Dr. Johanna Rubba
English Department (Linguistics)
Cal Poly State University San Luis Obispo
Last updated  2/8/05
© 2003 Johanna Rubba

Syntax: Terms and Concepts
The tenses and aspects of English

English verbal expressions (often called verb phrases in traditional grammar) can be thought of in additive fashion—take several basic components and add them up to produce the various possible verbal expressions of English. Five verb forms participate in verbal expressions: the base form (the verb with no suffixes, e.g. have, be, eat, play), the present-tense form (has the '-s' suffix for 'she, he, it' forms, e.g., has, is, eats, plays), the past-tense form (with the suffix '-ed' or an irregular past form, e.g. had, was, ate, played), the present participle (with '-ing', having, being, eating, playing), and the past participle (with '-ed' or '-en', e.g., had, been, eaten, played). These combine with each other and with auxiliary verbs to render the tense/aspect constructions of English. Their meanings can be gauged and understood by looking at the kinds of modifier phrases they can occur with -- phrases indicating present or past time, habituality, etc. (See examples in the second table below.) The first table presents the forms that make up the different tense/aspects, their grammatical names, plus an example using the verb walk.

Table 1: Forms and names of English Verbal Constructions
Component form(s) Name of tense/aspect Example
present-tense-marked form alone  (simple) present tense Karen walks. 
past-tense-marked form alone  (simple) past tense Karen walked. 
will + base (unmarked/unsuffixed) form of verb future tense Karen will walk.
presen-tenset form of AUX be + present participle of verb present progressive or present continuous  Karen is walking. 
past-tense form of AUX be + present participle of verb past progressive / past continuous Karen was walking. 
will + base AUX be+ pres. part. future progressive / future continous Karen will be walking. 
present AUX have + past participle form of verb present perfect  Karen has walked.
past AUX have + past participle  past perfect Karen had walked.
will+ base AUX have + past participle future perfect  Karen will have walked.
pres. AUX have + past participle + AUX be+ pres. participle present perfect progressive  Karen has been walking.
past AUX have + past participle + AUX be + pres. participle  past perfect progressive Karen had been walking.
will + pres. AUX have + past part. + AUX be + pres. part.  future perfect progressive Karen will have been walking. 


The next table presents the names of tense/aspects with example sentences, plus their functions/meanings, plus some sample adverbial modifiers that help verify the functions/meanings.

Table 2: Forms and Functions of English Verbal Constructions

FORMS FUNCTIONS SAMPLE ADVERBIALS
  1. Simple present tense

    2. Children play. Birds fly. Cows eat grass. 
  2. Karen swims three times a week. 
  3. Cal Poly plays SF State next Saturday.
  4. I see a hummingbird. She likes dogs. 
  1. To state general truths.
  2. To describe habits.
  3. To indicate future action.
  4. To indicate present time for stative verbs and verbs of perception.
  1. typically, generally speaking
  2. usually, every week
  3. tomorrow, next year
  4. right now, as I speak, at this very moment
Simple past tense
  1. The children played in the sandbox.
  1. Indicates an event, action, or state that happened or was true in the past.
 Yesterday, five years, ago, when I was small ...
Future tense
  1. The children will play in the sandbox.
  1. For an action, event, or state projected to take place after the moment the sentence is created.
 Tomorrow, next week, in five years, later ...
Present progressive
  1. The children are playing in the sandbox.
  2. We are leaving for France tomorrow.
  1. Indicates action underway at the moment the sentence is created.
  2. Future action/event.
 1. Right now, as I speak, at this very moment ...
2. tomorrow, later today, next week, etc.
Past progressive
  1. The children were playing in the sandbox.
  1. Indicates action underway at a past moment.
 Yesterday, when I got home, at 4 o'clock
Future progressive
  1. The children will be playing in the sandbox.
  1. Indicates action expected to be underway at a future time.
 When I get home, later today, in the future, next month ...
Present perfect
  1. The children have played here often.
  2. The Pope has died. The President has just vetoed the bill.
  3. Lou has played soccer since she was 8. I have lived here for four years.
  1. Indicates events that took place one or more times in the past.
  2. Announces a newsworthy event.
  3. Indicates actions/events that began in the past and are still happening/still true.
  1. Once, several times, often, never ...
  2. just
  3. With phrases indicating periods of time: for a long time, for 5 years, since 1990, etc.
Past perfect
  1. The children had fallen asleep by the time we got home. We had already eaten by then.
 Used for actions/events that took place before another past event. Already, by a certain time, before X ...
Future perfect
The children will have gone to bed by 9 o'clock.
We will have finished this paint job by next weekend.		 To indicate future events that will be completed by a certain time. by then, by 5 o/clock, by next June
Present perfect progressive

The children have been playing in the sandbox since 3 o'clock..

 These tense/aspect expressions combine the meanings of perfect with progressive.  
Past perfect progressive
The mess indicated that the children had been playing in the sandbox.		    
Future perfect progressive 
The children will have been playing in the sandbox for an hour by the time you get here.		    
This table does not exhaust the inventory of constructions used in English to express nuances of time and aspect. Here are just a few more verb forms and their meanings. 

Table 3: Some Examples of Other English Verbal Constructions
Meaning Form
Future be going to + verb
The children are going to play in the sandbox later.
Past habit used to + verb
We used to swim a mile every day.
Past habit would + verb
Kevin would smile every time he saw me.

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