Verb tenses

We use verb tenses to show the timing of an action or event. They help us to communicate more clearly, so that other people understand the sequence and duration of events.

There are three main tenses: past, present, and future. We can divide each tense into simple, continuous, perfect, and perfect continuous, making a total of 12 tenses. Together they make a logical and consistent system of communicating very complex and thorough information about the events.

If there were fewer tenses, what we could say about events would be more limited and less understandable.

To see how tenses work together to create a system, let’s look first at the past tenses:

• Past Simple informs us about the fact of the action.
  • I walked
• Past continuous deals with the duration of the action.
  • I was walking
• Past Perfect provides the information of what has been completed by a certain moment of time.
  • I had walked
• Past Perfect Continuous tells of how long the action went on before a certain moment of time.
  • I had been walking

Now let’s do the same for the present tenses:

• Present simple.
  • I walk
• Present continuous.
  • I am walking
• Present perfect.
  • I have walked
• Present perfect continuous.
  • I have been walking

And the future tenses:

• Future simple.
  • I will walk.
• Future continuous.
  • I will be walking
• Future perfect.
  • I will have walked
• Future perfect continuous.
  • I will have been walking

Here are some more examples of verb tenses:

	Past	Present	Future
Simple	I worked	I work	I will work
Continuous	I was working	I am working	I will be working
Perfect	I had worked	I have worked	I will have worked
Perfect Continuous	I had been working	I have been working	I will have been working

	Past	Present	Future
Simple	I listened	I listen	I will listen
Continuous	I was listening	I am listening	I will be listening
Perfect	I had listened	I have listened	I will have listened
Perfect Continuous	I had been listening	I have been listening	I will have been listening

	Past	Present	Future
Simple	I cooked	I cook	I will cook
Continuous	I was cooking	I am cooking	I will be cooking
Perfect	I had cooked	I have cooked	I will have cooked
Perfect Continuous	I had been cooking	I have been cooking	I will have been cooking

Here is a slightly more technical chart, showing how the different tenses are formed

	Past	Present	Future
Simple	Past verb	Base verb	Will + base verb
Continuous	Was/were + present participle	Am/is/are + present participle	Will be + present participle
Perfect	Had + past participle	Have/has + past participle	Will have + past participle
Perfect Continuous	Had been + present participle	Had/have been + past participle	Will have been + present participle

For more about present participles, see here.

For more about past participles see here.

_{Posted by Graham}

_{With thanks to Lara for the idea and for the clarity}