Whether speaking about the present, the past, or the future, speakers of the English language employ several verb tenses and verb forms such as "go," "went," and "will go." There are a total of twelve distinct verb tenses in the English language. This is in addition to other temporal expressions such as "used to."
When switching between verb tenses, it's usual practice to change the verb itself.
For example, the terms "is" and "was" refer to things that are taking place at the moment, but the phrase "will be" alludes to things that have taken place in the past, etc.