Introduction to Verbs

Verbs

English Verb Tenses

In English, there are three verb tenses: Past, Present and Future; and there are additional aspects that give extra details: Simple, Perfect, Continuous, Perfect Continuous. These details include what actions happened first, whether a past action has an impact on the present, the length of time the action occurred, etc.

Past Tense

• Simple Past "I ate"
• Past Perfect "I had eaten"
• Past Continuous "I was eating"
  
• Past Perfect Continuous "I had been eating"

Present Tense

• Present Tense "I eat"
  
• Present Perfect "I have eaten"
  
• Present Continous "I am eating"
  
• Present Perfect Continuous "I have been eating"

Future Tense

• Future tense "I will eat"
  
• Future Perfect "I will have eaten"
  
• Future Continuous "I will be eating"
  
• Future Perfect Continuous "I will have been eating"

Verb Tenses in Other Languages

Spanish has other tenses such as the Conditional tense which is the same as "would + verb" construction in English (e.g. "I would eat"). A related tense is the Conditional Perfect (e.g. "I would have eaten").