• 1 TRY OUT LANGUAGE

• 2 LEARN GRAMMAR

• 3 APPLY ON YOUR OWN

Use Verbs in the Present, Past, and Future Tense

The tense, or time, of a verb shows when an action happens.

Action Time Line

• • Use the present tense to tell about an action that happens now or often.

  EXAMPLE

  Today, the volunteers help with food. (happens now)

  Use -s at the end of a verb that tells what one other person or thing does.

  EXAMPLE

  My friend helps many people every day. (happens often)

• • Use the past tense to tell about an action that already happened.

  EXAMPLES

  Volunteers helped many people last year. They gave them food.

  Add -ed to show the past: help + -ed = helped. Or use the correct form of an irregular verb.

  Present Tense	am, is	are	have, has	give, gives	feed, feeds	make, makes
  Past Tense	was	were	had	gave	fed	made

• • Future tense verbs tell about actions that haven’t happened yet.

  EXAMPLES	Volunteers will help many people next year.
  	They will give people food and clothing.

Practice Together

Say each sentence. Then say it again and change the verb to the past tense and the future tense. Say both new sentences.

• 1. Many people need food.

• 2. Many people want to volunteer.

• 3. They collect food for the hungry.

Try It!

Say each sentence. Write the past tense and the future tense of each verb on a card. Then say both new sentences.

• 4. My family donates canned food at the food drive.

• 5. The food feeds many people.

• 6. The people are thankful.