VERB TENSESA Study Guide to Fourth-Grade Verb Tenses

The Special Verb “be”

Past Tense of “be”: was, were

Present Tense of “be”: am, is, are

Past Tense Verbs

Rules Examples

For most verbs: Add –ed Play --- played

For verbs ending with “e”: Add –d Graze --- grazed

For verbs ending with a single vowel and consonant (short vowel sound): Double the consonant and add –ed

Stop --- stopped

For verbs ending with a consonant and y: Change the “y” to “i” and add –ed

Carry --- carried

Past tense already happenED.

Irregular VerbsVerb Past Tense Past Tense with Helping

Verb

begin  began (has, have, had) begunbreak broke (has, have, had) brokenbring brought (has, have, had)

broughtcome came (has, have, had) comedrive drove (has, have, had) driveneat ate (has, have, had) eatengive gave (has, have, had) givengrow grew (has, have, had) grownknow knew (has, have, had) knownmake made (has, have, had) madesay said (has, have, had) saidsing sang (has, have, had) sungtake took (has, have, had) takentell told (has, have, had) toldthrow threw (has, have, had)

thrownwear wore (has, have, had) worn

Present Tense

HappenING now!

For most verbs: Add -ing

sing --- singingstay --- staying

For verbs that end with s, x, z, ch, or sh: Add -es

pitch --- pitchesbuzz --- buzzes

For verbs that end with a consonant and y: Change the y to i and add -es

study --- studiesfly --- flies

Future Tense

WILL happen

Always look for the helping verb: WILL

Example: The bats will hunt tonight.

Present Perfect Tense

(has, have) + (main verb)

It is used to connect the past with the present.

The action or state happened in the past.

It is still true in the present through memory or continued use.

Present Perfect Tense: Examples Experience: I have seen the movie

Garfield.

Change: John has broken his leg.

Continued Situation: I have been in school since Kindergarten.

Present Perfect Tense Quiz

Here is a quiz for you to practice using present perfect tense verbs.

http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verb-tenses_present-perfect_quiz.htm