Tense shows the time of a verb's action or being. There are three inflected forms reflected by changes in the endings of verbs. The present tense indicates that something is happening or being now: "She is a student. She drives a new car." The simple past tense indicates that something happened in the past: "She was a student. She drove a new car." And the past participle form is combined with auxiliary verbs to indicate that something happened in the past prior to another action: "She has been a student. She had driven a new car."

Unlike most other languages, English does not have inflected forms for the future tense. Instead, English future forms are created with the use of auxiliaries: "She will be a student. She is going to drive a new car." English can even create the future by using the present tense, "The bus arrives later this afternoon," or the present progressive, "He is relocating to Portland later next month."