Overview
This lecture explains the use of all 12 tenses in English, including their forms, purposes, and examples.
Present Tenses
- Present Simple: Describes facts, habits, and schedules (e.g., I study, she studies every day).
- Present Continuous: Action happening right now (e.g., I am studying, you are watching this video).
- Present Perfect: Past action relevant to the present, often for experience (e.g., I have studied English for 3 years).
- Present Perfect Continuous: Action started in the past and continuing into the present (e.g., I have been studying Spanish for 8 years).
Past Tenses
- Past Simple: Action started and finished in the past (e.g., She worked last night).
- Past Continuous: Ongoing past action, often giving context for another event (e.g., I was studying when the phone rang).
- Past Perfect: Action completed before another past action (e.g., Sarah had already left by the time he got home).
- Past Perfect Continuous: Ongoing past action that stopped at another past event (e.g., I had been watching TV when the power went out).
Future Tenses
- Future Simple: Action expected to happen in the future; uses "will" or "going to" (e.g., I will call you tomorrow, I'm going to call you).
- Future Continuous: Action that will be ongoing in the future (e.g., We will be eating dinner from 6 to 7 p.m.).
- Future Perfect: Action that will be finished before a specific time in the future (e.g., She will have moved before the end of the year).
- Future Perfect Continuous: Ongoing action that will be completed by a future moment (e.g., He will have been driving for 6 hours when he arrives).
Key Terms & Definitions
- Present Simple — Describes general facts, habits, and schedules.
- Present Continuous — Describes actions occurring right now.
- Present Perfect — Describes past actions with relevance to the present.
- Present Perfect Continuous — Past actions continuing into the present.
- Past Simple — Completed actions in the past.
- Past Continuous — Ongoing actions in the past, often as background.
- Past Perfect — Past action finished before another past event.
- Past Perfect Continuous — Past ongoing action stopped by another past event.
- Future Simple — Actions expected in the future.
- Future Continuous — Actions that will be ongoing in the future.
- Future Perfect — Action completed before a certain future time.
- Future Perfect Continuous — Ongoing action in the future, completed by a set time.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Practice forming sentences for each of the 12 tenses.
- Prepare questions about the tenses for clarification if needed.
- Review common verbs in each tense.