English Verb Tenses: Simple Present, Continuous, and Past

Simple Present

The simple present expresses an action, habits, facts, emotions, and permanent wishes. For instructions, if it is a third person, add “s”.

For example:

• He goes to school every morning.
• She understands English.
• It mixes the sand and the water.
• He tries very hard.

Present Continuous

Use the Present Continuous with Normal Verbs to express the idea that something is happening now, at this very moment. It can also be used to show that something is not happening now. Also, we use the Present Continuous to say that we are in the process of doing a longer action which is in progress.

For example:

• You are learning English now.
• You are not swimming now.
• Are you sleeping?
• I am sitting.
• I am not standing.
• Is he sitting or standing?

Past Simple

Use the Simple Past to express the idea that an action started and finished at a specific time in the past. Sometimes, the speaker may not actually mention the specific time, but they do have one specific time in mind.

Examples:

• I saw a movie yesterday.
• I didn't see a play yesterday.
• Last year, I traveled to Japan.
• Last year, I didn't travel to Korea.

We use the Simple Past to list a series of completed actions in the past. These actions happen 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and so on.

Examples:

• I finished work, walked to the beach, and found a nice place to swim.
• He arrived from the airport at 8:00, checked into the hotel at 9:00, and met the others at 10:00.

The Simple Past can be used with a duration which starts and stops in the past. A duration is a longer action often indicated by expressions such as: for two years, for five minutes, all day, all year, etc.

Examples:

• I lived in Brazil for two years.
• Shauna studied Japanese for five years.
• They stayed at the beach all day.

The Simple Past can also be used to describe a habit which stopped in the past. It can have the same meaning as "used to." To make it clear that we are talking about a habit, we often add expressions such as: always, often, usually, never, when I was a child, when I was younger, etc.

Examples:

• I studied French when I was a child.
• He played the violin.
• He didn't play the piano.
• Did you play a musical instrument when you were a kid?
• She worked at the movie theater after school.