“Go”, “went”, and “gone” are three forms of the same verb. “Go” is the base form used for the present, “went” is the simple past form, and “gone” is the past participle form. Choosing the right form depends on the tense and whether you use an auxiliary verb like “have” or “be”.

Use “go” for the present and future meaning, and after auxiliary verbs like “do” and modal verbs like “can”, “will”, and “should”. It describes movement, travel, or leaving, and it also appears in common expressions like “go home” and “go to work”. In questions and negatives, “go” stays in the base form after “do” or “does”.

Subject	Form	Example
I	go	I go to the gym on Tuesdays.
you	go	You go first.
he	goes	He goes to school nearby.
she	goes	She goes by train.
it	goes	It goes well with rice.
we	go	We go out on Fridays.
they	go	They go home early.

Use “went” for the simple past to say that the action happened and finished in the past. It does not use “have” in the same clause, because “have” requires the past participle “gone”. In negatives and questions with “did”, you use “go”, not “went”.

Rule	Example
Use “went” for completed past actions	I went to the store yesterday.
Do not use “have” with “went” in the same clause	I have gone to the store before.
After “did”, keep the base form “go”	Did you go there last week?
Negative with “did not” uses “go”	I did not go to the meeting.

“Gone” is the past participle and usually needs an auxiliary verb. With “have” or “has”, it forms the present perfect to talk about life experience, recent events, or unfinished time periods. Without an auxiliary, “gone” cannot be the main verb in standard English.

Rule	Example
Use “have gone” for present perfect	We have gone there many times.
Use “has gone” with he, she, it	She has gone to bed already.
Do not use “gone” alone as the main verb	He has gone.

“Have gone” and “has gone” often mean the person left and is not here now, or that the trip is in progress. The focus is on the present result of a past action. Context tells whether it means they are away now or simply that the action happened at an unspecified past time.

Rule	Example
Often means away now or not here	Maria has gone to the office.
Can mean experience without stating when	I have gone skiing before.
Often used with already, just, yet	They have already gone home.

Learners often confuse “has gone” with “has been”. “Has been to” means the person went and returned, so they are not away now. “Has gone to” usually means they went and have not returned yet.

Rule	Example
“Has been to” means visited and returned	She has been to Japan twice.
“Has gone to” often means not back yet	She has gone to Japan for work.
“Has been in” focuses on time spent in a place	He has been in London for a month.

“Been going” is the present perfect continuous form and emphasizes duration or repeated activity from the past until now. It is common with “for” and “since”, and it often describes habits or ongoing travel patterns rather than one completed trip. This form uses “been” plus the -ing form “going”.

Rule	Example
Use for duration up to now	I have been going to this café for years.
Use for repeated activity	She has been going to meetings every week.
Use for ongoing change or progress	Things have been going better lately.

“Be going to” expresses a planned future or a future that seems likely based on evidence now. It uses a form of “be” plus “going to” plus the base verb. This is different from “go” meaning travel, because “going to” is a future marker in many contexts.

Rule	Example
Use for plans or intentions	I am going to call you tonight.
Use for predictions with evidence	It is going to rain.
After “going to”, use the base verb	They are going to leave soon.

In the present simple, questions and negatives use “do” or “does” plus the base form “go”. In the past simple, they use “did” plus “go”, not “went”. The auxiliary carries the tense, so the main verb stays in the base form.

Rule	Example
Present question uses do or does	Do you go there often?
Present negative uses do not or does not	He does not go by bus.
Past question uses did	Did they go yesterday?
Past negative uses did not	I did not go last night.

Use “go” for present and after auxiliaries and modals, “went” for simple past, and “gone” as the past participle with “have” or in passive-like result phrases. For location and return meaning, remember the contrast between “has gone to” and “has been to”. These choices cover most everyday usage of the three forms.

Rule	Example
Present or base after helpers uses “go”	She can go now.
Finished past uses “went”	We went home early.
Perfect uses “have gone”	They have gone already.
Returned visit uses “have been to”	He has been to Mexico.