VERBS INTRODUCTION

Essential Tenses

And see Five Starter Tenses

Verb tenses in English are very simple. This is one of the best things about learning English – the tenses do not have many changes.

You should not try to learn all the tenses at once. It should take you about two months (yes, 2 months) to have an understanding of the five main verb tenses recommended here – if you study them. Take your time; learn your favourites tenses first.

The tenses (in approximate order of frequency in use)

1.  PRESENT

2.  SIMPLE PAST

3.  INFORMAL FUTURE uses ‘I am going to..........’

4.  FORMAL FUTURE uses ‘will’

5.  PRESENT PERFECT uses ‘have’

6.  PAST PERFECT uses ‘had’

7.  PRESENT PROGRESSIVE / CONTINUOUS ‘is speaking’

8.  PAST PROGRESSIVE / CONTINUOUS ‘was speaking’

And there are more....

The first five tenses on this list are sufficient for you in your first year of English studies. Because the endings of English verbs are much the same throughout each tense there is usually no point in making lists of verb endings.

Please see Five Starter Tenses for the construction and circumstances when we use each of the first five tenses.

For the past tenses it is enough to note that a verb is regular or irregular. If the verb is regular you should note that fact. In the simple past and in the past participle it will end –ed. That is, we add -ed to the name of the verb.

When I say the 'name of the verb' I mean the infinitive without 'to'.

If the verb is irregular you should note its three parts when you learn the word. For instance, if you learn the word (verb) ‘to fly’ for the first time you must note it:

The present participle – flying – (often called the gerund) should be noted too, but it is less common.

In this way you will have most of the information you need about this verb and not simply ‘to fly’. This applies to all irregular verbs - you need the three parts.

You will find lists of irregular verbs in textbooks or on the internet. If the list is a good (long) one you can start by assuming that a verb that is not listed as irregular is regular.

Deciding if a verb is regular or irregular will come with experience and practice.

Pronunciation advice: the ‘ing’ ending must be pronounced. It is not silent but it is soft. It can’t be pronounced in an emphatic way. It does NOT end with a ‘K’ sound. To begin with, you might find it easier to pronounce it as two words:

to be =  be-ing

to go =  go-ing

to have = hav-ing.

It is essential to think of the –ing ending in this way because

WE MUST PRESERVE THE ORIGINAL SOUND OF THE VERB

when we add –ing.

The ‘-ing’ ending can also be used as a noun (correctly called the gerund) and as an adjective.

For example, as a noun:

‘I don’t like his singing.’

‘Swimming is very good for you.’

‘Smoking is bad for your health.’

And as an adjective:

cooking oil

driving license

touring bus

THE TENSES:

A note of the most frequently used tenses using ‘to be’ and ‘to have’ is shown here to give examples in each case. Both are irregular verbs.

Only the present tense is shown in full.

The letter 'S' on the end of the third person singular (only) is the most important thing to know about the present tense.

2.  The simple past:

I was.............I had

3.  The informal future:

I am going to be..........I am going to have

4. The formal future

I will (shall) be.....I will (shall) have

5. The present perfect

I have been.....I have had

Note:

In strictness ‘shall’ is correct for the first person singular, ‘I’, and for the first person plural ‘we’. For all other persons ‘will’ is correct.

However, ‘shall’ is going out of fashion (except as an auxiliary) and is not much used in North America. ‘I will’ and ‘we will’ are correct and are more common nowadays.

Sometimes you will see ‘shall’ used for all six persons. This is common in old English literature and is also used in the modern age for emphasis or dramatic effect.

For example, ‘You shall pay for this, Batman!’ You should not try to use ‘shall’ in this way yourself.

Also please remember that ‘I’ only appears alone as a capital letter; there is no ‘i’ as an independent word in English.

Please tell your friends about

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