Simple Tense

The Simple Tense Explained with Examples

The Simple tense simply indicates that actions or states of being happen in four ways, which include the following:

The simple tense has three aspects; they include:

1.   The Simple Present

The simple presentOpens in new window expresses something that is habitual or an everyday activity, that is happening right now; it describes a present situation. Words like always, usually, never, every day, and twice a week are usually used to indicate this verb tense.

Examples include:

2.   The Simple Past

The simple pastOpens in new window shows action that happened and finished at a point in the past. We often use words like before, yesterday, in the past, years ago, and many other words to indicate the simple past tense. With most verbs, this verb tense is indicated by adding –ed at the end of the verb.

Examples include:

3.   The Simple Future

The simple futureOpens in new window tense shows that an action will happen at some point in the future. Words like tomorrow, next week or month, in the coming years, etc. are used to indicate this tense. To construct the simple future tense, the auxiliary verb willOpens in new window, is usually added in front of the main verb.

Examples include:

The chart below summarizes how a verb is conjugated in simple tense.