Learn English Tenses and Its Use – Complete Guide 2024

Learn English Tenses and their use in speaking, writing, and reading. Learn to boost your knowledge and understand the language. In this article, I teach you all English tense and its use in everyday life with simple definitions and examples.

It doesn’t matter whether you are a beginner or an advanced learner this article helps everyone to increase their knowledge. What you will learn from this article? A short intro is mentioned below.

What you will learn?

Through this article, we discuss the 12 tenses with examples and describe all things easily for beginners.

• Intro of 12-Tenses (Present Tense, Past Tense & Future Tense)
• Definitions & Examples
• Free Online Books
• And more

There are a total of twelve tenses and each Tense contains 4 types, learn here all tenses and types.

What does Tense?

Some students confuse what is the actual meaning of “Tense”? The word tense means to tell about the “Time” like when something starts or ends.

Also Read: English Grammar Guide – Learn Parts of Speech

Present Tense

There are four types of present tense, (Present Simple/ Indefinite, Present Continuous, Present Perfect, and Present Perfect Continous). These types are included in the “Present Tense”.

Present Simple/Indefinite: The tense expresses something that happens daily, habitual work tells the truth, and repeated action. Follow the below sentence structure to create sentences easily.

Sentence Structure: Subject+Verb+Object, first use subject then use a verb, and in the end use object. Take a look at below examples:

Examples:

1. She plays a football game every evening.
2. I wake up every morning at 07:00 AM.
3. The sun rises in the east.

Present Continuous Tense: This tense refers current situation or work that is exactly happening right now. The sentence structure is Subject + auxiliary verb (is, am, are) Verb 4th form + object, read below examples:

Examples:

1. I am writing an article right now.
2. She is driving a car.
3. They are still there.
4. Harry is reading the world’s famous novel.
5. It is raining here.

Auxiliary verbs: Is, Am & are, these helping verbs are used in the present continuous tense and you can identify the sentence through these helping verbs.

Present Perfect Tense: The perfect tense is a kind of tense that expresses the work that is recently completed in the present time. The tense also links past and present tense. Like Henry has read the book, this sentence tells that the work is done in the present time.

In the Present Perfect Tense, two auxiliary verbs (Has/Have) are used in a sentence. Read examples below:

• Arvind has gone to tuition classes.
• They have played a football game.
• She has arrived at National Airport Karachi.

Present Perfect Continuous Tense: The tense tells about the work that is continuing from the past and continues yet. Here’s the structure of tense, use Subject + auxiliary verb (have been/ has been) + verb 4th form + object.

Examples:

1. Ali has been working in an office for six hours.
2. Mehtab has been playing cricket game since the afternoon.
3. She and his brother have been working in the government sector since 2001.

Past Tense

The Past Tense is used to talk about an action which completed in the past time at a specific time. There are four types of Past Tense, Past Simple, Past Continuous, Past Perfect, and Past Perfect Continuous Tense.

Past Simple Tense: This type of past tense talks about an action that started in the past and finished in the past time, in this tense you can use verd 3rd form in a sentence, for a detailed guide look at the below examples:

Sentence formation: Use subject + verb 3rd form + object, look at the below examples and practice as well.

Examples:

• Ali went to school yesterday. (In this sentence the subject (Ali) went to school which means that work started in the past and also finished at the same time.
• I completed school homework. The sentence shows that homework was completed in the past time when it started.

Past Continuous Tense: Tells us about an action that was continued in past time it is called Past Continuous Tense.

Sentence Structure: Subject + auxiliary verb was/were + verb 4th form + object

Use the above sentence structure to make correct sentences, check the below examples and try to create your sentence and use it in this tense.

Examples:

• She was going to the office when I saw him yesterday at 09:00 AM.
• I was teaching students when you were at the Principal’s office.
• They were helping blind people.

Past Perfect Tense: The Past perfect tense used in these conditions eg, reported speech, completed an action before another past action, and other conditional sentences.

You can use it as subject + had + verb 3rd form, object. Below are examples:

• She had read the book before sleeping.
• They had gone to the park when I reached home.
• If he had worked harder, he would have gotten more money.

Past Perfect Continuous Tense: The tense expresses that the work or action was ongoing and recently finished in the past. Use subject + had been + verb4th form + object. Here are examples:

• We had been waiting for an hour.
• They had been tired because they worked all day.

Future Tense

The Future Tense expresses the action that will be performed in the upcoming time, there are four types of future tense Future Simple, Future Continuous, Future Perfect, and Future Perfect Continuous Tense.

Future Simple: Knowing how to make future sentences and correct formation is essential. Read the details below to make grammatically correct sentences. Future Simple tense is used for predictions, offers, promises, or planned action.

Examples:

• I will send you detailed information about this matter via WhatsApp.
• They will arrive at 04:00 PM.
• She shall buy a car If she wins a lucky draw.

Future Continuous Tense: It expresses an action or work that will happen in the future. You can use will + be in the sentence after the form of the verb.

Examples:

• He will be a commissioned officer after 5 years.
• I will be reading a book when they come.
• She will be at her home if you go tomorrow morning.

Future Perfect Tense: The tense used for an action that will be completed in the future before a time. You can use will have/ shall have with 3rd form of the verb in the sentence.

Examples:

• I will have a GLI Car after my marriage.
• They will have forgotten you when he becomes the officer.

Future Perfect Continuous Tense: Use to tell about the work that work will start in the future for a specific time. Use will have + been + verb 4th form + object.

Examples:

• They will have been starting to build a new home from next month.
• I will have been writing an article on Pakistan’s education system in the upcoming week.

In this article, we have completely discussed about all tenses, and their uses with examples. Stay updated here for upcoming articles.

An overview of the English tenses, all important details, and the use of tense with easy examples and definitions.