VERB TENSES A 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 RulesExamples For most verbs: Add –edPlay --- played For verbs ending with “e”: Add –dGraze --- 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 Verbs VerbPast Tense Past Tense with Helping Verb begin began(has, have, had) begun breakbroke(has, have, had) broken bringbrought(has, have, had) brought comecame(has, have, had) come drivedrove(has, have, had) driven eatate(has, have, had) eaten givegave(has, have, had) given growgrew(has, have, had) grown knowknew(has, have, had) known makemade(has, have, had) made saysaid(has, have, had) said singsang(has, have, had) sung taketook(has, have, had) taken telltold(has, have, had) told throwthrew(has, have, had) thrown wearwore(has, have, had) worn

Present Tense  HappenING now! For most verbs: Add -ing sing --- singing stay --- staying For verbs that end with s, x, z, ch, or sh: Add -es pitch --- pitches buzz --- buzzes For verbs that end with a consonant and y: Change the y to i and add -es study --- studies fly --- 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.  tenses_present-perfect_quiz.htm tenses_present-perfect_quiz.htm