What are Tenses?
- 16 Tenses In English Grammar Exercises
- 16 Tenses In English Grammar
- 16 Tenses In English Grammar Chart
Tenses are grammatical constructs that clarify a time reference. By changing the tense you can express exactly when an event or action happened in relation to the time you are speaking. Correct use of English tenses is necessary if you want to be able to use the language fluently.
To form a tense you need to conjugate the verb. Basic tenses in all languages include the past, present and future tense but there are more complex tenses to express more subtle meanings about the timing of an event.
Verb Tenses are different forms of verbs describing something happened in the past, happening at present or will happen in the future. By expanding these three forms, you will learn 16 tenses in all. There are three main types of verb tenses past, present and future. English Tenses, 16 Tenses in English and Example Sentences. ENGLISH GRAMMAR, TENSES Page 9 of 38 Present Perfect Tense I have sung The present perfect tense is a rather important tense in English, but it gives speakers of some languages a difficult time. That is because it uses concepts or ideas that do not exist in those languages. In fact, the structure of the present perfect tense is very simple.
- 16 Tenses in English Grammar (Formula and Examples) Verb Tenses are different forms of verbs describing something happened in the past, happening at present or will happen in the future. By expanding these three forms, you will learn 16 tenses in all. There are three main types of verb tenses past, present and future.
- Free English verb tense tutorial with detailed tense descriptions and 30 verb tense exercises.
English tenses can seem difficult for learners but all languages have these structures and the conjugations of English are actually simpler than those of many others languages.
How to Form English Tenses
The correct use of English tenses enables you to express the exact time of an event, giving you subtle control over your language.
Tenses help you to explain if an event happened once a long time ago or many times this week, whether you are planning to do something tomorrow or next year, or whether you are performing an action right now or do the same action regularly every day.
Here is a list of the English tenses with verb examples for each tense, using ‘she' and ‘they' as the pronouns, and one regular verb (to walk) and one irregular verb (to eat) to form the tense:
Present tense
| Simple present | Present continuous |
| She eats | She is eating |
| They walk | They are walking |
Past tense
| Simple past | Past continuous |
| She ate | She was eating |
| They walked | They were walking |
Perfect tense
| Present perfect simple | Present perfect continuous |
| She has eaten | She has been eating |
| They have walked | They have been walking |
| Past perfect (pluperfect) | Past perfect continuous |
| She had eaten | She had been eating |
| They had walked | They had been walking |
| Future perfect | Future perfect continuous |
| She will have eaten | She will have been eating |
| They will have walked | They will have been walking |
Future tense
| Simple future | Future continuous |
| She will eat | She will be eating |
| They will walk | They will be walking |
| She is going to eat | She is going to be eating |
| They are going to walk | They are going to be walking |
Conditionals
| Simple present conditional | Conditional present continuous |
| She would eat | She would be eating |
| They would walk | They would be walking |
| Conditional past | Conditional past continuous |
| She would have eaten | She would have been eating |
| They would have walked | They would have been walking |
Forming conditional phrases
There are four kinds of conditional phrase:
- The Zero Conditional
(if + present simple, … present simple)
If you go to the desert, it is hot - The First Conditional:
(if + present simple, … will + infinitive)
If it is hot tomorrow, we'll go to the beach. - The Second Conditional:
(if + past simple, … would + infinitive)
If I had a car, I would drive to London. - The Third Conditional
(if + past perfect, … would + have + past participle)
If I had gone to the party, I would have seen them.
Ing-words
| Gerund | Present participle |
| She is eating | She likes eating |
| They are walking | They like walking |
Used to + verb
The words ‘used to' followed by a verb is used to express an action that happened habitually in the past but not anymore. For example:
I used to play the piano (but I don't anymore)
They used to go swimming every weekend (but they don't anymore)
She used to study French (but she doesn't anymore)
16 Tenses In English Grammar Exercises
The Subjunctive
The subjunctive is not normally called a tense; it is usually called a ‘mood'. The subjunctive mood is used to convey doubt about a situation. It can also be used to convey urgency, suggestions, demands and other emotions.
Unlike some other languages, such as Spanish, which use the subjunctive a lot, the subjunctive is not used very often in English.
The subjunctive mood is used to describe a hypothetical situation:
When talking about hypothetical situations or wishes, we can use the subjunctive mood. So we might use ‘I were' instead of ‘I was' and ‘be' instead of ‘are':
If I were rich, I would buy a big house
If I were the Queen, I wouldn't have worn that hat
The subjunctive can be used to express a wish:
I wish I were there
I wish I were taller
The subjunctive can also be used for demands and suggestions:
He insisted that you be there (‘be' used instead of ‘are')
How to Form English Tenses
The correct use of English tenses enables you to express the exact time of an event, giving you subtle control over your language.
Tenses help you to explain if an event happened once a long time ago or many times this week, whether you are planning to do something tomorrow or next year, or whether you are performing an action right now or do the same action regularly every day.
Here is a list of the English tenses with verb examples for each tense, using ‘she' and ‘they' as the pronouns, and one regular verb (to walk) and one irregular verb (to eat) to form the tense:
Present tense
| Simple present | Present continuous |
| She eats | She is eating |
| They walk | They are walking |
Past tense
| Simple past | Past continuous |
| She ate | She was eating |
| They walked | They were walking |
Perfect tense
| Present perfect simple | Present perfect continuous |
| She has eaten | She has been eating |
| They have walked | They have been walking |
| Past perfect (pluperfect) | Past perfect continuous |
| She had eaten | She had been eating |
| They had walked | They had been walking |
| Future perfect | Future perfect continuous |
| She will have eaten | She will have been eating |
| They will have walked | They will have been walking |
Future tense
| Simple future | Future continuous |
| She will eat | She will be eating |
| They will walk | They will be walking |
| She is going to eat | She is going to be eating |
| They are going to walk | They are going to be walking |
Conditionals
| Simple present conditional | Conditional present continuous |
| She would eat | She would be eating |
| They would walk | They would be walking |
| Conditional past | Conditional past continuous |
| She would have eaten | She would have been eating |
| They would have walked | They would have been walking |
Forming conditional phrases
There are four kinds of conditional phrase:
- The Zero Conditional
(if + present simple, … present simple)
If you go to the desert, it is hot - The First Conditional:
(if + present simple, … will + infinitive)
If it is hot tomorrow, we'll go to the beach. - The Second Conditional:
(if + past simple, … would + infinitive)
If I had a car, I would drive to London. - The Third Conditional
(if + past perfect, … would + have + past participle)
If I had gone to the party, I would have seen them.
Ing-words
| Gerund | Present participle |
| She is eating | She likes eating |
| They are walking | They like walking |
Used to + verb
The words ‘used to' followed by a verb is used to express an action that happened habitually in the past but not anymore. For example:
I used to play the piano (but I don't anymore)
They used to go swimming every weekend (but they don't anymore)
She used to study French (but she doesn't anymore)
16 Tenses In English Grammar Exercises
The Subjunctive
The subjunctive is not normally called a tense; it is usually called a ‘mood'. The subjunctive mood is used to convey doubt about a situation. It can also be used to convey urgency, suggestions, demands and other emotions.
Unlike some other languages, such as Spanish, which use the subjunctive a lot, the subjunctive is not used very often in English.
The subjunctive mood is used to describe a hypothetical situation:
When talking about hypothetical situations or wishes, we can use the subjunctive mood. So we might use ‘I were' instead of ‘I was' and ‘be' instead of ‘are':
If I were rich, I would buy a big house
If I were the Queen, I wouldn't have worn that hat
The subjunctive can be used to express a wish:
I wish I were there
I wish I were taller
The subjunctive can also be used for demands and suggestions:
He insisted that you be there (‘be' used instead of ‘are')
It's essential that they be told the truth (‘be' used instead of ‘are')
I suggest that he leave the car in the garage (‘leave' used instead of ‘leaves')
What do you think about using tenses in English?
Are you confident using the different tenses in English?
Which of the English tenses do you find the most difficult?
How do you use the subjunctive in your own native language?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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16 Tenses In English Grammar
Verb Tenses are different forms of verbs describing something happened in the past, happening at present or will happen in the future. By expanding these three forms, you will learn 16 tenses in all.
There are three main types of verb tenses past, present and future.
16 Tenses In English Grammar Chart
English Tenses, 16 Tenses in English and Example Sentences;
