Present Tense

Present Simple

I work

Present Continuous

I am working

Present Perfect

I have worked

Present Perfect Continuous

I have been working

We can use all these forms:

Past Simple Tense

With most verbs, the past tense is formed by adding –ed:

called

liked

walked

started

worked

But there are a lot of irregular past tense forms in English. Here are the most common irregular verbs in English, with their past tense forms:

Base form

Past tense

be

begin

break

bring

buy

build

choose

come

cost

cut

do

draw

drive

eat

feel

find

get

give

go

have

hear

hold

keep

know

leave

lead

let

lie

lose

make

mean

meet

pay

put

run

say

sell

send

set

sit

speak

spend

stand

take

teach

tell

think

understand

wear

win

write

was/were

began

broke

brought

bought

built

chose

came

cost

cut

did

drew

drove

ate

felt

found

got

gave

went

had

heard

held

kept

knew

left

led

let

lay

lost

made

meant

met

paid

put

ran

said

sold

sent

set

sat

spoke

spent

stood

took

taught

told

thought

understood

wore

won

wrote

We use the past tense to talk about: