Imagine you are telling your friend about a cricket match. You might say: "Rohit hit a six yesterday. He plays very well. He will score a century tomorrow!" Notice how the verb changes depending on when the action happens -- yesterday, today, or tomorrow. This change in the verb is called tense. Let us explore all three tenses and learn how verbs behave in each one.
A tense tells us the time of an action. There are three main tenses:
1. Present Tense -- The action is happening now or happens regularly.
"Meera reads a book every evening."
2. Past Tense -- The action already happened, before now.
"Meera read a book last night."
3. Future Tense -- The action has not happened yet; it will happen later.
"Meera will read a book tomorrow."
Most verbs form their past tense by adding -ed at the end. These are called regular verbs.
play → played, walk → walked, cook → cooked, help → helped
Spelling tips:
If the verb ends in e, just add -d: dance → danced, bake → baked.
If the verb ends in a consonant + y, change y to i and add -ed: carry → carried, study → studied.
If a short verb ends in consonant-vowel-consonant, double the last letter: stop → stopped, clap → clapped.
Some verbs do not follow the -ed rule. Their past tense forms are completely different. You must learn these by heart.
| Present Tense | Past Tense |
|---|---|
| go | went |
| eat | ate |
| write | wrote |
| see | saw |
| come | came |
| give | gave |
| take | took |
| make | made |
To talk about something that has not happened yet, we use "will" before the verb.
"I will visit my grandmother next week."
"They will play kabaddi after school."
"Anu will write a letter to her friend."
The verb after "will" always stays in its base form (no -ed, no -s).
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Tense | The form of a verb that shows when an action happens |
| Regular verb | A verb that forms its past tense by adding -ed |
| Irregular verb | A verb whose past tense does not follow the -ed rule |
| Base form | The simplest form of a verb (e.g., go, eat, play) |
| Future tense | A tense that tells about actions that will happen later |
Write a short story (5-6 sentences) about a trip to a zoo. Use at least two sentences in each tense -- past, present, and future. Underline the verbs and write the tense next to each sentence.
Want to use this as a worksheet? Switch to the A4 printable view.
Imagine you are telling your friend about a cricket match. You might say: "Rohit hit a six yesterday. He plays very well. He will score a century tomorrow!" Notice how the verb changes depending on when the action happens -- yesterday, today, or tomorrow. This change in the verb is called tense. Let us explore all three tenses and learn how verbs behave in each one.
A tense tells us the time of an action. There are three main tenses:
1. Present Tense -- The action is happening now or happens regularly.
"Meera reads a book every evening."
2. Past Tense -- The action already happened, before now.
"Meera read a book last night."
3. Future Tense -- The action has not happened yet; it will happen later.
"Meera will read a book tomorrow."
Think about it: When you say "I ate rice," is the eating happening now, or is it already over? That is how you decide the tense!
Most verbs form their past tense by adding -ed at the end. These are called regular verbs.
play → played, walk → walked, cook → cooked, help → helped
Spelling tips:
If the verb ends in e, just add -d: dance → danced, bake → baked.
If the verb ends in a consonant + y, change y to i and add -ed: carry → carried, study → studied.
If a short verb ends in consonant-vowel-consonant, double the last letter: stop → stopped, clap → clapped.
Some verbs do not follow the -ed rule. Their past tense forms are completely different. You must learn these by heart.
| Present Tense | Past Tense |
|---|---|
| go | went |
| eat | ate |
| write | wrote |
| see | saw |
| come | came |
| give | gave |
| take | took |
| make | made |
Think about it: Can you say "I goed to school"? No! The correct form is "I went to school." That is why irregular verbs need special attention.
To talk about something that has not happened yet, we use "will" before the verb.
"I will visit my grandmother next week."
"They will play kabaddi after school."
"Anu will write a letter to her friend."
The verb after "will" always stays in its base form (no -ed, no -s).
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Tense | The form of a verb that shows when an action happens |
| Regular verb | A verb that forms its past tense by adding -ed |
| Irregular verb | A verb whose past tense does not follow the -ed rule |
| Base form | The simplest form of a verb (e.g., go, eat, play) |
| Future tense | A tense that tells about actions that will happen later |
Present: "Amma buys vegetables every Sunday."
Past: "Amma bought vegetables last Sunday."
Future: "Amma will buy vegetables next Sunday."
Present: "Arjun writes neatly in his notebook."
Past: "Arjun wrote neatly in his notebook yesterday."
Future: "Arjun will write neatly in his test tomorrow."
Present: "We make rangoli during Diwali."
Past: "We made a beautiful rangoli last Diwali."
Future: "We will make an even bigger rangoli this year."
A. Fill in the Blanks
B. Multiple Choice Questions
C. Change the Tense
Rewrite each sentence in the tense given in brackets.
D. Changing Tense Table
Complete the table by filling in the missing forms.
| Present Tense | Past Tense | Future Tense |
|---|---|---|
| see | ||
| came | ||
| will make | ||
| write | ||
| gave |
Write a short story (5-6 sentences) about a trip to a zoo. Use at least two sentences in each tense -- past, present, and future. Underline the verbs and write the tense next to each sentence.