English Verb Tenses Made Clear: A Practical Guide for the CSE
The 12 English tenses, irregular verbs, conditionals, passive voice and reported speech, with the time clues that tell you which form to use.
By the World MCQ Forum Philippines Editorial Team · 3 November 2026 · 4 min read
Verb forms decide the answer in a large share of Verbal Ability items in the Civil Service Exam, especially sentence completion and error recognition. The good news is that most sentences contain a time clue that tells you which tense is needed. This guide explains the tenses through those clues, then covers irregular verbs, conditionals, the passive voice and reported speech.
The 12 tenses in one table
| Simple | Continuous | Perfect | Perfect continuous | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present | I work | I am working | I have worked | I have been working |
| Past | I worked | I was working | I had worked | I had been working |
| Future | I will work | I will be working | I will have worked | I will have been working |
You rarely need all twelve in the exam. The most tested are the simple tenses, the present and past continuous, and the three perfect tenses.
Time clues and the tenses they call for
| Clue | Tense | Example |
|---|---|---|
| every day, usually, always | simple present | The office opens at 8:00 a.m. every weekday. |
| now, right now, Look! | present continuous | The clerk is checking the documents right now. |
| yesterday, last week, in 2020 | simple past | The committee approved the proposal yesterday. |
| since 2020, for five years, already, yet | present perfect | She has worked here since 2020. |
| before another past event | past perfect | The residents had moved before the typhoon hit. |
| by next month, by 2027 | future perfect | We will have completed the system by next month. |
Common trap: do not use the present perfect with a specific past time. ✘ I have submitted it yesterday. ✔ I submitted it yesterday.
Subject–verb agreement in the present
In the simple present, a third-person singular subject (he, she, it, the office, each employee) adds -s or -es:
- He goes to the office by jeepney.
- Neither of the reports is ready. (“Neither” is singular.)
Irregular verbs worth memorising
| Base | Past | Past participle |
|---|---|---|
| begin | began | begun |
| choose | chose | chosen |
| write | wrote | written |
| take | took | taken |
| give | gave | given |
| go | went | gone |
| see | saw | seen |
| speak | spoke | spoken |
| bring | brought | brought |
| teach | taught | taught |
The past participle follows have/has/had and is used in the passive: The exam has begun. The letter was written yesterday.
Conditionals
| Type | Use | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real future | likely condition | if + present, will + base | If it rains, the program will be postponed. |
| Unreal present | imaginary now | if + past, would + base | If I had more time, I would review twice. |
| Unreal past | imaginary past | if + had + past participle, would have + past participle | If she had studied, she would have passed. |
Remember the subjunctive: If I were the mayor… (not “was”).
Active and passive voice
In the passive, the object becomes the subject and the verb becomes be + past participle, keeping the same tense.
| Active | Passive |
|---|---|
| The mayor signed the ordinance. | The ordinance was signed by the mayor. |
| The staff will distribute the forms. | The forms will be distributed by the staff. |
| The clerk has filed the documents. | The documents have been filed by the clerk. |
Use the active voice for clear, direct writing; use the passive when the doer is unknown or less important.
Reported speech
After a past reporting verb such as said, tenses usually move one step back:
| Direct | Reported |
|---|---|
| “I am preparing the report.” | She said that she was preparing the report. |
| “I prepared it.” | She said that she had prepared it. |
| “I will submit it.” | She said that she would submit it. |
Pronouns and time words change too: I becomes she, today becomes that day, tomorrow becomes the next day.
Gerunds after certain words
Some verbs and phrases are followed by an -ing form, not “to + verb”:
- look forward to hearing from you
- suggested moving the meeting
- avoid making errors, finish writing
A method for tense questions
- Find the time clue in the sentence.
- Find the subject and check whether it is singular or plural.
- Check for a second event: if one past action happened before another, use the past perfect for the earlier one.
- Check the form: past participle after have and in the passive; base form after will, can, should.
Practise
Work through our verb tenses and forms set, then look for verb errors in the error recognition set. Every explanation names the time clue or rule behind the answer.