Perfect Verb Tenses Worksheets for 5th Grade
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Skill: Identifying and forming the past perfect, present perfect, and future perfect tenses
Teaching tips and what to try next
Perfect tenses use a form of "have" plus a past participle: had walked, has walked, will have walked. A timeline with "before" and "after" marks shows when each action happens. Review Irregular Past Tense Verbs for tricky participles, or try Parts of Speech: Identify the Bold Word.
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About this worksheet
The perfect tenses describe actions that are finished before a certain time. They use a helping verb with a past participle: has finished, had eaten, will have learned. Fifth graders learn to form all three perfect tenses and to use them to show when things happen. This fifth-grade worksheet practices naming and forming each one.
In Part A, students read seven sentences and name the tense of the verb in bold: past perfect, present perfect, or future perfect. The helping verb is the clue: had for past perfect, has or have for present perfect, and will have for future perfect. In Part B, students read seven sentences and write the verb in the tense that is named, such as "By tonight, Sam (read) two chapters" in the future perfect, which becomes will have read. Several verbs have irregular past participles, such as won, seen, left, and written, so students must think about the form of the main verb as well as the helping verb.
How to use it: start with a quick chart of the three tenses and one example of each. Draw a timeline to show that the past perfect happened before another past event, while the future perfect will be finished by a certain time. For present perfect, remind students to match the helping verb to the subject: has for one person or thing, have for I, you, or more than one. Then have students write one sentence of their own in each tense.
The answer key lists every tense and every verb form. This worksheet supports Common Core standard L.5.1.b. Review irregular verbs with our Irregular Past Tense Verbs worksheet.