the form of the verb that indicates time. English verbs have three forms:

• Present tense.

• Past tense.

• Future form.

Present and past tenses can be simple or continuous:

Present

• Present simple – verb tense showing that something happens regularly in the present, is true

now or generally exists, used for facts or habits e.g. I walk to work, I wait.

• Present continuous – verb tense used for action taking place at the time of speaking or of

short duration e.g. I am waiting.

Past

• Past simple – verb tense showing that action has already occurred and is completed e.g. I

moved to Whangarei last year.

• Past continuous – verb tense showing that a past ongoing action was interrupted by

something else in the past e.g. I was waiting (continuous).

Additionally these two verb tenses can be perfect (using the verb ‘have’):

Present perfect

• Present perfect simple – verb tense showing that an action happened in the past, at an

unspecified time, and the action is important for the present or future e.g. I have waited.

• Present perfect continuous – verb tense showing that an action happened in the past, at an

unspecified time, and the action is ongoing and important for the present or future. The action

has taken longer than expected. The action may have been repeated from some time in the

past e.g. I had been waiting.

Past perfect

• Past perfect simple – verb tense showing that action has been completed in the past before

another past action. Used when actions are told in a different order from how they happened.

Used in subordinate clauses e.g. He had read the book (also known as pluperfect).

• Past perfect continuous – verb tense showing that an action happened in the past, at an

unspecified time, and the action was ongoing in the past and was important for the present

or future. The action had taken longer than expected. The action may have been repeated

previously e.g. I had been waiting.

Future form – verb form showing that something will happen at some time in the future e.g. John will

arrive tomorrow, John will be arriving tomorrow, John is going to arrive tomorrow, John is arriving

tomorrow, John arrives tomorrow.