Introduction to 12 English Tenses with Examples and Explanation

Lesson on the 12 English Tenses – Introduction

Tenses are essential for conveying time & communicating in English. There are 12 tenses, categorized into Simple, Continuous, Perfect, and Perfect Continuous forms. Understanding their structure, usage, and examples will help improve your communication skills.

Let’s first understand the key terms: Verb, Subject, Base Verb, Past Tense Verb, Verb-ing (Present Participle) and Past Participle.

• Verb – A word that shows action or state.
  • Example: eat, run, write, sleep
• Subject – The person or thing performing the action.
  • Example: She runs fast. (She = Subject)
• Base Verb – The original form of a verb.
  • Example: go, take, play, write
• Past Tense Verb – The form used for past actions.
  • Example: went, took, played, wrote
  • Sentence: He took a book.
• Verb-ing (Present Participle) – The “-ing” form of a verb, used for continuous tenses.
  • Example: going, taking, playing, writing
  • Sentence: She is writing a letter.
• Past Participle – The form used with “has/have/had” for perfect tenses.
  • Example: gone, taken, played, written
  • Sentence: I have written an email.

Simple Tenses

1. Present Simple

• Use: Used for habits, facts, and general truths.
• Structure: Subject + base verb (add -s for he/she/it).
• Example: She reads books every day.

2. Past Simple

• Use: Describes completed actions in the past.
• Structure: Subject + past tense verb.
• Example: They watched a movie yesterday.

3. Future Simple

• Use: Expresses predictions, promises, or spontaneous decisions.
• Structure: Subject + will + base verb.
• Example: I will travel to Paris next year.

Continuous Tenses

4. Present Continuous

• Use: Describes actions happening now or temporary situations.
• Structure: Subject + am/is/are + verb-ing.
• Example: He is eating lunch right now.

5. Past Continuous

• Use: Describes ongoing actions in the past (often interrupted).
• Structure: Subject + was/were + verb-ing.
• Example: She was studying when I called.

6. Future Continuous

• Use: Expresses actions in progress at a specific future time.
• Structure: Subject + will be + verb-ing.
• Example: They will be working at 8 PM tomorrow.

Perfect Tenses

7. Present Perfect

• Use: Actions started in the past that are relevant now.
• Structure: Subject + has/have + past participle.
• Example: I have finished my homework.

8. Past Perfect

• Use: Describes an action completed before another past action.
• Structure: Subject + had + past participle.
• Example: She had left before I arrived.

9. Future Perfect

• Use: Actions that will finish before a specific future time.
• Structure: Subject + will have + past participle.
• Example: By 2025, he will have graduated.

Perfect Continuous Tenses

10. Present Perfect Continuous

• Use: Ongoing actions that started in the past and are still happening.
• Structure: Subject + has/have been + verb-ing.
• Example: They have been playing for 2 hours.

11. Past Perfect Continuous

• Use: Ongoing actions before another past action.
• Structure: Subject + had been + verb-ing.
• Example: She had been waiting for an hour when the bus came.

12. Future Perfect Continuous

• Use: Describes an action ongoing up to a specific future time.
• Structure: Subject + will have been + verb-ing.
• Example: By December, I will have been working here for 5 years.

Quick Summary Table

Category	Tenses	Key Words
Simple	Present, Past, Future	always, yesterday, will
Continuous	Present, Past, Future	now, while, at 8 PM
Perfect	Present, Past, Future	already, by the time, since
Perfect Continuous	Present, Past, Future	for, since, how long

Practice Tip

To master tenses, focus on time markers (e.g., yesterday, now, by tomorrow) and apply them to real-life sentences. Practicing with examples will improve your accuracy!

Exercise: Test your understanding of this English lesson

You can test your understanding of the English Tenses lesson by answering these 36 questions. You will get the answers and your score at the end of the quiz.

Choose the correct option:

Keep practicing to enhance your understanding of English tenses!