Introduction to Tenses - Types of Tenses - Spoken English At Home

TENSES

Tense is the form of a verb group which shows whether you are referring to the past, present, or future.


While making a statement, we usually refer to a situation which exists now, existed in the past, or is likely to exist in the future.


A set of verb forms that indicates a particular point in time or period of time in the past, present or future is called a tense.


Read the following sentences:

1. She is learning English.
2. She was learning English.
3. She will be learning English. 

In sentence 1, the verb ‘is’ refers to the present time, and is, therefore, said to be in the present tense. 
In sentence 2, the verb ‘was’ refers to the past time, and is, therefore, said to be in the past tense. 


In sentence 3, the verb ‘will be’ refers to the future time, and is, therefore, said to be in the future tense.


A verb has three main tenses:

1. The Present
2. The Past
3. The Future

The Present Tense has four forms:

1. Simple Present
2. Present Continuous
3. Present Prefect
4. Present Perfect Continuous

The past tense has four forms:

   1. Simple Past
   2. Past Continuous
   3. Past Perfect
   4. Past Perfect Continuous

The Future Tense has four forms:

   1. Simple
Future
   2. Future Continuous
   3. Future Perfect
   4. Future Perfect Continuous