Å velge riktig tempus og å bøye verb på riktig måte er vanskelig på engelsk. Under de forskjellige tidene nedenfor finner du instruksjoner om hvordan de ulike tempusene dannes og bøyes.
| Nåtid | Eksempler |
|---|---|
| Vanlig presens (simple present) | They walk home. |
| Presens samtidsform (present continuous) | They are walking home. |
| Fortid | |
| Preteritum (simple past) | Peter lived in China in 1965. |
| Preteritum samtidsform (past continuous) | I was reading when she arrived. |
| Perfektum | |
| Presens perfektum (present perfect) | I have lived here since 1987. |
| Presens perfektum samtidsform (present perfect continuous) | I have been living here for years. |
| Preteritum perfektum (past perfect) | We had been to see her several times before she visited us. |
| Preteritum perfektum samtidsform (past perfect continuous) | He had been watching her for some time when she turned and smiled. |
| Futurum perfektum (future perfect) | We will have arrived in the States by the time you get this letter. |
| Futurum perfektum samtidsform (future perfect continuous) | By the end of your course, you will have been studying for five years. |
| Framtid | |
| Vanlig futurum | They will go to Italy next week. |
| Futurum samtidsform | I will be travelling by train. |
| Kondisjonalis | |
| Null kondisjonalis (zero conditional) | If ice gets hot it melts. |
| Kondisjonalis I | If he is late I will be angry. |
| Kondisjonalis II | If he was in Australia he would be getting up now. |
| Kondisjonalis III | She would have visited me if she had had time. |
| Blandet kondisjonalis (mixed conditional) | I would be playing tennis if I hadn't broken my arm. |
| -ing formene på engelsk | |
| Gerundium | I like swimming. |
| Presens partisipp | She goes running every morning. |
| Infinitiv | |
| Passiven |