The grammatical tense is a method used to express the time at which an event took place. In English, this is a property of the verb form, and it is important to understand the meaning and use of tenses. There are three basic tenses: present, past, and future. Each tense has a perfect form indicating completed action, a progressive form indicating an ongoing action, and a perfect progressive form indicating an ongoing action that will be completed at some definite time.
Here is a list of these tenses with examples:
Present Simple – Present Simple expresses an unchanging, repeated, or reoccurring action or situation that exists only now. It can also represent a widespread truth (“I go”).
Present Progressive – Present Progressive describes an ongoing action that is happening at the same time the statement is written. This tense is formed by using the verb ‘be’ as am/is/are with the verb form ending in -ing (“I am going”).
Present Perfect – Present Perfect describes an action that happened at an indefinite time in the past or action that began in the past and continues in the present. This tense is formed by using ‘has/have with the past participle of the verb (“I had gone”).
Present Perfect Progressive – Present Perfect Progressive describes an action that began in the past, continues in the present, and may continue into the future. This tense is formed by using ‘has/have been and the present participle of the verb (verb form ending with -ing) (“I had been going”).
Past Simple – Past Simple expresses an action or situation that was started and finished in the past. Most past simple verbs end in -ed. The others have irregular past tense forms and must be learned (“I went”).
Past Progressive – Past progressive describes a past action that was happening when another action occurred. This tense is formed by using the verb ‘be’ as was/were with the verb form ending in -ing (“I was going”).
Past Perfect – Past Perfect describes an action that took place in the past before another past action. This tense is formed by using ‘had’ with the past participle of the verb (“I had gone”).
Past Perfect Progressive – Past Perfect Progressive describes a past, ongoing action that was completed before some other past action. This tense is formed by using ‘had been and the present participle of the verb (the verb form ending in -ing). (“I had been going”).
Future Simple – Future Simple expresses an action or situation that will occur in the future. This tense is formed by using ‘will’ with the simple form of the verb (“I will go”).
Future Progressive – Future Progressive describes an ongoing or continuous action that will take place in the future. This tense is formed by using ‘will be with the verb ending in -ing (“I will be going”).
Future Perfect – Future Perfect describes an action that will occur in the future before some other action. This tense is formed by using ‘will have with the past participle of the verb. (“I will have gone”).
Future Perfect Progressive – Future Perfect Progressive describes a future, ongoing action that will occur before some specified future time. This tense is formed by using ‘will have been and the present participle of the verb (the verb form ending in -ing,) (“I will have been going”).English Tenses
