Teaching Helping Verbs to ESL Students

Teaching Simple, Progressive and Perfect tenses involves teaching “helping” or “auxiliary” verbs (what they are called depends on the grammar book or the teacher). Conjugation of the helping verbs needs to be taught before the more complex Progressive or Perfect tenses; and certainly before the Perfect Progressive tenses!

The helping verb for Simple tenses is “to do.” Here are some examples.

I do not want to work so hard.
Do you want something to eat?
He didn’t like the dessert.

The helping verb for Progressive tenses is “to be.” We use “am,” “is” or “are,” and “was” or “were.” Here are some examples.

I am eating dinner. I was eating dinner.
She is eating dinner. She was eating dinner.
They are eating dinner. They were eating dinner.

The helping verb for the Perfect tenses is “to have.” Here are some examples.

I have traveled to France.
We will have traveled to 20 countries by the time we return.

These are only a few examples using helping verbs. The main point here is the importance of “to do,” “to be,” and “to have” and how ESL students must know how to conjugate these verbs before they can thoroughly learn each of the English verb tenses.

ESL and EFL students will often have trouble when one of these helping verbs is used in a sentence as a helping verb AND the main verb. For example, “I did not do my homework last night,” or “He has had six wives.”

One other note. Some authors will refer to modals (e.g., should, might, may, etc.) as helping verbs. I’m using the term here to refer to those verbs that are needed in order to form all the English tenses (namely, “to be,” “to have,” and “to do”).

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ESL Cloze Exercise: Simple Present Conjugation

As discussed in Fundamentals of Teaching Verb Tenses, ESL students must know five forms of each verb in order to thoroughly conjugate a verb. Students must know the following verb usages: affirmative, negative, yes/no questions, short answers and WH- questions.

Here is a thorough verb conjugation for the Simple Present verb “to walk.” Each sentence is missing one word. Click here for a pdf version of this ESL cloze exercise. Or click here for the exercise in a table format. You'll be sent to a "file hosting" site and you can download the pdf version from there. Click the "Click here to start download" button.

Present Tense Exercise

Directions: Fill in the blank with the correct form of the verb “to walk” OR the correct “helping” verb.
A. AFFIRMATIVE

1. I ______ to school every day.
2. You ______ to school every day.
3. He/She/It ______ to school every day.
4. They ______ to school every day.
5. We ______ to school every day.

B. NEGATIVE

6. I ______ walk to school every day.
7. You don’t ______ to school every day.
8. He/She/It ______ walk to school every day.
9. They ______ walk to school every day.
10. We don’t ______ to school every day.

C. YES/NO QUESTIONS

11. Do I ______ to school every day?
12. ______ you walk to school every day?
13. Does he/she/it ______ to school every day?
14. ______ they walk to school every day?
15. Do we ______ to school every day?

D. SHORT ANSWERS
16. Yes, I ______.
17. No, I ______.

18. Yes, you ______.
19. No, you ______.

20. Yes, he/she/it ______.
21. No, he/she/it ______.

22. Yes, we ______.
23. No, we ______.

24. Yes, they ______.
25. No, they ______.

E. WH—QUESTIONS (who, what, where, when, why, how) (note: not all WH- words can be used with all verbs—sometimes they just don’t make sense)

26. When do you ______ to school every day?
27. Why do ______ walk to school every day?
28. Where ______ she go to school every day?
29. How does ______ get to school every day?
30. What ______ they do at school every day?

For more information about cloze exercises, see my ESL cloze exercises page.
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Teaching the Simple Past

After the present tenses (Simple Present and Present Progressive), the Simple Past tense (also called the Past Simple) is usually the next verb tense ESL students are taught. The Simple Past tense has “regular” verbs and “irregular” verbs.

Regular Simple Past tense verbs are formed by adding “-ed” to the end of the base form of the verb (eg., walked, dressed, called, etc.). For verbs that already end with an “e,” just add a “d” (e.g., cared, raced, decided, invited, etc.).

As with teaching all verb tenses, three things are essential to teach students learning English as a Second Language: (1) verb conjugation, (2) verb form, and (3) verb function. (See Fundamentals of Teaching Verb Tenses.)

Simple Past Verb Conjugation (using miscellaneous common verbs, for example)

Verb conjugation of the affirmative Simple Past is pretty easy. There is only one form of the verb no matter what the subject is.

1. I talked. I walked. I danced. I cared.
2. You talked. You walked. You danced. You cared.
3. She/He/It talked. She/He/It walked. She/He/It danced. She/He/It cared.
4. They talked. They walked. They danced. They cared.
5. We talked. We walked. We danced. We cared.

Simple Past Verb Form (five forms the ESL student must learn)

1. Affirmative Usage (e.g., She talked.)
2. Negative Usage (e.g., She didn’t talk.)
3. Yes/No Questions (e.g., Did she talk?)
4. Short Answers (e.g., Yes, she did. No, she didn’t.)
5. WH- Questions (e.g., When did she talk?)

The tricky thing for ESL students conjugating the Simple Past is remembering to use the correct “helping” or “auxiliary” verb “to do.”

Simple Past Function (when to use the Simple Past aka Past Simple)

The Simple Past verb tense has one primary function: to express an activity or situation that started in the past and ended in the past at a particular time. For example, “I finished my homework last night,” “I traveled to Spain in 1985,” “I got up at seven this morning.”

ESL Student Challenges

Besides remembering to use the correct helping verb (“to do”), students studying English as a Second Language also have to memorize irregular Past Tense verbs (irregulars don’t follow the general rule of adding “-ed”) and they also have to learn about changing the spelling of verbs that end with “y” (e.g., "study" becomes "studied") and some consonants (e.g., "drop" becomes "dropped").

For a more thorough explanation and Simple Past exercises (as well as every other verb tense and lots of grammar tips), see Azar's Understanding and Using English Grammar.

Teaching the Present Continuous

The Present Continuous Tense (also called the Present Progressive Tense) is usually one of the first verb tenses ESL students are taught. However, prior to a grammar lesson about the Present Continuous, the irregular verb “to be” must be taught. The verb “to be” is a helping verb (or auxiliary verb) used to form the Present Continuous.

The Present Progressive is formed by combining the helping verb “to be” with the “-ing” (or Present Participle) form of the main verb. For example, “She is dancing.” The Present Participle of the main verb will always be the same, no matter whom or what the subject is. The helping verb will be conjugated depending on whom or what the subject is.

As with teaching all verb tenses, three things are essential to teach students learning English as a Second Language: (1) verb conjugation, (2) verb form, and (3) verb function. (See Fundamentals of Teaching Verb Tenses.)

Present Progressive Verb Conjugation (using miscellaneous common verbs, for example)

1. I am talking. I am walking. I am dancing. I am thinking.
2. You are talking. You are walking. You are dancing. You are thinking.
3. She/He/It is talking. She/He/It is walking. She/He/It is dancing. She/He/It is thinking.
4. They are talking. They are walking. They are dancing. They are thinking.
5. We are talking. We are walking. We are dancing. We are thinking.

Present Progressive Verb Form (five forms the ESL student must learn)

1. Affirmative Usage (e.g., She is talking.)
2. Negative Usage (e.g., She isn’t talking.)
3. Yes/No Question (e.g., Is she talking?)
4. Short Answers (e.g., Yes, she is. No, she isn’t.)
5. WH- Questions (e.g., When is she talking?)

Present Progressive Function (when to use the Present Progressive/Continuous)

The Present Progressive verb tense has two primary functions:

1. To express an activity that is in progress at the moment of speaking. The activity is temporary. It began in the past, is happening right now, and will probably end at some time in the future. (e.g., I am writing an article about verb tenses. She is sleeping on the couch. They are watching television.)

2. To talk about something that is happening generally at this time (during this week, this year, at this time in my life, etc). (e.g., I am creating a website about ESL. She is traveling with friends. He is writing a novel.)

The challenging things about the Present Continuous verb tense for students of English as a Second Language are using the right auxiliary verb (“to do” is often confused in place of “to be”) and knowing when to use the Present Simple or the Present Continuous.

Teaching the Simple Present Tense (Basics)

The Simple Present Tense (also called the Present Simple Tense) is usually the first verb tense ESL students are taught. Perhaps the most difficult thing for ESL learners to remember is that the Third Person (he/she/it) of a regular verb takes an “s.”

Conjugation of irregular verbs is the second difficult thing about the Present Simple. Very common verbs (e.g., “to be”) do not follow the rules and simply must be memorized.

Three things are essential to teaching any verb tense to students learning English as a Second Language: (1) verb conjugation, (2) verb form, and (3) verb function. (See Fundamentals of Teaching Verb Tenses.)

Present Simple Verb Conjugation of Regular Verbs (using miscellaneous common verbs, for example)

1. I talk. I walk. I dance. I think.
2. You talk. You walk. You dance. You think.
3. She/He/It talks. She/He/It walks. She/He/It dances. She/He/It thinks.
4. They talk. They walk. They dance. They think.
5. We talk. We walk. We dance. We think.

Present Simple Verb Form (five forms the ESL student must learn)

1. Affirmative Usage (e.g., She talks.)
2. Negative Usage (e.g., She doesn’t talk.)
3. Yes/No Question (e.g., Does she talk?)
4. Short Answers (e.g., Yes, she does. No, she doesn’t.)
5. WH- Questions (e.g., When does she talk?)

Present Simple Function (when to use the Present Simple)

The Present Simple verb tense has two primary functions:

1. To talk about “general truths,” that is, to talk about something that was true in the past, is true now, and will be true in the future (e.g., The sun rises in the East. Nurses work hard. Water boils at 100 °C.)

2. To talk about habits or rituals (e.g., I pay income taxes every year. She drinks coffee. We watch T.V. all the time. The Giants always lose.)

There is more to teach about the Simple Present verb tense (such as the use of the “helping” or auxiliary verb “do,” irregular verb conjugation, and the use of words such as always, never, often, etc.), but the above are the basics that must be taught.

Functions of the Present Perfect

Yesterday, I wrote about teaching verb tenses and verb conjugation. The usual order of teaching tenses is Simple Present, Present Progressive, and Simple Past. ESL students are generally OK through these basic tenses. Then comes the Present Perfect… (can you hear the Jaws shark music in the background?).

Here are the three functions of the Present Perfect.

1. Unspecified time
2. Repetition
3. Started in the past and continues until the present, may or may not continue into the future (there just isn’t a short way to describe this function)

Function 1: Unspecified time

The Present Perfect can be used to describe something in the past when we don’t know when it happened or when it happened is not important. For example, “I’ve traveled to Brazil.”

Compare the Present Perfect usage to the Simple Past. “I traveled to Brazil in 2004.” The Simple Past is used when a time is specified. The specified time could be "this morning," "yesterday," "at 6pm," "when I was a child," etc.

The "unspecified time" function of the Present Perfect tense is often confused with the Simple Past tense.

Function 2: Repetition

The Present Perfect is used to describe something that has happened many (or a couple of) times in the past. For example, “I’ve traveled to Brazil many times,” "I've eaten at that restaurant twice," "John Grisham has written a few books."

Function 3: Started in the past, continues until now, and may or may not continue into the future

For example, “I’ve watched All My Children since 1970.” This tense can often be replaced with the Present Perfect Progressive when emphasizing duration. “I’ve been watching soap operas since 1970.”

Note: This is a general overview of the three functions of the Present Perfect. Use a good grammar textbook, such as Azar’s, Understanding and Using English Grammar,to fully prepare your Present Perfect tense lesson plan.

You can also visit my ESL Verb Tenses page for more info about all English verb tenses.

Fundamentals of Teaching Verb Tenses

When teaching verb tenses, verb conjugation is only one part of English grammar. Students can often easily memorize the conjugation for all tenses, but the more difficult part of verb usage is knowing which verb tense to use when.

In addition to conjugation, the two main things you have to teach about verb tenses are “form” and “function.” Here’s an overview of these two things.

Five Forms (using the Present Progressive, for example)

1. Affirmative Usage (e.g., She is eating dinner.)
2. Negative Usage (e.g., She is not eating dinner.)
3. Yes/No Question (e.g., Is she eating dinner?)
4. Short Answers (e.g., Yes, she is. No, she isn’t.)
5. WH- Questions (e.g., Where is she eating dinner?)

Of course, in addition to this, you would teach conjugation (based on the subject pronouns I, you, he, she, it, they, and we). Here’s an example of the verb “dance” conjugated in the Present Progressive (aka Present Continuous, Simple Present Progressive, Simple Present Continuous—depends on the grammar book or the teacher).

I am dancing in the street.
You are dancing in the street.
He/She/It is dancing in the street.
They are dancing in the street.
We are dancing in the street.

Yippee!

Function (of the Present Progressive)

The next important thing is the “function” of a particular verb tense. Knowing the function(s) of a tense helps the student decide which particular verb tense to use.

The Present Progressive’s main function is to describe something that is in process at this very moment (e.g., Right now, I am writing about verb tenses.).

We also use the Present Progressive (or Present Continuous) to talk about things that are happening “these days” or at this time in our lives. For example:

Q: So what are you doing these days?
A: I am teaching English to ESL students.

And the last function (often ignored) is to talk about future plans. For example:

Q: What are you doing tonight?
A: I am cooking dinner for friends.

I’ve picked the easier Present Progressive to illustrate what must be taught for each verb tense. It becomes a little more complicated to teach the function for something like the Present Perfect, but the basics are still the same:

1. Conjugation
2. Form
3. Function

When a student learns these three elements, he or she has mastered English grammar verb conjugation.