The Indicative Mood

(the active voice):

The Tenses of the Active Voice:

 

 

The indefinite tense in all three tenses—present, past, and future—in the indicative mood

Tense	Subject	Verb	Object	Example
Present	I	eat	pizza	I eat pizza every Friday.
	You	play	guitar	You play guitar very well.
	He/She/It	works	hard	He works hard every day.
	We	swim	every day	We swim every day for exercise.
	You (plural)	study	English	You study English at night.
	They	like	ice cream	They like ice cream with cake.
Past	I	ate	pizza	I ate pizza yesterday.
	You	played	guitar	You played guitar at the party.
	He/She/It	worked	hard	He worked hard all night.
	We	swam	yesterday	We swam in the lake yesterday.
	You (plural)	studied	English	You studied English last week.
	They	liked	ice cream	They liked the ice cream.
Future	I	will eat	pizza	I will eat pizza tomorrow.
	You	will play	guitar	You will play guitar tonight.
	He/She/It	will work	hard	He will work hard next month.
	We	will swim	tomorrow	We will swim tomorrow morning.
	You (plural)	will study	English	You will study English tonight.
	They	will like	ice cream	They will like the ice cream.

 

 

The indefinite tense groups:

which include the simple present, simple past, and simple future tenses, are used to describe actions or states that are indefinite or general in nature, meaning they occur or existed without any specific time frame or duration.

 

Simple present tense

is used to describe actions or situations that are currently happening, habitual or routine actions, general truths, and future events scheduled on a timetable.

The verb in simple present tense takes the base form of the verb.

 

Simple past tense

is used to describe actions or situations that happened in the past and are now completed.

The verb in simple past tense takes the past form of the verb.

 

Simple future tense

is used to describe actions or situations that will happen in the future.

The verb in simple future tense is formed using will or shall with the base form of the verb.

 

 

 

Examples:

Simple present tense: I eat pizza every Friday (habitual action).

Simple past tense: I ate pizza yesterday (completed past action).

Simple future tense: I will eat pizza tomorrow (future action).

 

 

 

 

The continuous tense in all three tenses—present, past, and future—in the indicative mood

Tense	Subject	Auxiliary Verb	Main Verb	Object	Example
Present	I	am	eating	pizza	I am eating pizza right now.
	You	are	playing	guitar	At the moment
	He/She/It	is	working	hard	at his job.
	We	are	swimming	right now	at the pool.
	You (plural)	are	studying	English	You are studying English this semester.

 

	They	are	liking	ice cream	They are liking the ice cream too much.
Past	I	was	eating	pizza	when you called.
	You	were	playing	guitar	You were playing guitar at the party.
	He/She/It	was	working	hard	He was working hard when I saw him.
	We	were	swimming	yesterday	We were swimming yesterday at the beach.
	You (plural)	were	studying	English	You were studying English last night.

 

	They	were	liking	ice cream	They were liking the ice cream too much.
Future	I	will be	eating	pizza	I will be eating pizza at 7 p.m. tonight.
	You	will be	playing	guitar	You will be playing guitar at the concert.
	He/She/It	will be	working	hard	He will be working hard tomorrow morning.
	We	will be	swimming	tomorrow	We will be swimming tomorrow afternoon.
	You (plural)	will be	studying	English	You will be studying English next semester.
	They	will be	liking	ice cream	They will be liking the ice cream as usual.

 

The continuous tense groups:

which include the present continuous, past continuous, and future continuous tenses, are used to describe actions or states that are in progress or ongoing at a specific time or period of time.

 

Present continuous tense

is used to describe actions or situations that are happening now, around the present moment.

The verb in present continuous tense is formed using the auxiliary verb to be in the present tense and the present participle form (-ing) of the main verb.

 

Past continuous tense

is used to describe actions or situations that were in progress at a specific time in the past.

The verb in past continuous tense is formed using the auxiliary verb to be in the past tense and the present participle form (-ing) of the main verb.

 

Future continuous tense

is used to describe actions or situations that will be in progress at a specific time in the future.

The verb in future continuous tense is formed using the auxiliary verb will be , and the present participle form (-ing) of the main verb.

 

 

Examples:

Present continuous tense: I am eating pizza right now (action happening at the present moment).

Past continuous tense: I was eating pizza when you called me. (an action happening at a specific time in the past).

Future continuous tense: I will be eating pizza at 7 p.m. tonight (an action that will be in progress at a specific time in the future).

 

 

 

 

 

The perfect tense groups: present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect.

Tense	Form	Example
Present perfect	have/has + past participle (V3)	I have eaten pizza today.
Past perfect	had + past participle (V3)	I had eaten pizza before I left.
Future perfect	will have + past participle (V3)	I will have eaten pizza by 7 p.m..

 

The perfect tense groups

are used to describe completed actions in relation to another time, such as the present, past, or future.

 

 

Present perfect tense

is used to describe actions that started in the past and continue up to the present moment or actions that were completed at an unspecified time before the present moment.

 

Past perfect tense

is used to describe completed actions that happened before a specific time in the past.

 

Future perfect tense

is used to describe completed actions that will happen before a specific time in the future.

 

 

Examples:

Present perfect tense: I have eaten pizza today (an action completed at an unspecified time before the present).

Past perfect tense: I had eaten pizza before I left (an action completed before a specific time in the past).

Future perfect tense: I will have eaten pizza by 7 p.m. (an action that will be completed before a specific time in the future).

 

 

 

 

 

The perfect continuous tense groups:

present perfect continuous, past perfect continuous, and future perfect continuous.

Tense	Form	Example
Present perfect continuous	have/has + been + present participle (V-ing)	I have been eating pizza since noon.
Past perfect continuous	had + been + present participle (V-ing)	I had been eating pizza for an hour.
Future perfect continuous	will have been + present participle (V-ing)	I will have been eating pizza for 2 hours.

 

The perfect continuous tense groups

are used to describe actions that started in the past and continue up to a specific time or actions that will continue up to a specific time in the future.

 

Present perfect continuous tense

is used to describe actions that started in the past and are still in progress up to the present moment.

 

 

Past perfect continuous tense

is used to describe actions that started in the past and continued up to a specific time in the past.

 

Future-perfect continuous tense

is used to describe actions that will start in the future and continue up to a specific time in the future.

 

 

Examples:

Present perfect continuous tense:

I have been eating pizza since noon (the action started in the past and is still in progress at the present moment).

Past perfect continuous tense:

I had been eating pizza for an hour when my friend arrived (the action started in the past and continued up to a specific time in the past).

Future perfect continuous tense:

I will have been eating pizza for 2 hours by the time the movie starts (the action will start in the future and continue up to a specific time in the future).

 

 

 

 

 

The future tense forms in the past:

future indefinite in the past, future continuous in the past, future perfect in the past, future perfect continuous in the past.

Tense	Form	Example
Future indefinite in the past	would + base form of verb	She said she would visit her grandmother that weekend.
Future continuous in the past	would be + present participle (V-ing)	He said he would be driving to work at that time yesterday.
Future perfect in the past	would have + past participle (V3)	I thought she would have finished the project by now.
Future perfect continuous in the past	would have been + present participle (V-ing)	They knew they would have been waiting for an hour by then.

 

 

 

The future tense forms in the past

are used to describe actions that were planned or expected to happen in the past.

 

 

Future indefinite in the past

is used to describe a future action that was planned or expected in the past.

 

 

Future continuous in the past

is used to describe an ongoing future action that was planned or expected in the past.

 

 

Future perfect in the past

is used to describe a future action that was expected to be completed before a certain time in the past.

 

 

Future perfect continuous in the past

is used to describe a future action that was expected to be ongoing before a certain time in the past.

 

 

Examples:

Future indefinite in the past:

She said she would visit her grandmother that weekend (a future action that was planned or expected in the past).

Future continuous in the past:

He said he would be driving to work at that time yesterday (an ongoing future action that was planned or expected in the past).

Future perfect in the past:

I thought she would have finished the project by now. (a future action that was expected to be completed before a certain time in the past).

Future perfect continuous in the past:

They knew they would have been waiting for an hour by then (a future action that was expected to be ongoing before a certain time in the past).

 

 

 

 

 

Click here The Indicative Mood ( the Active Voice)

Click here What is the Mood of a Verb?

Click here The Basic forms of The English verb