simple” here refers to the verb tenses paired with the simple grammatical aspect. Since there are three three verb tenses (past, present, and future) we can form three simple verb tenses:

• Simple Past Tense,

• Simple Present Tense;

• Simple Future Tense.

Unlike other aspects, verb tenses with simple aspects are just normal past, present, and future tenses. 

In fact, the simple grammatical aspect is as such that it doesn’t add any new information to the sentence. 

So, if you write a sentence with a normal verb tense — whether past, present, or future — without adding any grammatical aspect to it, you have written a simple verb tense.

How to Form Simple Verb Tenses?

Simple verb tenses are the easiest to form. 

To write a simple verb tense, you write a sentence using a standard verb for the present case (e.g., move), for the past case, you use the verb’s past tense form (e.g., moved); for the future case, you use the verb’s future tense form (e.g., will move) — no grammatical aspects involved.

Let’s take a look at each of the simple verb tenses in detail:

1. Simple Past Tenses

Simple past tense simply shows that an action was completed in the past.

To form simple past verb tense, you use the verb’s past or second form (also known as v2), which is usually formed by adding the suffix “-ed” (or “-d” if the verb ends in “e”) to the end of the verb. For example, the simple past tense of the verb “walk” is “walked.” Let’s use it in a sentence:

• The boy walked down the river.

In the above sentence, the simple past tense “walked” suggests that the action happened once in the past and has no other meaning; it is not continuing and has no impact on the present. Simple.

Formula for Simple Past Tenses:

• Subject + past tense verb (v2).

Here are some more examples of the simple past tense:

• She dressed nicely.

• Their friendship ended.

• He managed to escape.

Simple Past Tenses With Irregular Verbs

Based on forms, English has two kinds of verbs: regular verbs and irregular verbs.

While some verbs require an -ed or -d to form their past tense (v2), other verbs in English are irregular, which are the kind of verbs that don’t require adding an “-ed” or “-d” to form their past tense. 

These verbs have their specific, unique forms to express the past tense. For example, the simple past tense of the irregular verb “sing” is “sang” and not “singed” (with -ed). 

So, you have to memorize the past tense of individual irregular verbs to use them.

Additionally, the formula stays the same, regardless whether the verb is regular or irregular:

Formula for Simple Past Tenses With Irregular Verbs:

Subject + past tense verb (v2).

Check some examples of simple past tenses of irregular verbs:

• He sought refuge in a cave.

• She cut the meat in half.

• The phone rang twice.

• He wrote a letter.

• Amy sat under a tree.

2. Simple Present Tenses

Simple present tenses use the standard forms of verbs. 

These tenses express actions that take place in the present, especially habitual actions — an action that occurs from time to time in a daily routine.

Formula of Simple Present Tenses:

• Subject(s) + base verb (v1)., where base verbs are also referred to as v1.

Simple present tenses are the simplest of the English tenses, mostly with no modification required to the main verb. 

Let’s take a look at some examples:

• I think and ponder.

• The brothers play but the sisters study.

• Albert and Alberich live together.

Simple Present Tenses With Third Person Singular

For sentences using third person singular subjects (he, she, it, and the name of an individual [i.e., Sarah]), we add an “-s,” “-es,” or “-ies” at the end of the verb depending on how the verb ends:

• Add “-es” if the verb ends in o, sh, ch, gh, th, ss, x, or z.

• Add “-ies” if the verb ends in a consonant followed by a “y.” For example, “bury” becomes “buries” and “study” becomes “studies.”

• Add “-s” if a verb can neither use -es, nor -ies.

Formula of Simple Present Tenses with Third Person Singular:

• Subject + base verb + (es/ies).

Let’s see some examples of sentences with third person singular subjects:

• She loses some weight every week.

• He mends shoes.

• Dad speaks highly of his childhood.

• Amber’s skin shines like silver.

• Mona trusts her intuitions.

3. Simple Future Tenses

Simple future tenses show actions that have yet to happen after some time. 

These tenses use the future tense of verbs, which is formed by adding “will” (modal verb) before the standard verb form.

Formula for Simple Future Tenses:

• Subject(s) + will + base verb.

Let’s see some examples of simple future tenses:

• They will sleep in five minutes.

• He will be a good doctor.

• The bears will hibernate.

Simple Future Tenses With First Person Subjects (I, We)

Traditionally, the rules for forming simple future tenses require using “shall” (instead of “will”) if the subject is a first person (“I” or “we”).

Examples of simple future tenses with first person subjects:

• I shall eat

• We shall visit the zoo.

• I shall watch a movie.

• We shall move out of the house.

As for the rest of the rest of the subjects — including second person, which is “you,” and third person subjects, which are “he,” “she,” “it,” “they,” and the name of a person) — “will” is used instead of “shall.” For example, “They will cause havoc” and “Larry will succeed.”

However, this rule is now rather overlooked. Practically, in most cases, “will” is used with all subjects, including “I” and “we,” while both words are often used interchangeably. 

“Shall” is also rather reserved to formal and somewhat emphatic speech with several uses, such as to show determination, obligation, or to sound formal or old-fashioned.

So, while you can use “will” for any subject, here’s what is traditionally accepted:

Traditional Formula for Simple Future Tenses:

• For sentences with a first person subject: Subject + shall + base verb (v1).

• For sentences with a second or third person subject: Subject + will + base verb (v1).

More Examples of Simple Verb Tenses

Here are some more examples of simple verb tenses to help you get used to them:

1. Simple Past Tense Examples

• Ali ate his lunch at noon.

• The party bored us.

• They boarded an airplane.

• We hiked together.

• I thought about giving up.

2. Simple Present Tense Examples

• Koray hides her expressions well.

• We dine everyday!

• They travel every year.

• I work as a doctor.

• Those two always gossip like crazy.

3. Simple Future Tense Examples

• He will love the curry.

• They will finish the project in a jiffy.

• Everyone will leave the office by evening.

• Mom will worry about me if I get late.

• I will score the highest of all.

These examples demonstrate the use of three simple verb tenses.

We encourage you to take a notebook and write example sentences from yourself to better get used to the concept.

Conclusion

Verb tenses are changes in verbs that show the relation of the action with time. Simple verb tenses are the simplest versions of tenses in English.

These help us express actions in the past, present, or future without adding extra details.

They are easy to form, using the base verb for the present, the past form for the past, and "will" + base verb for the future.

Understanding these tenses is essential for clear and effective communication.