Definition: Tenses tell us when an action happened.
Simple Tenses:
| Simple Tenses | ||
| Past | Present | Future |
| Walked Ate | Walk Eat | Will walk Will eat |
Simple tenses use the past form, the present form, and the present form with the helping verb will.
- Last Sunday, I watched a movie.
- Today I watch movie and my sister watches
- Next Sunday, I will watch
Perfect tenses show when an action happened in relation to another action. The action in the past perfect began and ended before the event or time it is being related to. The action in the present perfect began in the past and continues up to the present or has ended by the present. The action in the future tense will be finished a particular point in the future.
| Perfect Tenses | ||
| Past Perfect | Present Perfect | Future Perfect |
| Had walked Had eaten | Have walked Have eaten | Will have walked Will have eaten |
The perfect tenses use the helping verb to have (have/has, had) with the past participle of the verb. The verb to have changes to show the tense.
- I have put the money in the machine.
- I had finished my homework before mom called me for dinner.
- By the time the show is over, Marie will have danced for 40 minutes.
Progressive tenses show that an action is or was ongoing or continuing at the same time as something else. The present progressive tense is used to talk about something that is happening right now.
| Progressive Tenses | ||
| Past Progressive | Present Progressive | Future Progressive |
| was walking was eating |
am walking am eating |
will be walking will be eating |
- Last week we were painting the house.
- She is having a lot of trouble with her divorce.
- We will be working quite closely.
Perfect progressive tenses are a combination of perfect (completed before) and progressive (ongoing) tenses which show that something began, continued, and ended before another action mentioned.
| Perfect Progressive Tenses | ||
| Past Perfect Progressive | Present Perfect Progressive | Future Perfect Progressive |
| had been walking had been eating |
have been walking have been eating |
will have been walking will have been eating |
- He had been partying all night, so he fell asleep in class.
- She has been working there since July.
- He will have been driving for an hour by the time he gets more.
Not a tense, but logically included in this section is the emphatic form. The emphatic form emphasizes that an action happened. It is also used in questions and in negative statements.
| Emphatic Form | ||
| Past Emphatic | Present Emphatic | |
| did walk did eat |
do/does walk do/does eat |
There is no future emphatic because you can’t emphasize something that hasn’t been done yet. |
The emphatic form uses the verb to do with the present form of the verb.
Find out tenses from the examples for exercise:
- In November, we will have been living in Spain for eleven years.
- Tony will tired when he gets here because he will have been exercising for four hours.
- They play basketball every Sunday.
- The snow will have stopped by April.
- He was sleeping all night long.
- Last week we were painting the house.
- It will be raining the entire week.
- When we arrive at their house tonight, they will be waiting.
- The robbers will have taken all the money by the time anyone arrives.
- Her heel will have fully healed by the summer.