Present tense is used to describe actions that are happening now or continually happening.  Past tense is used to describe actions that happened in the past.  Here are some examples of present tense: "She jumps over the stream" "The children climb on the playground equipment" "They go to the store after school"  Here are some examples of past tense: "The dog went to the vet for his checkup" "The family skied down the slope together" "The mother and daughter shopped until they dropped"  Here are some other verb tenses: Present continuous tense: Describes actions that are happening... Show more

Present tense is used to describe actions that are happening now or continually happening. 
Past tense is used to describe actions that happened in the past. 

Here are some examples of present tense:
"She jumps over the stream"
"The children climb on the playground equipment"
"They go to the store after school" 

Here are some examples of past tense:
"The dog went to the vet for his checkup"
"The family skied down the slope together"
"The mother and daughter shopped until they dropped" 

Here are some other verb tenses:
Present continuous tense: Describes actions that are happening now, at the moment of speaking. It's formed using the auxiliary verb "to be" in the present tense (am, is, are) followed by the present participle (-ing) of the main verb.
Past perfect tense: Describes a state and clarifies which event happened earlier when two actions were completed in the past. For example, "I had read those books that you bought for me".
Present perfect continuous tense: Describes an action that started in the past and is still continuing in the present. It's formed using the present perfect form of the verb “to be” (have/has been) and the present participle (-ing) of the main verb.
Past continuous tense: Describes events or actions that have already occurred in the past. It's employed to describe any action which has happened in the past. The structural formula is subject + helping verb (was/were) + verb (ing) + object.
Past simple tense: The most common past form in the English language. It's used to talk about a completed action or event that started and ended in the past. For example, "He went to school yesterday". 
 

Related Test: English Grammar Practice Test: Tenses

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