Verbs and Verb Tenses

Introduction

Verbs make sentences move. A verb can show an action, a state, or a change. The verb form also helps the reader understand when something happens. In this course, you will learn to identify verbs, build verb phrases, match subjects and verbs, and use present, past, and future forms clearly.

This aiMOOC is designed for learners in Grades 5–6. Begin with the three simple tenses. Then use the progressive and perfect forms as an extension.

Learning Goals

By the end of the course, you should be able to explain what a verb does, identify action, linking, and helping verbs, form common regular and irregular verb forms, choose a tense that matches the time of an event, maintain a consistent tense, and revise sentences for subject–verb agreement.

Understanding Verbs

What Is a Verb?

A verb is a word that forms the main part of a sentence's predicate. It can tell what a person, animal, object, or idea does, is, feels, or becomes.

Action example: The fox jumps.

State example: The fox seems alert.

Change example: The sky became dark.

A complete sentence usually needs a subject and a finite verb. In the sentence “The birds sing,” birds is the subject and sing is the verb.

Action Verbs

An action verb tells what someone or something does. The action can be physical, such as run, build, or whisper. It can also be mental, such as think, remember, or wonder.

Examples:

The class measures the plant.

Lena imagines a new ending.

The dog chased the ball.

Linking Verbs

A linking verb connects the subject to a word that describes or renames it. It does not show an action. Common linking verbs include forms of be, as well as seem, become, appear, feel, look, sound, smell, and taste when they describe a state.

Examples:

The soup smells delicious.

Kai is the team captain.

The leaves became yellow.

Some verbs can be action verbs in one sentence and linking verbs in another. In “Maya smells the flower,” smells is an action. In “The flower smells sweet,” it is a linking verb.

Helping Verbs and Verb Phrases

A helping verb, also called an auxiliary verb, works with a main verb. Together, they form a verb phrase.

Examples:

Nora is reading.

The players have practiced.

We will travel.

Common helping verbs include forms of be, have, and do. Modal helping verbs include can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, and would.

In “They have finished the task,” have is the helping verb and finished is the main verb.

Verb Forms

Principal Forms

Many English verbs can be described with four useful forms.

Form	Example with walk	Example with write	Common use
Base form	walk	write	Present tense and forms after will, can, do, and to
Third-person singular	walks	writes	Simple present with he, she, it, or one singular noun
Past form	walked	wrote	Simple past
Past participle	walked	written	Perfect forms and some passive forms
Present participle	walking	writing	Progressive forms

The base form is the form you find in a dictionary. A participle is a verb form that works with a helping verb or sometimes acts like an adjective.

Regular and Irregular Verbs

A regular verb usually forms the past and past participle by adding -ed or -d.

Base	Past	Past participle
jump	jumped	jumped
live	lived	lived
carry	carried	carried

An irregular verb does not follow the usual -ed pattern. You need to learn its forms through reading, speaking, and practice.

Base	Past	Past participle
go	went	gone
see	saw	seen
take	took	taken
bring	brought	brought
be	was or were	been

Never add -ed to an irregular past form. Write “She went home,” not “She goed home.”

Spelling Changes

When you add an ending, check the spelling.

Pattern	Example	Result
Add s	read	reads
Add es after s, sh, ch, x, or o	watch	watches
Change consonant plus y to ies	carry	carries
Add ed	jump	jumped
Change consonant plus y to ied	study	studied
Drop a final silent e before ing	make	making
Double the final consonant in some short words	run	running
Change ie to y before ing	lie	lying

Say each word aloud and compare it with examples when you are unsure. A dictionary can help you check an irregular form.

Subject–Verb Agreement

A verb must agree with its subject in number and person. In the simple present, most verbs add -s or -es when the subject is he, she, it, or one singular noun.

Subject	Correct verb form	Example
I, you, we, they	play	They play outside.
he, she, it	plays	She plays outside.
one singular noun	plays	The student plays outside.
a plural noun	play	The students play outside.

The verb be has special forms.

Time	Subject	Form of be
Present	I	am
Present	he, she, it	is
Present	you, we, they	are
Past	I, he, she, it	was
Past	you, we, they	were

Words between the subject and verb do not change the agreement. In “The box of pencils is on the desk,” the subject is box, not pencils.

Tense and Time

A verb's tense and related verb forms locate an event in time and show how the event unfolds. In school grammar, you will often work with present, past, and future forms. English verbs change form for present and past time. Future time is commonly expressed with helping verbs such as will or with phrases such as be going to.

Time words can guide you, but the verb form carries the main grammatical information.

Time	Helpful time words	Example
Present	now, usually, every day	I walk to school.
Past	yesterday, last week, ago	I walked to school.
Future	tomorrow, next week, later	I will walk to school.

Simple Present

Use the simple present for habits, repeated actions, facts, general truths, feelings, and some schedules.

Habit: I read before bed.

Fact: Water freezes at zero degrees Celsius.

Feeling: Sam likes music.

Schedule: The bus leaves at eight.

Use the base form with I, you, we, and they. Add -s or -es with he, she, it, or a singular noun.

For negatives, use do not or does not plus the base form.

They do not walk.

She does not walk.

For questions, place do or does before the subject.

Do they walk?

Does she walk?

Notice that the main verb stays in the base form after does.

Simple Past

Use the simple past for an action or state completed before now.

Completed action: We visited the museum yesterday.

Past state: The room was quiet.

Sequence: I opened the book, found the page, and began to read.

Regular verbs usually add -ed. Irregular verbs change in different ways.

For most negative sentences, use did not plus the base form.

They did not walk.

For most questions, use did before the subject and keep the main verb in the base form.

Did they walk?

Do not write “Did they walked?” because did already marks the past.

Simple Future

Use will plus the base form to talk about many future actions, predictions, promises, and decisions.

Action: We will visit the library tomorrow.

Prediction: The sky will clear soon.

Promise: I will return the book.

Use will not for the negative.

We will not be late.

Place will before the subject to form a question.

Will they join us?

English can also use be going to for plans or for predictions based on present evidence.

We are going to plant tomatoes.

Comparing the Three Simple Tenses

Tense	Form	Example	Meaning
Simple present	base form or base plus s	Ava paints.	It happens regularly or is generally true.
Simple past	past form	Ava painted.	It happened before now and is complete.
Simple future	will plus base form	Ava will paint.	It is expected after now.

Progressive and Perfect Forms

Progressive Forms

A progressive form shows an action in progress. Build it with a form of be plus a present participle ending in -ing.

Form	Structure	Example
Present progressive	am, is, or are plus ing form	I am reading now.
Past progressive	was or were plus ing form	I was reading at seven.
Future progressive	will be plus ing form	I will be reading tonight.

Use the simple present for habits and the present progressive for an action happening around now.

Habit: Mia walks to school every day.

Happening now: Mia is walking to school now.

Perfect Forms: An Extension

A perfect form connects one time to another. Build it with a form of have plus a past participle.

Form	Structure	Example	Main idea
Present perfect	have or has plus past participle	We have finished.	A past action connects to the present.
Past perfect	had plus past participle	We had finished before noon.	One past action happened before another.
Future perfect	will have plus past participle	We will have finished by noon.	An action will be complete before a future time.

At this level, focus first on recognizing the helping verb and the participle. Do not confuse the past form and the past participle of an irregular verb: wrote is the past form, but written is the past participle.

Datei:Table of Tenses.png

Choosing and Keeping the Correct Tense

Match the Tense to the Meaning

Ask three questions before you choose a verb form.

Time of an action: Does the event happen before now, now, regularly, or later?
Completion: Is the action complete or still in progress?
Connection between events: Does one event happen before another event?

A time word helps, but it does not replace careful thinking. “Tomorrow” usually points to the future, while “every Saturday” usually points to the simple present.

Keep Tense Consistent

Use the same tense when actions happen in the same time period.

Clear: We entered the room, opened the windows, and turned on the lights.

Unclear: We entered the room, open the windows, and will turn on the lights.

Change tense only when the time changes.

Correct change: Yesterday we practiced indoors, but tomorrow we will practice outside.

Revise with a Verb Check

Read each sentence and check the following ideas.

Find the verb phrase: Underline every helping verb and main verb.
Find the subject: Decide who or what performs the action or has the state.
Check agreement: Match a singular subject with the correct singular form.
Check time: Make sure the tense matches the intended time.
Check form: Confirm irregular past forms and past participles.
Check consistency: Keep the same tense unless the time changes.

Reading your work aloud often helps you notice a missing helping verb or an incorrect ending.

Interactive Tasks

Quiz: Test Your Knowledge

Which word is the verb in the sentence The rabbit hops quickly? (hops) (!rabbit) (!quickly) (!the)

Which sentence uses the simple present correctly? (She walks to school every day) (!She walk to school every day) (!She walked to school every day) (!She will walking to school every day)

What is the simple past form of go? (went) (!goed) (!gone) (!going)

Which verb phrase shows simple future time? (will visit) (!visits) (!visited) (!is visiting)

Which sentence uses the present progressive? (The children are reading now) (!The children read every day) (!The children read yesterday) (!The children will read tomorrow)

What does a linking verb do? (Connects the subject to a description or name) (!Shows only a physical action) (!Names a person place or thing) (!Describes how an action happens)

Which word is the helping verb in We have finished the game? (have) (!finished) (!game) (!we)

Which sentence has correct subject verb agreement? (The dog runs across the yard) (!The dog run across the yard) (!The dogs runs across the yard) (!The dog running across the yard)

Which time word most clearly points to the past? (yesterday) (!tomorrow) (!later) (!next week)

Which sentence keeps the past tense consistent? (Mina opened the door and stepped inside) (!Mina opened the door and steps inside) (!Mina opens the door and stepped inside) (!Mina will open the door and stepped inside)

Memory Game

Action verb	Shows what someone or something does
Linking verb	Connects a subject to a description or name
Helping verb	Works with a main word in a verb phrase
Simple present	Expresses a habit fact or repeated event
Simple past	Expresses an action completed before now
Simple future	Expresses an event expected after now
Present progressive	Expresses an action happening around now
Irregular verb	Changes form without the usual ed pattern

Drag and Drop

Match the correct terms.	Topic
Simple present	Every day Mia walks home.
Simple past	Yesterday Mia walked home.
Simple future	Tomorrow Mia will walk home.
Present progressive	Mia is walking home now.
Present perfect	Mia has walked home before.

Crossword Puzzle

Verb	What word shows an action state or change?
Tense	What grammar feature helps locate an event in time?
Present	Which time includes now and repeated habits?
Future	Which time comes after now?
Auxiliary	What is another name for a helping verb?
Irregular	What kind of verb does not use the usual ed pattern?

LearningApps

Cloze Text

A

can show an action a state or a change. The

tells who or what the sentence is about. A helping verb and a main verb can form a

. The simple

often describes habits and facts. The simple

describes an action completed before now. The word

can help express future time. A regular past verb often ends in

. An

verb changes without following the usual pattern. A progressive form uses a form of be with an

form. Clear writing keeps the verb

consistent unless the time changes.

Open-Ended Tasks

Easy

Verb Hunt: Find and highlight twenty verbs in a short story, then label each one as action, linking, or helping.
Tense Timeline: Draw a past-present-future timeline and add two original sentences to each part.
Irregular Verb Cards: Make ten cards with a base verb on one side and its past form on the other side.
Action Photo Captions: Take or draw four safe action pictures and write one accurate present-tense caption for each.

Standard

Three-Tense Comic: Create a six-panel comic that moves from past to present to future and uses consistent verb forms.
Classmate Interview: Interview a partner about yesterday, daily routines, and tomorrow, then report the answers with correct tenses.
Verb News Report: Record a one-minute news report that includes at least two action verbs, two helping verbs, and three different tenses.
Editing Workshop: Write a paragraph with six planned verb errors, exchange it with a partner, and explain every correction.

Advanced

Grammar Tutorial Video: Produce a two-minute teaching video that compares simple and progressive forms with original examples.
Tense in Literature: Examine a page from a suitable story, identify its main tense, and explain the effect of any tense changes.
Language Survey: Ask several people which irregular verbs they find difficult, organize the results, and design a practice activity.
Verb Form Experiment: Rewrite one event as a diary entry, a live commentary, and a future plan, then compare how the verb forms change.

Learning Assessment

Tense Choice in Context: Complete a short story by choosing verb forms that match its timeline, then justify three choices.
Subject–Verb Agreement Analysis: Correct agreement errors in complex sentences and explain how you found each true subject.
Verb Phrase Breakdown: Separate helping verbs from main verbs in ten sentences and identify the form each phrase expresses.
Past and Participle Comparison: Use five irregular verbs in both simple-past and present-perfect sentences without confusing their forms.
Consistent Narrative Revision: Revise a mixed-tense paragraph so that all actions follow a clear sequence in time.
Transfer Writing: Write instructions, a report of a completed event, and a future plan, using the verb forms suited to each purpose.

Evidence of Learning

Knowledge Evidence: You can explain action, linking, and helping verbs and describe the purposes of the main verb forms.
Skill Evidence: You can identify complete verb phrases, choose correct forms, and apply subject–verb agreement.
Product Evidence: Your timeline, comic, interview report, edited paragraph, or video uses accurate and consistent verbs.
Reasoning Evidence: You can explain why a tense fits the time, completion, and sequence of an event.
Transfer Evidence: You can adapt verb forms for stories, reports, instructions, conversations, and future plans.
Reflection Evidence: You can find a repeated verb error in your own work and describe a strategy for correcting it.

OERs on the Topic

The following open resource provides further information about English verbs and their forms.

Linked Learning Areas

Verbs and Verb Tenses

aiMOOC Projects