There are 12 tenses in the English language.
What are tenses?
Tenses are grammatical structures we use to say ‘when’ and ‘how long’ an action happens.
What are the 12 Tenses?
present
- present simple
- present continuous
- present perfect
- present perfect continuous
past
- past simple
- past continuous
- past perfect
- past perfect continuous
future
- future simple
- future continuous
- future perfect
- future perfect continuous
NOW AVAILABLE! If you’d like more examples, explanations and exercises for all 12 tenses in English, click the image below.
The best way to learn grammar is by ‘personalizing’ grammar. I’ve created 12 different characters to help you understand the 12 tenses better.
We form the present simple: using the ‘infinitive’
-
The present continuous is formed: am/are/is + verb ‘ing’
-
The present perfect is formed: have/has + past participle
-
The present perfect continuous is formed: have/has been + verb ‘ing’
-
The past simple is formed: with verb #2
-
The past continuous is formed: was/were + verb ‘ing’
-
The past perfect is formed: had + past participle
-
The past perfect continuous is formed: had been + verb ‘ing’
-
The future simple is formed: will + infinitive
-
The future continuous is formed: will be + verb ‘ing’
-
The future perfect is formed: will have + past participle
-
The future perfect continuous is formed: will have been + verb ‘ing’
The 12 tenses are absolutely vital in English.
- There is a big difference between: have done and had done.
- There is a big difference between: will go and will have gone.
- There is a big difference between: I am swimming and I was swimming.
There are so many rules for the English tenses and some of them might surprise you:
- We can use ‘the present simple’ to speak about the future.
- We can use ‘the present continuous’ to speak about the future.
- We can use ‘had had’ and it’s perfectly correct.
- We can say ‘I remember’, but not
‘I am remembering’.
Thank you very much for reading!
Don’t forget to check out my YouTube channel, Instagram, Facebook and Blog!
See you next time! Arnel 🙂
