The tense of an action, activity, or event can be determined from the part of speech – verb. In this article, we will analyze the usage of “pay” in different tense forms.
“Pay” means to give money for a product or service, to give money that one owes another, to result in profit, to provide attention, compliment, tribute, and to reap the result of one’s actions. Inflections in the simple, perfect, continuous, and perfect continuous forms can be used to denote the three tenses of “pay.”
This article comprehensively explains how to employ the word “pay” to indicate the period when an activity took place, takes place, or will take place.
“Pay” in present tense
If an action word is in the present tense, the action or event is happening regularly or now. We will discuss how the verb “pay” is utilized in different present-tense forms.
The verb “pay” in the present tense is used in forms such as, “pay,” ‘pays,’ ‘has/have paid,’ ‘has/have been paying,’ ‘is/are/am paying,’ and in the simple present, present perfect, present perfect continuous, and present continuous tenses respectively.
When is “pay” used in the present tense?
“Pay” in the present tense is utilized to denote the frequently or currently taking place activities of giving money for a service or product, resulting in profit or advantage, providing attention, compliment, tribute and so on, giving money that one owes another, and reaping the result of one’s actions or thoughts.
Examples of “pay” in the present tense
| Examples | Explanations |
| a. I/ We pay the semester fees in the administration block at the beginning of each semester. b. You pay the semester fees in the administration block at the beginning of each semester. c. Sowmya pays the semester fees in the administration block at the beginning of each semester. d. The students pay the semester fees in the administration block at the beginning of each semester. | These examples employ the verb “pay” in its simple present tense and its inflected form, ‘pays’ (created by adding an ‘s’ to the source verb). The simple present tense forms “pay” and ‘pays’ in these sentences indicate that the subject regularly (occurs at the beginning of every semester) gives the money (semester fees) in the administration block at the beginning of each semester. |
| a. I am paying equal attention to all the matters that come to me. b. We are paying equal attention to all the matters that come to us. c. You are paying equal attention to all the matters that come to you. d. The class teacher is paying equal attention to all the matters that come to her. e. The members of the board are paying equal attention to all the matters that come to them. | In these given sentences, the present continuous tense of the verb “pay” is expressed as in ‘am/is/are paying.’ The verb “pay” takes on the suffix ‘-ing’ to get the present continuous form (paying), which denotes that the subject is currently giving or providing attention (action is occurring at this moment) to all the matters that come to her/them/him. |
| a. I/we always have paid my/our rent and bills on time. b. You always have paid your rent and bills on time c. Sheetal always has paid her rent and bills on time. d. These girls always have paid their rent and bills on time. | The verb forms ‘has paid’ and ‘have paid’ in these examples denote that the subject gave the money that they owed for rent and bills on time always. The present perfect tense formed with the aid of ‘paid’ – the past participle of the base verb “pay” is used to show that the activity of giving the money for rent and bills on time by the subject has been taking place from before (sometime in the past) and takes place even now. |
| a. From the start of the performance, I/we have been paying attention to the girl in the second row. b. From the start of the performance, you have been paying attention to the girl in the second row. c. From the start of the performance, Sukanya has been paying attention to the girl in the second row. d. From the start of the performance, the judges have been paying attention to the girl in the second row. | In these given statements, the action word (verb) “pay” is employed in the present perfect continuous tense as ‘has/have been paying.’ Here, the present perfect continuous form demonstrates that the subject has begun to give attention to the girl in the second row ever since the performance started. Paying (providing) attention to the girl in the second row began at the start of the performance and is continuing till now. |
“Pay” in past tense
If an action word (verb) is in the past tense, the event or act is over or complete by now. We will analyze how the verb “pay” is employed to denote the various past tense forms.
The verb “pay” is in the past tense, undergoes some grammatical changes and takes forms like, ‘paid,’ ‘had paid,’ ‘had been paying,’ and ‘was/were paying’ in simple past, past perfect, past perfect continuous, and past continuous tense forms respectively.
When is “pay” used in the past tense?
The verb “pay” in the past tense is used to represent the acts of giving money for a service or product, providing attention, compliment, tribute and so on, resulting in profit or advantage, reaping the result of one’s actions, and giving money that one owes another that began and ended sometime back in the past.
Examples of “pay” in the past tense
| Examples | Explanations |
| a. Since Ramya did not have enough money, I/we paid for her books also. b. Since Ramya did not have enough money, you paid for her books also. c. Since Ramya did not have enough money, her friend/friends paid for her books also. | The verb “pay” is used as ‘paid’ in the examples given by removing ‘y’ and adding ‘-id’ as the suffix. In these sentences, the simple past tense is used to indicate that the subject, gave the money for Ramya’s books also as she did not have enough money, thus showing that the action is completed earlier than now. |
| a. When Varun called me, I was paying the fine at the library for not returning the books on time. b. When Varun called us, we were paying the fine at the library for not returning the books on time. c. When Varun called you, you were paying the fine at the library for not returning the books on time. d. When Varun called Sneha, she was paying the fine at the library for not returning the books on time. e. When Varun called the others, they were paying the fine at the library for not returning the books on time. | The letters (suffix) ‘-ing’ modifies the action word (verb) “pay” in these sentences. In past continuous form, the source verb “pay” is employed as ‘was/were paying.’ The subject was giving the fine (money) at the library for not returning the books on time (was taking place at the moment) when Varun called the subject (this also took place in the past) which is highlighted by the employment of the past continuous tense in these example sentences. |
| a. I/We/You/She/ They had paid enough for all my/our/your/her/ their misdeeds that had caused trouble for so many people. | The verb ‘had’ (helping verb) is connected with the past participle ‘paid’ of the base verb “pay” to construct the past perfect tense. The past perfect tense in this line, ‘had paid,’ suggests that the subject had already faced or reaped the consequences of his/their/her misdeeds (the act if completed already in the past) that had caused trouble for so many people. |
| a. I/We/You/She/They had been paying attention to my/our/your/her/their classes whenVihaan saw them yesterday at 2 p.m. | The verb ‘had been paying’ is in the past perfect continuous tense in this example. It indicates that the subject had been concentrating or listening attentively (was doing so at the same time when Vihaan saw him/her/them) when Vihaan saw them at 2 p.m. yesterday (2 p.m. the previous day –in the past). |
“Pay” in future tense
If an action word is in the future tense, the act or event will take place after the moment ‘now.’ We shall study how the verb “pay” is used in all the future tense forms.
The verb “pay” in the future tense is used in the forms like ‘will pay,’ ‘will have paid,’ ‘will have been paying,’ and ‘will be paying’ in the simple future, future perfect, future perfect continuous, and future continuous forms respectively.
When is “pay” used in the future tense?
The verb “pay” in the future tense is used to show the actions of giving money that one owes to another, giving money for a service or product, resulting in profit or advantage, reaping the result of one’s actions, and providing attention, compliment, tribute and so on, that will happen sometime after this moment.
Examples of “pay” in the future tense
| Examples | Explanations |
| a. I/We/You/he/They will pay tribute to all the people who lost their lives in the mishap with a few minutes of silent prayer. | In this line, the basic verb “pay” is represented as ‘will pay’ with the addition of the modal verb ‘will’ to form the future tense. The simple future tense form ‘will pay’ indicates that the action of honoring all the people who lost their lives in the mishap with a few minutes of silent prayer has not yet taken place but will happen anytime after now. |
| a. I/we/you/he/they will be paying the tour money through Google pay at the earliest possible. | The action of giving money for the tour through Google pay is implied by the action word (verb) “pay,” which is used in the future continuous tense form ‘will be paying’ in this example. The future continuous tense used here denotes that giving money for the tour will happen at the earliest possible (not happened till this moment but will happen very soon). |
| a. I/We/You//he/They will have paid off for all my/our/your/his/their hard work and determinationat this time tomorrow when the result is announced. | ‘Will have paid’ replaces the base action word (verb) “pay” in the future perfect tense. This example uses it to imply that the subject will either not have faced or reaped the consequences of his/her//their hard work and dedication until this time tomorrow or that they will reap the consequence of their hard work and dedication by this time (now – present) tomorrow(the day after) when the result is announced. |
| a. Once the management catches me/us/you/him/them, I/we/you/he/they will have been paying for all my/our/your/his/their wrongdoings. | The future perfect continuous tense of “pay”—‘will have been paying’—reveals to us that the subject will have been bearing the consequence for all his/her/their wrongdoings when the management catches him/her/them (which will happen at a point of time in the future). |
Conclusion
This article describes how to represent the action word (verb) “pay” in all alterations (forms) of the future, present, and past tenses so as to convey multiple meanings in a broad range of situations.
Hi… I am Sowndharya Jagadeeswaran, a university rank holder in M.A. English Literature. I have also done my master’s in Business Administration. Inquisitive as I am, my interest in action-oriented research helped me publish research papers in reputed journals. Now, as a career, I am an instructor where I teach young and adorable students the intricate technicalities of Public Speaking and Creative Writing. I also enjoy writing articles on topics I specialize and research in.
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