Past, Present, and Future Verbs Worksheets
Every verb tells when: the past (walked, sang), the present (walks, sings), or the future (will walk, will sing). Second graders sort verbs into the three columns quickly and start explaining their choices: the -ed ending, the -s ending, or the helper will.
By grade
What students need to know
Verbs tell time: walked already happened, walks is happening, will walk hasn't happened yet.
This skill runs from 1st grade through 3rd grade. Pick a grade above for level-matched sentences, teaching notes, and worksheets.
Past, Present, and Future Verbs across the grades
1st Grade
Verbs carry the time of a sentence: jumped is past, jumps is present, will jump is future. First graders sort verbs into yesterday, today, and tomorrow piles, which turns an abstract idea into something they can physically do.
2nd Grade
Every verb tells when: the past (walked, sang), the present (walks, sings), or the future (will walk, will sing). Second graders sort verbs into the three columns quickly and start explaining their choices: the -ed ending, the -s ending, or the helper will.
3rd Grade
Third graders name the three simple tenses and sort confidently, including the irregular pasts (wrote, built, flew) that don't wear an -ed. The sort also sets up the harder grade-3 skill of keeping one tense steady across a whole paragraph.