Printable Present Tense Worksheets
Printable present tense worksheets for 1st through 5th grade, with an answer key on every sheet. The sets below cover 3 different skills, so you can start where your child actually is. Available as fill in the blank and sorting activities.
Targeted Practice by Skill
About Present Tense
What this skill is
Present tense verbs express actions happening right now or recurring as habitual routines (e.g., "he WALKS to school", "they PLAY soccer"). Solvers study base present forms, third-person singular -s/-es agreement rules (he/she/it walks vs I/you/we/they walk), habitual action expressions, present time signaling, subject-verb agreement, present tense conjugation, verb aspect rules, and verb conjugation across daily writing, reading, and grammar drills.
When children learn it
Basic present tense verbs and simple -s additions (she runs) are introduced in 1st grade and 2nd grade. In 3rd grade and 4th grade, lessons expand to third-person singular -es endings for sibilants (he watches, she fixes), habitual routine descriptions, and maintaining consistent present tense across writing workshops and editing practice.
Common Mistakes
- Omitting the required third-person singular -s/-es ending when paired with singular subjects (writing 'he run' instead of 'he runs').
- Adding -s to present tense verbs paired with plural subjects (writing 'they runs' instead of 'they run').
- Confusing present tense actions (happening now) with progressive present actions using 'is/are -ing' verb forms.