Lesson 2: The Direct Object

Verb Tenses

For this second lesson, we are going to dig deeper into verb tenses. If you remember, in lesson one we talked about the simple tenses of past, present, and future. However, we commonly use verbs in ways that are not so simple. Let’s look at the four wider categories of verb tenses: Simple, Perfect, Progressive, and Perfect Progressive.

Simple
The simple tense is what we have already learned. Simple past, present, and future. 

“I ate your sandwich.”
(simple past, 1st person, singular)

“I eat your sandwich.”
(simple present, 1st person, singular)

“I will eat your sandwich.”
(simple future, 1st person, singular)

Now notice how little the verb conjugations change with the different number/person combinations. In fact, throughout all of the tenses, the verb conjugation itself tells us very little about who is speaking.


    
        Simple Tenses of “Eat”
      

        
        
        
        Simple Present
        
        Simple Past
        
        Simple Future
      

        Singular
        First
        eat
        ate
        will eat
      

        Second
        eat
        ate
        will eat
      

        Third
        eats
        ate
        will eat
      

        Plural
        First
        eat
        ate
        will eat
      

        Second
        eat
        ate
        will eat
      

        Third
        eat
        ate
        will eat
      

  

Perfect
The perfect tense tells us about a completed action—an action that is already done, not in the process of happening. We make a verb perfect by inserting the relevant form of “to have” (have, has, had) before it, and using its -ed or -en form.

“I had eaten your sandwich.”
(past perfect, 1st person, singular)

“I have eaten your sandwich.”
(present perfect, 1st person, singular)

“I will have eaten your sandwich.”
(future perfect, 1st person, singular)

Progressive
The progressive tense tells us about an action that is ongoing or in the process of happening. It is more or less the opposite of the perfect tense. We make a verb progressive by inserting the relevant form of “to be” (am, are, is, was, were, will be) before it, and using its -ing (participle) form.

“I was eating your sandwich when you caught me.”
(past progressive, 1st person, singular)

“I am eating your sandwich right now."
(present progressive, 1st person, singular)

“I will be eating my sandwich after I eat yours.”
(future progressive, 1st person, singular)

Perfect Progressive
Now we get to our last tense category: the perfect progressive. It’s perfect…and progressive, which is interesting considering that perfect denotes a completed action and progressive an incomplete action. The perfect progressive form indicates “ongoing actions that happen over a period of time.”¹
To form the perfect progressive, we add the relevant form of “to have” before the main verb, as we do in the perfect tense, and use the -ing form of the main verb, as in the progressive tense.

“I had been eating your sandwich.”
(past perfect progressive, 1st person, singular)

“I have been eating your sandwich.”
(present perfect progressive, 1st person, singular)
“I will have been eating your sandwich.”
(future perfect progressive, 1st person, singular)


The Four Tenses (1st person, singular, “to eat”)
Tense
Present
Past
Future
Simple
I eat
I ate
I will eat
Perfect
I have eaten
I had eaten
I will have eaten
Progressive
I am eating
I was eating
I will be eating
Perfect Progressive
I have been eating
I had been eating
I will have been eating
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¹ Verb Tenses Explained, With Examples (Grammarly)
Simple Tenses of “Eat”
		Simple Present	Simple Past	Simple Future
Singular	First	eat	ate	will eat
	Second	eat	ate	will eat
	Third	eats	ate	will eat
Plural	First	eat	ate	will eat
	Second	eat	ate	will eat
	Third	eat	ate	will eat