Time reference
Verb forms help us make time reference through their tense. Tense shows whether an action or a state took place in the past or takes place in the present.- Jessica works in the post office.
- Laurence worked in the post office over the Christmas holidays.
There are two simple tenses and six compound tenses.Simple tenses
The simple tenses consist of a single word.There is a present simple tense| I like | I live |
| you like | you live |
| he likes | he lives |
and a past simple tense.| I liked | I lived |
| you liked | you lived |
| he liked | he lived |
The simple tenses of regular verbs
The present tense is the same as the base form of the verb, except that an -s is added to the verb when it has a noun or he, she, or it as a subject. This is called the 3rd person singular form.- he/she/it likes
- he/she/it lives
The past tense of a regular verb is made from the base form of the verb with -ed (or -d if the verb already ends in -e) added. The spelling is the same for all persons.| I liked | I lived |
| you liked | you lived |
| he liked | he lived |
The simple tenses of irregular verbs
Most irregular verbs make the present tense from the base form of the verb just as regular verbs do.| Present | |
| I find | I go |
| you find | you go |
| he/she/it finds | he/she/it goes |
- Irregular verbs make the past tense in a number of different ways. Sometimes the past tense is a completely different word. See Irregular verbs for more on irregular verbs.
| Past | |
| I found | I went |
| you found | you went |
| he/she/it found | he/she/it went |