| 1. | Verbs tell time: We usually determine from the verb whether an event happened in the past, is happening now, or is at some other time. |
 | There are several "times" that can apply to a verb form: future, future perfect etc. |
| | But, for the most part, it seems to work well to be aware of present, past, and past participle. |
| | THESE ARE CALLED TENSE. |
| 2. | Putting verbs into their possible tenses is called CONJUGATION. |
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| 3. | TENSES |
| | a. | PRESENT TENSE |
| | | When we speak of something that is happening now, we use the present tense. |
| | | | 1) | I hear. |
| | | | 2) | You whistle. |
| | | | 3) | You go. |
| | | HINT: Sometimes verbs require an "s" ending in the present tense. |
| | | | 1) | She hears. |
| | | | | The present tense also can use the "ing". |
| | | | 1) | She is walking. |
| | | NOTICE: The "ing" verb has a helper. |
| | b. | PAST TENSE When we speak of something that happened in the past, we use the past tense. |
| | | To form the past tense of regular verbs, we merely add "d" or "ed" to the present tense. |
| | | | 1) | I heard. |
| | | | 2) | You whistled. |
| | NOTE: Remember that irregular verbs usually change form from present to past. |
| | | | 1) | He went. |
| | c. | PAST PARTICIPLE |
| | | The past participle is another form of past. It uses the helper as its point of concern. |
| | | When dealing with regular verbs, you take the past and add a helper to form the past participle. |
| | | | 1) | I have heard. |
| | | | 2) | She has whistled. |
| | | REMEMBER: The irregular verb uses the helper but also, usually, changes the form of the verb from past to past participle. |
| | | | 1) | He has gone. |
| 4. | In order to understand tense easier, it seems necessary to know the meaning of a regular verb and irregular verb. |
| | a. | REGULAR VERB |
| | | A regular verb is one which goes from present, to past, to past participle while retaining the root word. |