Year 5 Three tense forms and modal verbs worksheet

“Verbs that show time” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 5 English unit “Three tense forms and modal verbs”, for children aged 9 to 10, and takes about 20 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 2 to 3 of the year, 5 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Verbs that show time

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 5 · English · about 20 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can write sentences in the simple past, present and future tenses.

A Look back3 min

1.
Which word is the verb? The dog chased the ball. Circle one word.
dogchasedballThe
2.
Which word is an adjective? The tall tree swayed in the wind. Circle one word.
talltreeswayedwind
3.
Which sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop? Circle one.
the bus is late.Mia reads a book.Mia reads a book

B Watch me, then you4 min

Ola writes about three days. Look at the verb in each sentence. The verb shows the time.

Watch me

Yesterday, Ola walked to the shop. Walked shows the past.

Today, she walks to school. Walks shows the present.

Tomorrow, she will walk to the park. Will walk shows the future.

Now you

1.
Kit paints the fence every Saturday. Yesterday, Kit ___ the fence. Circle the right verb.
paintspaintedwill paint

C Your turn6 min

Read each row. Find the time clue, then circle the verb that fits the time.

1.
Yesterday, Sam ___ the bus home. Circle the right verb.
catchescaughtwill catch
2.
Every morning, Mia ___ her teeth before school. Circle the right verb.
brushesbrushedwill brush
3.
Next week, the class ___ a play if the hall is free. Circle the right verb.
performsperformedwill perform
4.
As Ben opened the gate, the dog ___ out. Circle the right verb.
ranrunswill run

Say it out loud: Which clue word or ending told you the time? Say the verb out loud.

D Spot the mistake3 min

A tree-lined park path with a bench and fallen leaves

Kit says: “Yesterday we walk to the park.”

1.
Fix Kit's sentence so the verb is in the right tense. Write the new sentence.

E Think deeper3 min

An old lighthouse on a cliff top under a grey sky

1.
Write one sentence with a simple present verb and a simple future verb, joined by when or as. Then tell your grown-up why both tenses make sense.

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Verbs that show time · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. chased If your child picked dog or ball, they found a naming word. A verb is a doing word. Ask what the dog did.

2. tall your child chose a naming word. An adjective describes a naming word. Ask which word tells us what the tree is like.

3. Mia reads a book. your child may have picked a sentence with a missing capital or full stop. Check the first letter and the last mark together.

B

1. painted

C

1. caught

2. brushes

3. will perform

4. ran

D

1. Look for: Yesterday we walked to the park. The verb is the simple past walked, because yesterday is in the past. your child may have changed only the time word or kept walk. Ask: what time does yesterday point to? Then ask which verb form ends in -ed for the past.

E

1. Look for: A sentence with a simple present verb and will plus a main verb, joined by when or as, plus a reason about the order of events.

Words to use

Say“Point to the verb in each sentence. What time does it tell us? Does the clue word agree with it?”

Instead of“Tell them the tense is wrong and fix the sentence for them.”

After the sheet

Put three sticky notes on the table labelled yesterday, today and tomorrow. Say a sentence about breakfast, then move the note that matches its verb.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

4 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Progressive tenses in action(with a plan)
Still going: perfect present(with a plan)
Modal verbs in action(with a plan)
Modal verbs in action(with a plan)

Every Year 5 English worksheet

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