ZlatoslavaPil

The English Tense System

Examples of tenses

Present Simple I do, I do do

Present Continuous I am doing

Present Perfect I have done

Present Perfect Continuous I have been doing

Past Simple I did, I did

Past Continuous I was doing

Past Perfect I had done

Past Perfect Continuous I had been doing

Future Simple I will do

Future Continuous I will be doing

Future Perfect I will have done

Future Perfect Continuous I will have been doing

Impornant notice

Many English learners worry too much about tense. If you stopped 100 native English speakers in the street and asked them about tense, 1 of them might give you an intelligent answer - if you were lucky. The other 99 would know little about terms like "past perfect" or "present continuous". And they would know nothing about aspect, voice or mood. But they can all speak fluent English and communicate effectively. Of course, for ESL it helps to know about tenses, but don't become obsessed with them. Be like those native speakers! Speak naturally!

Additional implications

• Some grammarians consider that strictly-speaking there are only two English tenses. Others argue six or other quantities. For the sake of simplicity, Learners of English as a Foreign or Second Language are usually taught that - taking into account aspect and future modals - there are 12 tenses in English.