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Verb Tense Examples and Explanations
There are many different verb tenses in the English language. Many students have a hard time figuring out the appropriate tense to use for every circumstance. To help you, we have created examples and explanations of regular verbs being used in all the possible verb tenses.
Simple Tenses:
|
Present Simple Sentence |
Sentence Explanation | General Explanation |
| I work at Gallaudet. | In general, I am employed at Gallaudet. I may not be there right this second, but that is the place where I work. |
Refers to a general time. Talks about actions/situations which happen repeatedly, all the time, OR at any time. Also used to express a belief, fact, or opinion. |
| I jog three times a week. | It is my habit to run three times every week. This is a repeated action. It is not happening right now, but it does happen again and again. | |
| He smokes cigarettes. | It is his habit to smoke cigarettes. He does this regularly. We can express it as a general "fact" with this verb tense. | |
| Water freezes at 32 degrees. | This is a fact. Water always freezes at 32 degrees. |
| Past Simple Sentence | Sentence Explanation | General Explanation |
| I worked at Gallaudet for three years. | I no longer work there, but in the past I did work at Gallaudet. I worked there for 3 years. I do not work there now. | Refers to actions that happened in the past and are finished. |
| When I was in college I always jogged three times a week. | I am not in college now. In the past, when I was in college, I used to run three times a week. | |
| He smoked cigarettes for 19 years. | He does not smoke anymore. In the past, he used to smoke. He smoked regularly for 19 years. |
| Future Simple Sentence | Sentence Explanation | General Explanation |
| I will work at Gallaudet next year. | I don't work there yet, but next year, I will begin to work at Gallaudet. | The easiest way to say that something WILL happen in the future. Uses the word "will," or "am going to" with the simple present form of the verb. |
| Next year, I am going to jog three times a week. | I don't run regularly at this time in my life, but next year I will begin to run three times every week. | |
| He will smoke cigarettes tonight. | He is not smoking right now. In the future, tonight, he will smoke cigarettes. |
Perfect Tenses: Use forms of the word have, followed by a past participle.
| Present Perfect Sentence | Sentence Explanation | General Explanation |
| I have worked at Gallaudet for three years. | Three years ago I started working at Gallaudet. Today, I am still working at Gallaudet. | Uses have/has and the past participle. This tense puts an action in the past, but indicates that it is in some way related to the present. It’s used for actions and situations that started in the past and continue up to the present. Used to show how long something has happened. Often uses the words for or since. |
| He has smoked cigarettes since he was sixteen years old. | In the past, when he was 16, he started smoking cigarettes for the first time. Now, he continues to smoke cigarettes. | |
| I have jogged three times a week for a month. | One month ago, I started jogging three times a week. I continue to jog three times a week. |
| Past Perfect Sentence | Sentence Explanation | General Explanation |
| I had worked at Gallaudet for three years when I got my first raise. | I worked at Gallaudet. I may or may not still work there. I worked there for 3 years at the same pay rate. Finally, after 3 years were finished, I got a raise. | Uses had and the past participle. Used to show that the action happened before a certain time in the past. If you are already talking about the past, you can use the past perfect to talk about something that happened even longer ago. Only used when there is the idea of an "earlier" past. |
| He had smoked cigarettes for a long time before he quit. | He has quit smoking. However, before he quit, he smoked cigarettes for a very long time. | |
| I explained that I had jogged three times a week for a month. | I was talking to someone. I told them about this time in my life when I exercised a lot. I explained to them that in the past, there was one month of my life when I exercised 3 times a week. |
| Future Perfect Sentence | Sentence Explanation | General Explanation |
| I will have worked at Gallaudet for 3 years in March. | I work at Gallaudet. I started working there three years ago in March. It is not yet March, so that means that I have not yet worked there for a full three years. In March, I will have completed three years of work at Gallaudet. |
Uses will have and the past participle. Explains something that will have happened or been completed by a certain time in the future. It is used to show that something is not yet completed, but it will be completed in the future.
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| He will have smoked cigarettes for 20 years next week. | He has been smoking cigarettes for a long time. He started smoking almost 20 years ago. In fact, next week is the 20th anniversary of when he started smoking. Next week, it will be 20 years since he started smoking. | |
| In December, I will have jogged 3 times a week for 6 months. | I have been jogging regularly for a some time now. Right now I have been jogging three times every week for a few months. When it is December, that will mean that I will have been jogging regularly for six whole months. |
| Present Simple Continuous Sentence | Sentence Explanation | General Explanation |
| I am working at Gallaudet today. | I may not always work at Gallaudet everyday. But today, Gallaudet is the place that I will be working. | Uses the verb to be + ...-ing. Discusses an action that is going on right now. It is not used to describe things that always happen, or happen regularly. It is only used for things that are actually happening at this moment. |
| Don’t try and talk to me now, I am jogging. | Right this second, I am running. I may be finished running in a few minutes, I may not have been running a few minutes ago, but I am running at this moment. | |
| He is smoking a cigarette right now. | If someone asked, "Where is he?" You may answer with this sentence because you are telling them exactly what he is doing at this second. |
| Past Simple Continuous Sentence | Sentence Explanation | General Explanation |
| I was working at Gallaudet when the dorm caught fire. | In the past, a dorm at Gallaudet caught on fire. When that happened, I was working at Gallaudet. | Uses was/were + ...ing. Used to explain an event that was going on when something else happened. (Often uses when, before, or after). Often used in the same sentence with the past simple tenses. |
| I was jogging when you called. | You called me at some point in the past. At that time when you called me, I was out jogging. | |
| He was smoking a cigarette before I came over. | Sometime in the past, I came over to see him. Just before I came over, he was busy smoking a cigarette. |
| Future Simple Continuous Sentence | Sentence Explanation | General Explanation |
| I will be working at Gallaudet when the President gives his speech. | Sometime in the future, the President will give a speech. At that time when he gives the speech, I will be working at Gallaudet. I may or may not be working at Gallaudet right now, but I will be working there at the time when the President gives his speech. | Uses will/shall be + ...ing. Describes an action that will be in progress at a particular time in the future. An event that will be going on when something else happens. |
| Tomorrow at this time I will be jogging. | I am not jogging right now. However, in the future, at this exact time tomorrow, I will be jogging. | |
| It’s OK if I am late to work this morning, the boss will be outside smoking anyway. | Later on this morning, I may be late to work. It won't matter if I am late to work, though. At the time in the future when I show up for work, the boss will be outside smoking a cigarette. |
Perfect Continuous (Perfect Progressive) Tenses:
| Present Perfect Continuous | Sentence Explanation | General Explanation |
| I have been working at Gallaudet for 3 years. | Three years ago I started working at Gallaudet. I have worked there for three years, and I still continue to work at Gallaudet today. | Uses has/have been + ...ing. Shows how long something has been happening, and that it is still happening. Indicates that an action started in the past, and is still continuing in the present. |
| I have been jogging for 2 hours. | Two hours ago I started jogging. I am still jogging right now. I started jogging two hours ago, and I have not stopped yet. | |
| He has been smoking a lot of cigarettes lately. | Recently, he has been smoking a lot. He recently started smoking a lot, and he continues to smoke a lot. He has not stopped smoking a lot yet. |
| Past Perfect Continuous | Sentence Explanation | General Explanation |
| I had been working at Gallaudet for two hours before they canceled classes. | I went to work at Gallaudet. I worked there for two hours. Just as I was finishing two hours of work, Gallaudet canceled classes for the rest of the day. | Uses had been + ...ing. Shows how long something had been happening before something else happened. (Something was happening until something else happened and interrupted it). |
| I had been jogging when I tripped and sprained my ankle. | At sometime in the past I was jogging. While I was jogging, something happened to interrupt me: I tripped and sprained my ankle! | |
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He had been smoking for 19 years before he quit. |
He was a serious smoker. He smoked regularly for 19 years. Then, after 19 years of smoking, he quit smoking. Now, he does not smoke. |
| Future Perfect Continuous | Sentence Explanation | General Explanation |
| Next March, I will have been working at Gallaudet for 3 years. | I work at Gallaudet. I have been working there for less than three years. However, next March will be the third anniversary of my employment at Gallaudet. In March, three years will have passed since I started work at Gallaudet. | Uses will have been + ...ing. Shows how long something will have been happening by a future time. This tense does not indicate that the action that has been happening is going to end. |
| In ten minutes, I will have been jogging for two hours. | I started jogging almost two hours ago. I will keep running. When ten more minutes have passed, the time I have spent running will be exactly two hours. | |
| He will have been smoking for 19 years in 2 months. | He has been smoking for almost 19 years. Two months in the future will be the 19th anniversary of when he started smoking. If he keeps smoking for two more months, the total time he has been smoking will be a full 19 years. |
Written by: Vivion Smith for English Works!