Tenses

TENSE

Verb tenses tell us how an action relates to the flow of time.

There are three main verbs tenses in English:

a)      Present

b)      Past

c)      Future.

The present, past and future tenses are divided into four aspects: the simple, continuous, perfect and perfect continuous. There are 12 major verb tenses that English learners should know.

We use –

·        The simple present tense to indicate an action that takes place in the present.

·        The simple past tense to denote an action that took place in the past.

·        The simple future tense to indicate an action that is going to take place in the future.

Tense Chart

	Simple Forms	Continuous Forms	Perfect Forms	Perfect Continuous Forms
Present	S+ V1 orV1(s,es)+ O	S+is,am,are+V1(ing)+O	S+has,have+V3+O	S+ has/ have been+V1(ing)+Since/For+ O
Past	S+V2+O	S+was,were+V1(ing)+O	S+had+V3+O	S+ had been+V1(ing)+Since/For+ O
Future	S+will/shall+V1+O	S+ will /shall be-V1(ing)+O	S+will/shall have+V3+O	S+ will/shall have been+V1(ing)+ since/for+ O

 

Now look at the table given here that shows the different forms of verb ‘play’ in all the tenses mentioned above.

	PRESENT POSITIVE	NEGATIVE	INTERROGATIVE	PAST TENSE	FUTURE TENSE
SIMPLE	I play.	I do not play.	Do I play?	I played.	I will play.
CONTINUOUS	I am playing.	I am not playing.	Am I playing?	I was playing.	I will be playing.
PERFECT	I have played.	I have not played.	Have I played?	I had played.	I will have played.
PERFECT CONTINUOUS	I have been playing since morning.	I have not been playing since morning.	Have I been playing since morning?	I had been playing since morning.	I will have been playing since morning.