diff --git a/lib/Subtitle/Event.pm b/lib/Subtitle/Event.pm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..938dcde
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/Subtitle/Event.pm
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+package Subtitle::Event;
+
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+
+sub new {
+  my $class = shift;
+  my $self = {
+    start => 0.0,
+    end   => 0.0,
+    text  => '',
+  };
+  return bless($self, $class);
+}
+
+sub t_start {
+  my ($self, $t) = @_;
+  $self->{start} = $t
+    if defined $t and $t >= 0.0;
+  return $self->{start};
+}
+sub t_end {
+  my ($self, $t) = @_;
+  $self->{end} = $t
+    if defined $t and $t >= 0.0;
+  return $self->{end};
+}
+sub text {
+  my ($self, $t) = @_;
+  $self->{text} = $t
+    if defined $t;
+  return $self->{text};
+}
+
+1;
+
+=pod
+
+=head1 NAME
+
+Subtitle::Event - base class for subtitle events
+
+=cut
diff --git a/t/event.t b/t/event.t
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..26ca450
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/event.t
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+
+use Test::More tests => 7;
+
+use Subtitle::Event;
+
+my $e = Subtitle::Event->new;
+is(ref $e, 'Subtitle::Event');
+can_ok($e, qw(new t_start t_end text));
+
+is($e->t_start, 0.0);
+is($e->t_start(17.2), 17.2);
+is($e->t_start(-5.4), 17.2);
+
+is($e->text, '');
+is($e->text('test'), 'test');
+
+1;