English Tenses Overview

Present Tenses

Present Simple

• Usage: Facts, habits, schedules.
  • Examples:
    • Fact: "That is my phone."
    • Habit: "He studies every day."
    • Schedule: "On weekends, we play soccer."
• Commonality: Most common verb tense in English.

Present Continuous

• Usage: Actions happening right now.
  • Examples:
    • "You are watching this video right now."
    • "I am speaking on camera."
    • "An airplane is flying through the sky."

Present Perfect

• Usage: Past actions describing the present subject.
  • Examples:
    • "I have studied English for 3 years."
    • "She has eaten breakfast already."
    • "He has lived there all his life."
    • "They have never been to Mexico."

Present Perfect Continuous

• Usage: Action started in the past and continues to present.
  • Examples:
    • "I have been studying Spanish for 8 years."
    • "He has been sleeping for 12 hours."
    • "She has been working two jobs since February."
    • "They have been traveling for 5 weeks."

Past Tenses

Past Simple

• Usage: Action started and finished in the past.
  • Examples:
    • "She worked last night."
    • "He ate eggs for breakfast."
    • "I lived in Chicago when I was a child."

Past Continuous

• Usage: Action continued over a period of time in the past.
• Context: Often used with another action.
  • Examples:
    • "I was studying when the phone rang."
    • "We were living in Canada when we got engaged."
    • "He was running when he caught the ball."

Past Perfect

• Usage: Action that occurred before another past action.
  • Examples:
    • "Sarah had already left by the time he got home."
    • "I had already booked the tickets when the concert sold out."
    • "We had eaten a big lunch, so we weren't hungry when we got to the hotel."

Past Perfect Continuous

• Usage: Continued action that stopped at the moment of another action.
  • Examples:
    • "I had been watching TV when the power went out."
    • "He had been eating pizza every day when he started the diet."
    • "We had been talking about going to France for years and finally decided to go."

Future Tenses

Future Simple

• Usage: Actions believed to happen in the future.
  • Examples:
    • "I will call you tomorrow."
    • "We'll bring cupcakes to the party."
    • "He's going to be there by 6:00 p.m."

Future Continuous

• Usage: Actions continuing over a period of time in the future.
  • Examples:
    • "We will be eating dinner from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m."
    • "I'll be running errands all afternoon."

Future Perfect

• Usage: Actions that will be finished by a certain time in the future.
  • Examples:
    • "She will have moved to a new apartment before the end of the year."
    • "He will have finished his homework by the time dinner is ready."
    • "They will have come home by the spring."

Future Perfect Continuous

• Usage: Continuous action completed at a given time in the future.
  • Examples:
    • "He will have been driving for 6 hours straight when he arrives."
    • "We will have been living in Los Angeles for a decade this December."
    • "She will have been working at the company for 40 years when she retires."

Conclusion

• Covered all 12 tenses of English.
• Questions or comments are welcome.