Overview
This lecture covers the complete system of English tenses, their structures, rules, exceptions, common uses, and examples for each of the 12 core tenses, focusing on efficient understanding and application.
What Are Tenses?
- Tenses indicate the time of an action: past, present, or future.
- Three time categories: past (finished), present (now), future (yet to start).
- Four types of actions: simple (indefinite), continuous (ongoing), perfect (completed), and perfect continuous (ongoing with duration).
The 12 Tenses Overview
- 3 time categories × 4 action types = 12 tenses.
- Each tense has distinct structure and use.
Present Tenses
- Present Simple: General truths, habits, scheduled future events, and storytelling (e.g., "I drink tea").
- Structure: Subject + base verb (add 's/es' for he/she/it).
- Negative: do/does + not + verb.
- Be verb forms: am, is, are.
- Present Continuous: Ongoing or temporary actions, planned future events, annoying habits (e.g., "I am learning English").
- Structure: Subject + am/is/are + verb-ing.
- Negative: am/is/are + not + verb-ing.
- Not commonly used with stative verbs (e.g., know, believe).
- Present Perfect: Actions started in the past affecting the present (e.g., "She has lost her keys").
- Structure: Subject + has/have + past participle.
- Negative: has/have + not + past participle.
- Used for life experiences, recent actions, and with words like already, yet, ever, never.
- Present Perfect Continuous: Ongoing actions started in past, still happening (e.g., "I have been working since 7 a.m.").
- Structure: Subject + has/have + been + verb-ing.
- Negative: has/have + not + been + verb-ing.
- Often uses time expressions (since, for).
Past Tenses
- Simple Past: Completed actions/events in the past (e.g., "She played football").
- Structure: Subject + verb-ed (irregular verbs vary).
- Negative: did + not + base verb.
- Often with time expressions (yesterday, last week).
- Past Continuous: Actions ongoing at a past time or interrupted by another action (e.g., "I was drinking tea when the bell rang").
- Structure: Subject + was/were + verb-ing.
- Negative: was/were + not + verb-ing.
- Past Perfect: Action completed before another past action (e.g., "I had finished work when he called").
- Structure: Subject + had + past participle.
- Negative: had + not + past participle.
- Past Perfect Continuous: Ongoing action up to another past event (e.g., "I had been working there for 5 years").
- Structure: Subject + had + been + verb-ing.
- Negative: had + not + been + verb-ing.
- Shows duration before another past event.
Future Tenses
- Simple Future: Actions/events that will happen (e.g., "I will go to the beach").
- Structure: Subject + will/shall + base verb.
- Negative: will/shall + not + verb.
- 'Will' for spontaneous decisions and predictions; 'going to' for planned intentions.
- Future Continuous: Ongoing future action at a specific time (e.g., "I will be studying at this time tomorrow").
- Structure: Subject + will/shall + be + verb-ing.
- Negative: will/shall + not + be + verb-ing.
- Future Perfect: Action completed before a specific future time/event (e.g., "I will have finished by 5 p.m.").
- Structure: Subject + will/shall + have + past participle.
- Negative: will/shall + not + have + past participle.
- Future Perfect Continuous: Ongoing action continuing up to a future point (e.g., "She will have been teaching for 20 years").
- Structure: Subject + will/shall + have + been + verb-ing.
- Negative: will/shall + not + have + been + verb-ing.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Tense — Grammatical category showing time of action.
- Simple/Indefinite — General, habitual, or universal actions/statements.
- Continuous/Progressive — Ongoing or temporary actions.
- Perfect — Completed actions with present relevance.
- Perfect Continuous — Ongoing actions with duration, continuing up to a point.
- Stative verbs — Verbs describing a state/condition (e.g., know, belong).
Action Items / Next Steps
- Review examples and structures for each tense.
- Practice forming positive, negative, and question sentences for all 12 tenses.
- Prepare questions on any confusing tenses for further clarification.
- Download and save these notes for future revision.