12 Tenses in English Grammar
12 Tenses in English Grammar
12 Tenses in English Grammar
VOICE).
We need tenses to form a sentence and refer to a situation. Tenses help us refer to a
certain time and situation. Today, we will learn all 12 tenses in English grammar
we have.
What is tense in English?
The word ‘tense’ means ‘time’ in English. Every tense in English refers to
a specific time that the sentence refers to. We have 12 different tenses in English:
There are 3 main tenses (time): Present tense, Past tense, Future tense. Let’s learn all
12 tenses one by one. We will start with the present tense.
The Simple Present tense, also known as the Present Indefinite tense, is used to talk
about actions we do repeatedly. We use this tense to talk about repeated actions,
universal facts, likes, dislikes, goals, ambitions, and a few more.
Examples:
1. I teach English.
2. My father goes for a walk in the morning.
3. Jon wakes up at 6 am.
4. Ashish listens to an English podcast before hitting the bed.
5. I like talking to strangers.
6. You are a great human being.
7. Joanna wants to be a doctor.
8. My brother doesn’t like going out.
9. Do you like me?
10.Don’t you teach yoga here?
Notice that sentences refer to actions that are repeated in the present time. The
purpose of the tense is to point out the followings:
WH Interrogative sentences
The Present Perfect tense is a verb tense that is used to refer to actions that
occurred in the past but are important and relevant to the present. It is mainly used
to talk about the status of an action or share life experiences.
Examples:
1. I have completed the project.
2. Maxwell has left England for the match.
3. My father has helped a lot of people.
4. We have never had meat.
5. The boss has canceled the meeting.
6. Jon has just left for office.
WH Interrogative sentences
Present Perfect tense (passive voice)
Active voice Subject + has/have + past participle (v3) + object
Passive voice Object + has/have + past participle (v3) + (by + subject)
The Present Perfect Continuous tense is used to talk about actions that started in
the past and are still continuing in the present. The whole purpose of using the
Present Perfect Continuous tense is to focus on either of the following two
things:
The time duration for which the action has been continuing.
The starting point of the action since when the action has been going on.
We use FOR to talk about the time duration, and SINCE is used to talk about the starting point of
the ongoing action.
Let’s note that we, here in the Present Perfect Continuous tense, don’t just focus on the
continuity of the action, we focus either on the time duration or the starting point of the
ongoing action. If we just wanted to focus on the continuity of the action in the present, we
would simply use the Present Continuous tense, not the Present Perfect continuous tense.
Always remember, the time of the action, if not already understood, needs to be
mentioned as this is an important facet of the Past Indefinite tense.
Past time markers: yesterday, last night, last week, last month, last year,
last summer, last season, last decade, last quarter, last night, that day, that night,
etc.
Examples:
1. I woke up at 5 am.
2. Jim died in a car accident last year.
3. We went to see him yesterday.
4. He said a lot of mean things to me in that meeting.
Note that in the active voice, the focus of the sentence is on the doer of the
action: who performed the action (They). But in the passive voice, the focus has
shifted to the receiver of the action: the object(me). Notice that we have added the
doer (the original subject) of the action in the passive voice by using the
preposition ‘by’ and changed it to an objective pronoun (Them) from a subjective
pronoun (Them). It is not mandatory to do that at all; we generally don’t talk about
the doer of the action in the passive voice.
Examples:
Active: She slapped me in front of everyone.
Passive: I was slapped in front of everyone (by her).
We use the Past Continuous tense when we want to talk about what was happening
at a particular time in the past.
Examples:
The passive voice of Past continuous tense is used when you want to focus on the
person or the thing that was receiving the action in the past; that was being acted
upon. When the receiver of the action (object of the verb) is more important than
the doer itself, write the sentence in the passive voice of Past continuous tense.
Examples:
We use the Past Perfect Continuous tense to talk about an action that started in the
past, continued for some time, and stopped before a particular time in the past.
Examples:
She had been studying English since the morning when I called.
We use the Simple Future tense, also known as the future indefinite tense, to talk
about something (an action) that occurs at a certain time in the future. The word
that refers to the future time is called the future time marker. The time sometimes
is not mentioned as the speaker themselves don’t know the time.
Some future time markers: tomorrow, next day, next week, next month, next
quarter, next year, next decade…
Examples:
Contractions
I will = I’ll
You will = you’ll
We will = we’ll
He will = he’ll
She will = she’ll
It will = it’ll
They will = they’ll
Will not = won’t
A sentence is formed in the Future Indefinite passive voice when the emphasis is
given on the receiver of an action, rather than who does it.
Subject object
Object
(by +subject)
I will complete the task. The task will be completed (by me).
We will arrange the party in an hour. The party will be arranged in an hour.
The company will not hire you. You won’t be hired.
Also known as the Future Progressive tense, is a verb tense that is used to refer to actions
happening at a certain time in the future. Note that we, here in this tense, just focus on the
continuity of the action, not on when it will start or end
Is used to refer to an action that will be completed before a certain time in the
future. The whole point of using this tense is to focus on the fact that the action
will have ended before some point in time in the future.
Let’s say Rodney comes home at 10 pm. The action (leaving) will have taken place
before this time, and this is what the sentence focuses on. The focus is on the fact
that the action of leaving will have taken place before a certain time in the future.
Active: The company will have fired Jon before the end of the year.
Passive: Jon will have been fired before the end of the year (by the company).