Lesson 9: The Past and Future Tenses | Easy English Subject

The past tense is used to express an action which took placeat a specific past time.

Example:

He was reading when I saw him.



The auxillary verb did is used with the present tense of the main verb in making negative statements and asking questions in the past tense.

Example:

Did you eat at twelve o'clock?



The used to form denotes a habitual action performed in the past but no longer done in the present. When you say "I used to go to the movies every Sunday," you mean that you no longer go to movies every Sunday.



The principal parts of irregular verbs are the present tense, past tense, and past participle. There are not many irregular verbs in English. The following are some of them.

Present                  Past              Past Participle

am, is                     was              been
are                          were            been
bear                       bore             borne
become                 became        become
begin                     began           begun
bite                        bit                 bitten
blow                      blew             blown
break                    broke           broken
bring                     brought       brought
burst                     burst            birst
buy                        bought         bought
build                     built              built
catch                     caught          caught
choose                  chose            chosen
come                     came            come
creep                    crept             crept
dive                      dived, dove  dived
do                         did                  done
drink                   drank             drunk
eat                        ate                  eaten
fall                        fell                 fallen
feel                       felt                 felt
flee                       fled                fled
fly                         flew               flown
freeze                  froze              frozen
get                        got                  gotten, got
give                      gave               given
go                         went              gone
grow                    grew              grown
hang (suspend)  hung              hung
hang (execute)   hanged          hanged
hide                      hid                 hidden
keep                     kept                kept
know                   knew              known
lay                        laid                 laid
lead                      led                  led
leave                    left                  left
lie (recline)         lay                  lain
lie (falsehood)    lied                 lied
lose                       lost                 lost
ride                       rode               ridden
ring                      rang               rung
rise                       rose                risen
run                       ran                 run
see                        saw                seen
shrink                 shrunk           shrunk
send                     sent                sent
sing                      sang               sung
sink                      sank               sunk
sit                         sat                  sat
speak                   spoke             spoken
spring                  sprang          sprung
steal                     stole              stolen
strike                   struck           struck
swim                   swam             swum
swing                  swung            swung
take                      took               taken
teach                    taught           taught
think                    thought         thought
throw                  threw             thrown
wear                    wore              worn
weave                  wove             woven
win                       won               won
write                    wrote            written



The sign of the future tense is the auxillary verb shall or will. A more generally used form to express the future tense is the going to form.

Example:

I will stay home night.
I am going to stay home night.


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