First Grade English: Simple Tenses (Past, Present, Future)
Actions do not just happen; they happen at a specific point along the great river of time! When you tell a story, your listeners need to know whether the adventure already took place yesterday, is unfolding right now at this very second, or will take place tomorrow. In English grammar, the time of an action is called its verb tense. In this chapter, you will master the three foundational tenses of first-grade English: past tense, present tense, and future tense.
The River of Time: Three Tenses
Every action verb can travel through time by changing its form or teaming up with a helper word.
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| THE RIVER OF TIME |
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| PAST TENSE PRESENT TENSE FUTURE TENSE |
| (Yesterday) (Today) (Tomorrow) |
| |
| Already happened Happening right now Has not |
| in the past or happens regularly happened yet|
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| PLAYED PLAYS / PLAYING WILL PLAY |
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| "I played soccer "I play soccer now" "I will play |
| yesterday." tomorrow." |
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Time Clue Words
Sentences often include time clue words that signal which tense belongs in the story: Past clues: yesterday, last night, long ago, earlier. Present clues: today, now, right now, every day. Future clues: tomorrow, next week, soon, later.
Present Tense: Happening Now
Present tense describes actions that are occurring right now, or actions that happen continuously and habitually.
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| PRESENT TENSE PATTERNS |
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| Subject Type | Pattern | Examples |
| ------------------+-----------------------+----------------|
| One Person / Thing| Add -s or -es to verb | He walks. |
| (Singular) | | She jumps. |
| | | The cat sleeps.|
| ------------------+-----------------------+----------------|
| More than One / I | Base form of verb | They walk. |
| (Plural or I/you) | | We jump. |
| | | I sleep. |
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The Present Continuous (-ING)
Present tense can also use a helper verb like "am," "is," or "are" paired with the "-ing" ending to show an action unfolding right this moment: "I am walking," "She is reading," "They are swimming."
Past Tense: What Happened Yesterday
Past tense describes actions that were completed before right now.
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| PAST TENSE PATTERNS |
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| |
| Regular Verbs: Simply add - E D to the base verb! |
| - jump ===> jumped |
| - cook ===> cooked |
| - walk ===> walked |
| |
| Irregular Verbs: Change their internal vowels completely! |
| - run ===> ran |
| - eat ===> ate |
| - see ===> saw |
| - go ===> went |
| |
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Regular vs. Irregular Past
When a verb is regular, you attach -ed to celebrate yesterday: "We walked to the store." But watch out for famous irregular verbs: you do not say "goed," you say "went"! You do not say "eated," you say "ate"!
Future Tense: Looking Ahead with WILL
Future tense describes actions that have not occurred yet, but will happen in the hours, days, or years ahead. Creating future tense is delightfully easy: you simply place the helper word "will" in front of the base verb!
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| FUTURE TENSE WITH "WILL" |
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| [ "WILL" ] + [ BASE VERB ] |
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| will + run ===> will run |
| will + sleep ===> will sleep|
| will + visit ===> will visit|
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| "Tomorrow, my family will visit the science museum." |
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The Magic Key "Will"
The word "will" is your magic ticket to the future. Whenever you see "will" holding hands with a verb, your mind knows instantly to look forward in time.
Practice Exercises
Exercise 1: Identify whether each sentence is in the past tense, present tense, or future tense: Sentence A: The brown rabbit hopped across the green lawn yesterday. Sentence B: Sophia reads an exciting book every afternoon. Sentence C: Tomorrow, our class will plant sunflower seeds in the garden.
Exercise 2: Take the base verb "jump." Write three complete sentences using "jump" in the past tense, present tense, and future tense.
Exercise Solutions
Solution to Exercise 1: Sentence A is in the past tense (indicated by "hopped" and "yesterday"). Sentence B is in the present tense (indicated by "reads" and "every afternoon"). Sentence C is in the future tense (indicated by "will plant" and "tomorrow").
Solution to Exercise 2: A student could write: Past: Yesterday, I jumped over the puddle. Present: I jump on the trampoline today. Future: Tomorrow, I will jump into the swimming pool.