In English, the verb (the word(s) that show the action in the sentence) is the word that tells us the time of the event. An English sentence is NOT complete without a verb. You MUST include a verb in every sentence you say or write in English, otherwise it makes no sense!

I go — simple present tense
I went — simple past tense
I have gone — perfect tense
I had gone — pluperfect tense
I am going — present progressive tense
I was going — past progressive tense
I will go — future tense
I will have gone — future perfect tense
I will be going — future progressive tense
I will have been going — future perfect progressive tense
I have been going — perfect progressive tense
I had been going — pluperfect progressive tense
The English Page has a more thorough list of verb tenses with some illustrations of how they work.