In English, verbs carry a lot of information, partly by indicating time (tense) and voice (active or passive). The perfect tense involves using a chain of verbs (to have + the past participle or the present participle), as does passive voice (to be + the past participle), and they all mean something different. For example, take eating. I eat, I have eaten, I had eaten, and I ate, all convey different information.
The table below reviews the verb forms for all seven basic tenses used with I, you, we, they (third-person plural), and he and she (third-person singular). The table also reviews the general meaning of each tense.
| Tense | Verb Form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Simple Present | I, you, we, they talk | he, she, it talks | An action occurring habitually or generally: I talk to my mother every day. |
| Simple Past | I, you, we, they, he, she, it talked | An action in the past: I talked to my mother yesterday. |
| Future | I, you, we, they, he, she, it will talk | An action in the future: I will talk to my mother tomorrow. |
| Present Progressive | I am talking you, we, they are talking he, she, it is talking | An action in progress: I am talking to my mother right now. |
| Present Perfect | I, you, we, they have talked he, she, it has talked | An action that occurred in the past and continues until present: I have talked to my mother every day this week. |
| Past Perfect | I, you, we, they, he, she, it had talked | An action from the past that was completed before something else: I had talked to my mother before my brother called her. |
| Future Perfect | I, you, we, they, he, she, it will have talked | A future action that will be completed at some specific time: I will have talked to my mother for 10 days in a row by this time next week. w |
The table above is from www.owl.purdue
Here are a number of websites that can help you sort out verbs: