Formation Of The Tenses

Active Voice. Indicative Mode. Present

I come. I walk. I go.

Present Perfect

I have come. I have walked. I have gone.

Past

I came. I walked. I went.

Past Perfect

I had come. I had walked. I had gone.

Future

I shall come. I shall walk. I shall go.

Future Perfect

I shall have I shall have I shall have come. walked. gone.

Subjunctive Mode. Present

(If) I come. (If) I walk. (If) I go.

Present Perfect

(If) I have come. (If) I have walked. (If) I have gone.

Past

(If) I came. (If) I walked. (If) I went.

Past Perfect

(If) I had come. (If) I had walked. (If) I had gone.

Imperative Mode. Present

Come. Walk. Go.

Participles. Present

Coming. Walking. Going.

Past

Come. Walked. Went

Perfect

Having come. Having walked. Having gone.

A study of these verbs shows the formation of the various tenses in the different modes to be as follows:

Active Voice

1. The present tense is the simple form of the verb, the same as the present infinitive:

I walk. I write.

2. The present perfect is have combined with the past participle:

I have walked. I have written.

3. The past tense of a regular verb is formed by adding ed or d to the present; but if the verb is irregular, the past tense must be learned from the table of irregular verbs:

I walked. I wrote.

4. The past perfect tense is formed of had and the past participle:

I had walked. I had written.

5. The future tense is formed of shall in the first person, or will in the second and third persons, and the present infinitive:

I shall walk. I shall write.

6. The future perfect tense is formed of shall in the first person, or will in the second and third persons, and the present perfect infinitive:

I shall have walked. I shall have written.

Subjunctive Mode

7. The present tense is the simple form of the verb:

If I walk. If he walk.1 If I write. If he write1

8. The present perfect tense is formed of have and the past participle:

If I have walked. If I had written.

The past tense of a regular verb is formed by adding ed or d to the present; but if the verb is irregular, the past tense must be learned from the table of irregular verbs:

If I walked. If I wrote.

The past perfect tense is formed of had and the past participle:

If I had walked. If I had written.

1 The tenses of the subjunctive mode of regular verbs are formed like the corresponding tenses of the indicative mode except that the verb drops the final s in the third person singular of the present tense.

Potential Mode

The present tense is formed of may, can, or must, and the present infinitive:

I can walk. I can write.

The present perfect tense is formed of may, can, or must and the present perfect infinitive:

I may have walked. I may have written.

The past tense is formed of might, could, would, or should, and the present infinitive:

I might walk. I might write.

The past perfect tense is formed of might, could, would, or should and the present perfect infinitive:

I might have walked. I might have written.

Imperative Mode. Present Tense

The imperative mode has only the present tense, and this is the simple form of the verb:

Walk (thou). Write (thou).

Participles

The present participle is formed by adding ing to the present; as, walking, writing.

The past participle of a regular verb is formed by adding d or ed to the present; but if the verb is irregular, the past participle must be learned from the table of irregular verbs; as, walked, written.

The perfect participle is formed of having and the past participle; as, having walked, having written.

Passive Voice

The tenses of the passive voice are made by adding the perfect participle to the various forms of the verb to be:

I am loved. The letter is written.

Progressive Form

The progressive form is made by adding the present participle to the different tenses of the various modes of the verb to be:

I am walking. I am writing.

Emphatic Form

The emphatic form is made by placing the present and past forms of the auxiliary do before the present and past tenses of the indicative mode:

I do try. I did study.