Present tense and past tense ?

Question

I am confused with tenses.For an example,"Someone steals our handphones".I know that this is present tense.Is this sentence meaning to say that the effect is forever like it happened in past,present and future?.But how to determine when to use present tense and past tense?Example "Someone stole our books".Is this sentence happened in the past only or the effect is still present on present tense?Can someone show me the techniques/tips to answer this type of question.Further examples are "Do you understand" or "Did you understand" or " Is that understood" and "Did you bring your book" or "Do you bring your book".Someone really please help me.I have read the tenses in the Internet but I still unable to understand.I hope someone in the forum can help me better.Thanks in advance.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

Instead of jumping around from example to example, it would be better for you to begin by trying to understand just a couple of simple examples.

eg

Q - What's Mary's hobby?

A - She bakes cakes.

eg

Q - What did Tom do last Saturday?

A - He baked a cake.

Do you feel you understand these examples ? Any questions about them?

Clive

Anonymous · Answer

Ruben, go here: www.englishpage.comand on the left side you find Menu and then Verb Tenses. Try to study for a while here. If you don't get through it, we can meet here and I'll try to explain you. Okay? Do you agree? Let me know...

And don't be afraid my friend, you'll see it isn't so difficult...

Good luck!

CalifJim · Answer

Ruben"Someone steals our handphones".I know that this is present tense.Is this sentence meaning to say that the effect is forever like it happened in past,present and future?

It's not really forever! We can say, "Someone always steals our phones". We mean that it happens often or regularly, many times.

RubenExample "Someone stole our books".Is this sentence happened in the past only or the effect is still present on present tense?

You are telling the story of what happened in the past. The whole event was finished. The books were gone. The sentence doesn't say whether you found the books again or not, so we don't know if the effect is still present. You can say, "Someone stole our books, and we never saw the books again" or "Someone stole our books, but we found the books in the street later, so now we have them again".

Ruben"Did you bring your book" or "Do you bring your book"

Do you bring your book to class every day? (The question is about something that happens -- or doesn't happen -- often or regularly, many times -- every day, in fact.)

Did you bring your book to class yesterday? (The question is about something that happened -- or didn't happen -- yesterday.)
_____________________

So the simple present tense can be used to say that something happens usually, often, or regularly. The word "always" or "usually" or a similar word is frequently used with the present tense.

They always leave the money on this table.
Larry often takes a nap after lunch.
Mary usually works until 4:30 pm.
We always travel during July.

And the simple past can be used to tell the story of something that happened in the past. Words are likely to be used that say when the event happened.

They left money on the table.
Larry took a nap at 2 o'clock.
Barb wrote a letter yesterday.
We drove to Oregon last summer.

CJ

Clive · Answer

Hi,

I think what you need to do is practice using these tenses.

Clive

Ruben · Answer

So if I ask my friend unintentionaly "Did you bring your book today" or "Do you bring your book today"? And "You look pale today" or "You looked pale today".

Clive · Answer

Hi,

As a teacher, my advice is that you seem to be skipping aroundi from example to example when you should focus on a few very simple ones. You didn't respond to my two examples about baking a cake.

I'd be happy to help you with other examples if you feel you have a good understanding of the 'baking a cake' ones. Otherwise, we will keep on repeating the same analysis of various examples and probably adding to your confusion.

Best wishes, Clive

Anonymous · Answer

Tom baked a cake Can someone turn that into past tense?

Present tense and past tense ?

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