Step-by-step instructions: how to tell time in English. How to determine verb tense

Many of those who study English know that it contains two groups of tenses.

Three main ones:

• Present;
• Past;
• Future.

The presented times, depending on the situation, are added to the secondary times:

• Simple;
• Progressive;
• Perfect;
• Perfect Progressive.

The result of adding these two groups is the presence of 12 times in English language.

The listed tenses are usually arranged in a table that clearly shows what form the verb takes when it is in a particular time period.

Also in the table you can see the first indications of how in English.

To remember better complex material, you need to study it playfully, for this, in addition to the scientific table of times, we will show you a comic one, which for some will be easier to study.

Rules for determining tenses

Having looked at how verb forms are correctly called, we will answer the question of how to determine tense in English. To answer, let's look at the step-by-step instructions.

• The first step is to translate the sentence we are working on to make it easier to understand what information is being given to us.
• The second step is to determine the time marker. In each tense in the language we are considering, there is a marker - a word that easily allows you to determine the time. Such words indicate a specific point in time or a relative one. For example, in Present Simple Similar markers are words such as: every day, often, constantly. These markers, as can be seen from the example, indicate regular time, but not only this sign indicates this type time. Another marker is the usual name of the action: I like watermelon. IN in this case is indicated inaccurately when you like him, and you simply talk about your action without specifying the time period.

This example shows that such markers provide ease of recognition and correct definition time in a sentence. Based on this simple example we want to show that each time has its own markers - words by which you can easily understand what time is in front of you. The main thing is to remember the markers.

• The third step is to remember what time the marker refers to.

• The fourth step is to determine the time.

Having considered how to correctly determine time in English, let us pay attention to the following point: how to determine tense

Rules for determining verb tense

To solve this problem, as in the previous case, we will use step-by-step instructions.

• The first step is to underline the verbs that we see in the sentence.
• The second step is to remember: is this a correct verb or not, because, according to reference books in English language, the verb has three properties by which it is easy to identify:

1. Time is one of the main ones: past, future or present.
2. Type of time - subtime determined by the marker.
3. The voice is passive (an action is performed on the speaker) or active (an action is performed on the speaker).

If the verb is correct, you can turn to the dictionary or lexicon, otherwise - to the table of irregular verbs or again to the verbs of the same type that you have learned.

• The third step is to find a compound next to the main verb that relates directly to time.

For example, for the group Past - was, did ...; verb ending in -ed.

For Present: do, does…; verb ending in -s.

Such examples most clearly show that it is easy to determine the tense for any verb, and answer the constantly arising question for those who are just beginning to figure out how to determine the tense of a verb in English.

Let's summarize

So, to summarize, we would like to note that we have examined the main and difficult issues when studying English, focusing on the first: how to determine time in English, since it is the key to correct and quick learning. In addition to answering main question, we have also described how to easily learn and understand each tense and recognize it in a sentence.

Finally, I would like to give some advice: spend some time maximum amount time and attention to the topic "How to determine the tense of a sentence in English." The main thing here is practice and its regularity. Then you can easily answer the question of how to determine time in English. Good luck.

How to determine the past tense of a verb? Answer to asked question you will get from the presented article. In addition, we will tell you how the past tense of a verb is formed in English.

General information about verbs

Before we talk about what the past tense of a verb is, we should find out what it even is.

A verb is a part of speech that denotes the state or action of an object, and also answers the questions “what to do?” or “what should I do?” It should be especially noted that they vary in mood, are transitive and intransitive, and can refer to the perfective or imperfective form.

Verb tenses in Russian

This part of speech can be used in the following tenses:

• the present;
• future;
• past.

Past tense of verb

The part of speech that stands in shows that this or that action has taken place up to the present moment. However, when describing past situations or events in life, the present tense is often used instead of the past tense.

How to form a verb in the past tense? Let's find out together

The past tense of a verb in Russian is formed from the initial form (that is, the infinitive) by adding the suffix -l- (ran, wanted, talked, helped, etc.). However, there are exceptions to this rule. Thus, verbs in the infinitive form do not perfect form and ending in -nit, -ti or -ch, are converted to the past tense (masculine singular) without using the above-mentioned suffix (stritch - strig, etc.).

Do verbs in the past tense change?

The past tense of the verb allows the verb to change in number. In turn, the singular number can easily be declined according to gender. It should also be noted that verbs in the past tense plural, do not change by person.

Forms of verbs in the past tense by meaning

Verbs in the past tense can have a perfect and aorist meaning (only the perfect form). Let's look at them in more detail:

Verbs in the past tense can have the following grammatical meanings (imperfective only):

• An infinite single concrete action that was performed before the moment of speech. For example: Once under New Year the girls were guessing.
• An action that is repeated all the time until the moment of speech. For example: Annushka clasped her hands every time, and her eyes lit up with delight.
• An action that is constantly happening. For example: Impenetrable forests stretched almost all the way to the river.
• Generalized fact. For example: Someone asked you.

Past tense: English verbs

As mentioned above, the past tense is a form of a verb that indicates an action that has already been performed. In English, this change in words is called "Past Tenses". It should also be noted that such time differs in duration and quality. In other words, in English there is a simple past tense called " Past Simple", the continuous past tense, called "Past Continuous", and the past perfect - " Past Perfect" Let's look at each of the forms in more detail.

Past Simple

This tense expresses absolutely any action that took place in the past. Past Simple is formed quite simply: if the word refers to irregular verb, then for this you need to take its second form from the table. If the verb is correct, then it is added to it. If it is necessary to pose a question, then the auxiliary word did should be used.

By the way, the past tense of the verb to be has 2 conjugations, namely were and was. As a rule, were is used with nouns only in the plural, and was - in the singular. In this case, with the pronoun you (translated as you or you) it is necessary to use only were.

Past Continuous

This form differs from the previous one in that in this case the action of the past is shown in process. As a cheat sheet, it is recommended to remember that the presented verb will have an imperfect form. It should also be noted that to form the Past Continuous, only knowledge of the following forms of the verb to be is required: were and was.

Past Perfect or perfect continuous past tense

It will take time to create such a perfect knowledge all forms and correct). It should also be noted that for the Past Perfect it is necessary to have. By the way, the past tense has the following form: had.

It should also be noted that the Past Perfect also includes such a tense as the Past Perfect Continuous, which has the following Russian meaning: perfect continuous past tense. To form it, you must use to be, which should be put in the Past Perfect form, that is, had been.

Let's sum it up

Knowing the basics of the formation of past tense verbs in Russian and English, you will be able not only to correctly deliver speech during personal communication with foreigners or your compatriots, but also to write them a competent letter.

Instructions

So now practice. Verbs can change according to number, and in the singular - also according to gender. Moreover, they do not have multiple face shapes. To form the past tense in speech, it is necessary to use an infinitive stem or a past tense stem with the suffix -l, which change according to gender and number. For example: “He spoke a lot and passionately and attracted the audience,” “She said interesting things and attracted the audience,” and “They spoke outside the rules and attracted the audience.”

Moreover, in the form of the masculine singular, the only indicator of gender and number is zero: “Last day he was wet through and through”, “He prudently warned those around him about the danger”, “He faithfully guarded the catch”, “The man was very cold and was constantly shaking” and “The old one suddenly became deaf and did not move.”

It is also interesting that the historical formation of the past tense form, according to the opinion large quantity linguists, goes back to the perfect participle, which has the suffix -l and is used in the perfect with the present tense form and with the help of the auxiliary verb “to be”.

Video on the topic

In Russian, there are two forms of verbs in the future tense. These are the future simple or synthetic and the future complex or analytical. In addition, and depending on belonging to the first or second category, verbs of the future tense change in only two ways.

A verb is an expression of action. The category of time is an expression of how an action relates to the moment of speech. It is customary to distinguish three forms of time. To determine the relationship of a verb to the present, future or past tense, it is usually enough to ask a question. But there are verb forms that need to be analyzed more deeply. Let us highlight some features - they will help to distinguish temporary forms.

Present tense
This category is used to indicate a certain action:

• happening at a specific moment, i.e. moment of speech ( I am reading a book);
  
• happening regularly ( I read books);
  
• happening all the time ( I work as a builder).
  

The question “what does it do?” is suitable for such a verb.

Often a verb in the present tense is used figuratively, expressing the near future. We we're leaving Tomorrow. Interesting use of present tense verbs in literary texts talking about historical events, which gives the story a special liveliness. Swede, Russian – stabs, chops, cuts.

The forms of verbs in the present tense are synthetic (consist of one word), the differences are determined by changing the verb itself in persons and numbers. I run, you run, he (she, it) runs. We are sitting, you are sitting, they are sitting.

• Facts may be mentioned without specifying the duration of the action. For this purpose, imperfective verbs are used (“what did you do?”). I attended lectures.
  
• If we mean an action that had ended at the time of speech, or describe actions that succeeded each other, this is a perfective verb (“what did you do?”). I attended the lectures, had lunch and went to the meeting.
  
• If the particle was is attached to the verb, this is an indication of an action that did not take place or was prevented in the past. I wanted to leave, but they asked me to stay.
  

The verb in the past tense is formed on the basis of the infinitive ( indeterminate form). For example, the infinitive do has a stem - “do-”. To create the past tense form, add to the stem:

• suffix -l- (did is a masculine form with a zero ending);
  
• For female ending is added -A (did); for neuter gender – ending -O (did); for plural – ending -And , common to all genera ( did).
  

But the “rule of the suffix -l-” does not apply to all past tense verbs. There are other types of verbs:

• verbs whose stems (infinitive and present tense) end in h And With (crawl - crawled, carry - carried);
  
• verbs with stem endings in g and k (in the present tense), with an infinitive in -whose (shore - take care - shore, bake - oven - bake);
  
• verbs whose infinitive contains a combination -ere- , but in the present tense it is not ( rub - rub - rub);
  
• the verb to grow, which in the past tense has a special form grew;
  
• verbs like scrape, row, the basis of which in the past tense coincides with the basis of the present ( scrape - scrape, row - row);
  
• stative verbs with suffix -Well- , in the past tense without this suffix ( disappear - disappeared, perish - died).
  

There are special verbal forms (without -Well- ), which denote some immediate action in the past. Girl jump through the threshold. Lo and behold- there is no milk. He plodding in water. Compare: jumped, looked, splashed.

There are forms with the meaning of suddenness of action, which at first glance do not belong to the past tense. The fact is that such verbs are identical in form to verbs of the perfect singular form in imperative mood. He take it Yes come at the most inopportune time. Compare: take it and come. Through such forms the desirability of an action that has not been performed can be expressed. Come If you had been earlier, you would have found him at home. Compare: if you had come earlier.

IN artistic speech There may be forms that are used to denote a repeated action that occurred a long time ago and for some time. This is a category of long past tense. I'm often at the table with them sat. This is not the case in life seen.

Future
This category serves to designate an action that will take place after the moment of speech ( I will read a book, I will write poetry). In the imperfect form (“what will I do?”), the future tense has an analytical, compound form - the verb “to be” plus the infinitive. Synthetic, simple form(“What will I do?”) I'll read it is formed only by inflection.

A verb in the simple future tense can express time without relation to the moment of speech, acquiring the following meanings:

• continuously repeated action then it will stop, then it will rush again);
  
• a common action in the past ( no, no, yes, he will look out the window);
  
• sudden, rapid action in the past ( he'll scream).
  

As you can see, most often it is not difficult to determine the tense of a verb by asking the appropriate question to it, but there are more complex shapes. To recognize them, you just need to analyze them for the specified features.

Verb tense expresses the relationship of the action denoted by the verb to the time of its implementation. Shapes stand out past, present And future tense.

In most cases, the use of tense forms is determined by the relationship to the moment of speech; This use of them is called absolute time.

In relatively rare cases, the starting point for the use of tenses is not the moment of speech, but other starting points, for example, the time of other actions reported in the speech. This is called the relative use of tenses. In additional (explanatory) subordinate parts of a complex sentence, the tense of verbs is determined by their relation to the time of action of the main part:

My brother said that he had sent (sending, will send) the book I needed.

The grammatical reference point for time here is the verb of the main part “reported”, in relation to which the action of the verb of the subordinate part has been performed, is being performed or will be performed. “Wrote that he works”: the present tense of the verb “works” indicates the coincidence of the time of the action not with the moment of speech, but with the time of the action expressed by the verb “wrote”.

Imperfective verbs have all three forms of tense (I decide - I decided - I will decide).

Verbs of the perfect form, denoting actions limited by a limit, are used only in the past and future (simple) tense (decided - I will decide), and do not have a present tense.

Past tense denotes an action preceding the moment of speech. It is formed by adding a formative suffix to the base of the infinitive -l-: write - wrote, read - read, count - count.
When forming past tense forms, some features are observed:

If the stem of the past tense ends in g, k, x, z, s, b, then when forming a masculine verb, the suffix -l- falls out: guarded, baked, sokh, carried, carried, rowed, but is retained in the feminine and neuter gender, and also in the plural: guarded, baked, dried, carried, carried, guarded.

Verbs in - heret in the past tense they lose the second in the full vowel combination e, and in the masculine gender they do not have the suffix -l-: erase - erased, die - died.

Verb go and derivatives from it form the past tense from another base - shed- with the loss of the root d: walked, walked, walked, came, came, came.

The past tense allows the verb to change in number. In turn, the singular number can easily be declined according to gender. It should also be noted that verbs in the past tense in the plural do not change according to persons.

Verbs in the form present time denote an action that occurs at the moment of speech, for example: I am looking for a meeting with you. Verbs in the present tense change according to persons and numbers.

From verbs perfect form present tense forms are not formed: the concept of completeness, effectiveness, characteristic of perfective verbs, is incompatible with the concept of present tense.

Only verbs have present tense forms imperfect form . These forms are formed using personal endings depending on whether the verb belongs to the I or II conjugation.

I conjugations: -u (-yu), -eat, -et, -eat, -ete, -ut (-ut)
II conjugations: -у (-yu), -ish, -it, -im, -ite, -at (-yat)

Example of verb I conjugation:

1st person → I’m walking, we’re walking
2nd person → you are walking, you are walking
3rd person → he is walking, they are walking

Example of verb II conjugation:

1st person → I drive, we carry
2nd person → you carry, you carry
3rd person → he carries, they carry

The present tense has the following basic meanings:

shows that the action expressed by a verb, coincides with the moment of speech: The Caucasus is below me. Again the ancient coniferous forest rustles above me solemnly and wisely (V. Belov);

denotes a permanent, timeless action; The earth revolves around the sun.; In communicating vessels, the surface of the liquid is set at the same level;

denotes an action that turns into a property. Compare: a boy reads a book and student Petrov reads Pushkin well; Birds fly in the garden and swallows fly faster than sparrows.

is used instead of the past to give life to the story and make the reader (listener) seem to be a witness to the event being depicted: I was walking down the street yesterday and I saw. This is the so-called real narrative (pictorial, historical);

The present tense is used to mean the future if we're talking about about an action that must certainly take place; I'm taking my last exam tomorrow and going on vacation. The use of present tense forms in this function is usually characteristic of verbs of motion - run, go, go. Sometimes the forms of the present tense convey the picture imagined by the author: Another day of this accursed inferno - and here you have a hungry winter, typhus, cattle are dying, children are dying (A. N. Tolstoy).

Future denotes an action (process) that is upcoming or subsequent in relation to the moment of speech. It has two forms: synthetic (simple) and analytical (complex). These forms differ from each other both in their structure and in their meaning.

The synthetic form is characteristic of verbs of the perfect form (I will write, I will tell, I will read), the analytical form is characteristic of verbs of the imperfect form (I will write, I will tell, I will read).

The future tense of the analytical form is formed from the personal forms of the future tense of the verb be and an infinitive (necessarily imperfect form). Acting as a service component, auxiliary be forms with an infinitive one grammatical form.

The future complex always denotes an unlimited, limitless action that will take place after the moment of speech and cannot be used in the meaning of another time: We will continue to consistently defend the cause of peace.

The form of the future tense from perfective verbs is simple: it coincides with the present tense form of imperfective verbs: I will read, you will read, you will read, we will read, you will read, they will read; build, build, build, build, build.

The future of the synthetic form (from perfective verbs) has various meanings:

its main meaning is the expression of upcoming (future) actions that have a limit, completeness: We will obtain, understand and open everything: the cold pole and the blue arch (V. Lebedev-Kumach);

denotes an action that turns into the property: Whatever problem you give him, he will definitely solve it (you cannot say he solves or has solved). The future tense in this meaning is often used in proverbs: Tell the truth - the truth will help you out. On a crooked road you will break your legs.

denotes a repeated action (in descriptions next to the present one):
The storm covers the sky with darkness (present tense),
Whirling snow whirlwinds
The way she howls like a beast,
Then he will cry like a child (A. Pushkin);

with negation does not indicate the impossibility of action in the present: will not read quickly (cannot read quickly), will not say simply (cannot say simply), will not see at a far distance (cannot see at a far distance);

used in the past tense: During the day she mostly dozed. He sits in a chair in front of the table... and dozes (present tense). Then he will shudder, wake up, look out the window and for a long time, without any conscious thought, does not take his eyes off (present tense) from the endless distance stretching out (M. Saltykov-Shchedrin).

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