The tense of a verb tells us when the action was done. The action can be done in the past, present or future.

Past
  Present  
Future
I worked late yesterday.
I am working late.
I will be working late tomorrow.


The Past Tense

There are two main types of past tense.
  1. The simple past

    • Use the simple past for completed actions that happen in the past

      - He kicked the ball and scored a goal.
      - Xiu Yi played the violin when she was a child.
      - Jean left five minutes ago.
      - We went to a movie last night.

    • For regular verbs, the simple past is formed by adding "ed" to the verb

      kick - kicked
      play - played

    • Irregular verbs do NOT follow the above rule.

      leave - left
      go - went

      The three most important irregular verbs are have, do and be.

        Present  
      Past
      Example
      have had She had a fever yesterday.
      do did I did my homework last night.
      be forms differ
      depending on subject      		 I was in New Zealand last year.
      We were in New Zealand last year.
      Present & Past Tense Forms of "be"
      Singular
      Plural
      First person I   am/was we   are/were
      Second person you   are/were you   are/were
      Third person he/she/it   is/was they   are/were



  2. The past continuous

    • Use the past continuous for actions that were taking place when something else happened

      - He was listening to the radio when there was a power failure.
      - John was jogging when I ran into him (when I met him by chance).


    Note that the past continuous is made up of two parts -

    the past tense of the "to be" verb    +    the present participle of the main verb
    was or were
    		        verb + "ing"



the past tense the present tense the future tense