12 Tenses in English 

Tense Chart In English With Examples

Tense Chart in English with Examples

What is tense in English Grammar?

Tense in English grammar represents the time of an action or event. An explanation of the tenses is that they are the relationship between the form of the verb and three different concepts of time. Three concepts of time are past, present, and future.

Look at the below sentences:

I play tennis.

I played tennis.

Here in the 1st sentence, the verb is “play”, and the form of the verb is the present form (V1). Thus, it’s the present tense.

Now, in the 2nd sentence, the verb is “played”, and the form of the verb is the past form (V2). Thus, it’s the past tense.

It may be difficult for you to understand if you are unfamiliar with the verb forms.

So let us look at some of the verbs in their different forms in order to make it easier for you to understand.

Verb Forms

The main three forms of verb that you need to know are:

• Present Tense (V1)
• Past Tense (V2)
• Past Participle (V3)

Verbs with their three forms

Here is a list of some common verbs with their three forms.

Base form	Past form	Past participle
V1	V2	V3
arise	arose	arisen
awake	awoke	awaked
become	became	become
bite	bit	bitten
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
build	built	built
burn	burnt	burnt
burst	burst	burst
buy	bought	bought
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
climb	climbed	climbed
come	came	come
cut	cut	cut
deal	dealt	dealt
drink	drank	drunk
drive	drove	driven

Types Of Tense

There are three types of tenses in English grammar: Present Tense, Past Tense, and Future Tense.

Each Tense is further divided into four types: Indefinite Tense, Continuous Tense, Perfect Tense, and Perfect Continuous Tense.

Thus, there are a total of 12 tenses in English grammar.

1. Simple Present or Present Indefinite
2. Present Continuous
3. Present Perfect
4. Present Perfect Continuous
5. Simple Past or Past Indefinite
6. Past Continuous
7. Past Perfect
8. Past Perfect Continuous
9. Simple Future or Future Indefinite
10. Future Continuous
11. Future Perfect
12. Future Perfect Continuous

Tense Structure – Tense Rule

You can make a sentence using various components like subject, object, verb, auxiliary verb, etc. But, these components must be in a proper order to form a correct sentence.

Tense structure or Tense Rule helps us put the components in the correct order and use the proper verb form as per the tense type.

As we know there are 12 types of Tense in English grammar, therefore, we need 12 Tense structures or rules.

Let’s look at the Tense chart below to understand the tense structure for all 12 types of Tense:

TENSE CHART WITH RULES AND EXAMPLES

Tense	Structure/Rule	Example
Simple Present	Subject + V1+s/es + Object	She plays tennis.
Present Continuous	Subject + is/am/are + V1 + ing + Object	She is playing tennis.
Present Perfect	Subject + has/have + V3 + Object	She has played tennis.
Present Perfect Continuous	Subject + has/have been + V1 + ing + Object	She has been playing tennis.
Simple Past	Subject + V2 + Object	She played tennis.
Past Continuous	Subject + was/were + V1 + ing + Object	She was playing tennis.
Past Perfect	Subject + had + V3 + Object	She had played tennis.
Past Perfect Continuous	Subject + had been + V1 + ing + Object	She had been playing tennis.
Simple Future	Subject + will/shall + V1 + Object	She will play tennis.
Future Continuous	Subject + will/shall be + V1 + ing + Object	She will be playing tennis.
Future Perfect	Subject + will/shall have + V3 + Object	She will have played tennis.
Future Perfect Continuous	Subject + will/shall have been + V1 + ing + Object	She will have been playing tennis.

Tense Chart With Rules and Examples!

12 Tenses in English with Examples

1.     Simple Present Tense

Rule: Subject + Verb (1st form) + e/es + Object

Simple Present Tense Examples:

• We live in London.
• He reads comic books.
• She goes to yoga class.
• I come here every day.
• You work at the hospital.
• They watch a movie on Sunday.
• Mona sings at the club.

2.     Present Continuous Tense

Rule: Subject + is/are/am + Verb (ing) + Object

Present Continuous Tense Examples:

• We are going to London.
• He is reading a book.
• She is going to a yoga class.
• I am working.
• You are playing.
• They are watching a movie.
• Mona is singing a song.

3.     Present Perfect Tense

Rule: Subject + has/have + Verb (3rd form) + Object

Present Perfect Tense Examples:

• We have been to London.
• He has read comic books.
• She has done yoga.
• I have worked here.
• You have played well.
• They have watched these movies.
• Mona has sung a song.

4. Present Perfect Continuous Tense

Rule: Subject + has/have + been + Verb (ing) + Object

Present Perfect Continuous Tense Examples:

• We have been visiting London.
• He has been reading comic books.
• She has been doing yoga.
• I have been working here.
• You have been playing all day.
• They have been watching movies.
• Mona has been singing a song.

5. Simple Past Tense

Rule: Subject + Verb (2nd form) + Object

Simple Past Tense Examples:

• We lived in London.
• He read comic books.
• She went to yoga class.
• I came here yesterday.
• You worked at the hospital.
• They watched a movie last Sunday.
• Mona sang a song.

6. Past Continuous Tense

Rule: Subject + was/were + Verb (ing) + Object

Past Continuous Tense Examples:

• We were going to London.
• He was reading a book.
• She was going to yoga class.
• I was working.
• You were playing.
• They were watching a movie.
• Mona was singing a song.

7. Past Perfect Tense

Rule: Subject + had + Verb (3rd form) + Object

Past Perfect Tense Examples:

• We had gone to London.
• He had read comic books.
• She had done yoga.
• I had worked here.
• You had worked at the hospital.
• They had watched these movies.
• Mona had sung a song.

8. Past Perfect Continuous Tense

Rule: Subject + had + been + Verb (ing) + Object

Past Perfect Continuous Tense Examples:

• We had been visiting London.
• He had been reading comic books.
• She had been doing yoga.
• I had been working here.
• You had been playing all day.
• They had been watching movies.
• Mona had been singing a song.

9. Simple Future Tense

Rule: Subject + will/shall + Verb (1st form) + Object

Simple Future Tense Examples:

• We shall live in London.
• He will read comic books.
• She will go to a yoga class.
• I shall come here every day.
• You will work at the hospital.
• They will watch a movie on Sunday.
• Mona will sing a song.

10. Future Continuous Tense

Rule: Subject + will/shall + be + Verb (ing) + Object

Future Continuous Tense Examples:

• We shall be going to London.
• He will be reading a book.
• She will be going to yoga class.
• I shall be working.
• You will be playing.
• They will be watching a movie.
• Mona will be singing a song.

11. Future Perfect Tense

Rule: Subject + will/shall + have + Verb (3rd form) + Object

Future Perfect Tense Examples:

• We shall have left London.
• He will have read comic books.
• She will have done yoga.
• I will have worked here.
• You will have done your work.
• They will have watched a movie.
• Mona will have sung a song.

12. Future Perfect Continuous Tense

Rule: Subject + will/shall + have + been + Verb (ing ) + Object

Future Perfect Continuous Tense Examples:

• We shall have been going to London.
• He will have been reading comic books.
• She will have been doing yoga.
• I shall have been working.
• You will have been playing.
• They will have been watching movies.
• Mona will have been singing a song.

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