The verb ‘drive’ means to operate and control a vehicle or propel something by force in a certain direction. Let us learn the use of ‘drive’ in various tense forms.
The term ‘drive’ undergoes certain grammatical inflections to represent its action in past, present, and future tense. We must add ‘s’ while using the word ‘drive’ in the present tense to refer any third person singular male or female. The past and past participle form of the word is ‘drove’ and ‘driven’ respectively.
Now let us check how we can use ‘drive’ in various tense forms.
“Drive” in Present Tense.
The present tense helps represent an activity that occurred or is occurring at a particular moment. Let us see how the verb ‘drive’ is used in all its present tense forms.
The word ‘drive’ in the present tense is written as ‘drive’ or’ drives’ and in some other forms as ‘am/is/are driving’, ‘has/have driven’, ‘has/have been driving’ in accordance with its usage. The continuous form of the verb ‘drive’ is ‘driving’.
When is “Drive” used in the Present Tense?
“Drive” is used in the present tense to determine someone’s journey in a vehicle, to urge someone to do a certain thing, move forcefully, compel or motivate someone or something in the current or on-going period of time.
Sentence formation of “drive” in the present tense.
Forms of present tense | Structures |
Simple present tense | Subject +drive/drives +object |
Present continuous tense | Subject + am/is/are + driving + object |
Present perfect tense | Subject +has/have + driven + object |
Present perfect continuous tense | Subject +has/have +been + driving +object |
Examples of “Drive” in the present tense.
Type of Tense | Example with ‘Drive’ | Explanation |
1. Simple Present tense | Rajeev drives to work everyday. | Here we have used the root form of the word ‘drive’ and ‘s’ is added with it as the subject is a third person singular male. |
2. Present Continuous tense | Rajeev is driving to work today | The continuous form of the word ‘drive’ is used here i.e ‘driving’ along with third person singular subject. Hence ‘is’ is used. |
3. Present Perfect tense | Rajeev has already driven to work. | The past participle form ‘driven’ is used to mark the present perfect form of the tense. |
4. Present Perfect Continuous tense | Rajeev has been driving for the past three hours to reach his office. | Here ‘driving’ which is the continuous form is written after ‘has been’ to determine the present perfect continuous form of the tense. |
“Drive” in Past Tense
The past tense is used to determine an action that had happened before or may have started earlier but is still continuing. Now let us check the use of the word ‘drive’ in the past tense.
The root word ‘drive’ goes through some inflections here and is written along with other words such as “was/were driving”, “had driven” and “had been driving” to describe an incident that has already happened in the past or is continuing but had started long back.
When is “Drive” used in the Past Tense?
The verb “drive” is used in the past tense to represent the completed or already occurred action of driving, urging, impelling or propelling forcefully someone or something in a certain direction. This can even have a continuous effect if the action is dragged till the present moment.
Sentence formation of “drive” in the past tense.
Forms of Past tense | Structures |
Simple past tense | Subject +drove +object |
Past continuous tense | Subject + was/were + driving + object |
Past perfect tense | Subject +had + driven + object |
Past perfect continuous tense | Subject +had +been + driving +object |
Examples of “Drive” in the past tense.
Type of Tense | Example with ‘Drive’ | Explanation |
1. Simple Past tense | Rajeev drove to the bus stop and gave his colleague a lift. | Here the past form of the root word is used to show the simple past tense. |
2. Past Continuous tense | Rajeev was driving to office along with his colleague these days. | The continuous form of the word ‘drive’ is used here i.e ‘driving’ along with the word was to indicate past continuous form of the tense. |
3. Past Perfect tense | Rajeev had driven a car for the first time during his college days. | The verb ‘had’ has been placed before the past participle form ‘driven’ to make it in past perfect tense. |
4. Past Perfect Continuous tense | Rajeev set off at 6:50 a. m, so by the time he got to his office he had been driving for two hours. | The term ‘had been’ is used before the continuous form of the word to show the past perfect continuous tense. |
“Drive” in Future Tense
Future tense describes an action that might happen at a certain period of time after this moment. Here we will check the use of the word ‘drive’ in different future tense forms.
The verb ‘drive’ can be used in the future tense in various forms. We can use forms like ‘driving’ and ‘driven’ along with ‘will/shall’ to represent the future tense forms. A “be” verb and “have” are needed to be added along with the other words especially in ‘continuous’, ‘perfect’ and ‘perfect continuous’ forms.
When is “Drive” used in the Future Tense?
The term ‘drive’ is used in the future tense to show the actions that might happen in the future or activities of being driving, moving something forcefully in a certain way or self motivating someone in a given period of time. It can also be used to determine an action that is surely to be happening in the future.
Sentence formation of “drive” in the future tense.
Forms of Future tense | Structures |
Simple future tense | Subject +will/shall+ drive +object |
Future continuous tense | Subject + will/shall +be+ driving + object |
Future perfect tense | Subject +will/shall+ have+ driven + object |
Future perfect continuous tense | Subject +will/shall+ have+ been+ driving +object |
Examples of “Drive” in the future tense.
Type of Tense | Example with ‘Drive’ | Explanation |
1. Simple Future tense | Rajeev will drive his friend to the station before going to work the day after tomorrow. | The root form of the word is used after ‘will’ to mark the simple future tense. |
2. Future Continuous tense | Rajeev will be driving to work again tomorrow. | The continuous form is used after ‘will be’ to show that the incident is in future continuous tense. |
3. Future Perfect tense | Rajeev will have driven his colleague to work for over a month now. | The past participle form is placed after ‘will have’ to create future perfect mode of the tense. |
4. Future Perfect Continuous tense | By the time Rajeev gets to work at 8:00 a. m he will have been driving for over half an hour. | The continuous form is written along with ‘will have been’ to indicate the future perfect continuous tense. |
Conclusion
Let us conclude that this article provides us a brief insight into the use of the verb “drive” in various forms of the tenses (present, past and future).
Hello Everyone…My name is Sulogna Mahapatra. I have completed my master’s in English along with a B.Ed. I have 2 years of teaching experience in a school. I am also a creative writer. Presently I am working as a Subject Matter Expert in Lambdageeks.
Let’s connect through LinkedIn: