Verb Tenses

There are three main verb tenses in the English language: present, past, and future. Each of these three tenses has a simple, continuous, perfect, and perfect continuous form. Together, the twelve tenses indicate actions and states of being that are either ongoing or completed within a relative frame of time. Stative verbs, which express feelings and states of being, are assumed continuous; thus, in the English language, only dynamic verbs -- those that express actions -- can occur in the continuous tense. For example, "I am walking to school" is correct, while "I am liking Korean food" is not. Only two tenses, the simple present and the simple past, are formed through changes to the root form of the verb. All other tenses involve the addition of auxiliary verbs, sometimes in combination with changes to the root form of the verb.

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