Tenses in English Language

For anyone who wants to talk or write in the language of English, it is necessary to know about the tense forms clearly. All of us must have read this in our schooling but how much do we remember till now or how much we have implemented it, is the question. So here is a easy and simple recap along with some useful tips. 

12 Basic Tenses in English

As we all know already there are 12 common tenses exist in the English grammar. For better understanding initially I split these 12 tenses into 3 parts.

Present Tense

Past Tense

Future Tense

When we converse we used to say things in present, past or future form. For example, I do (present), I did (past) and I will do(future). If you don't have the clearance when you speak you can just use these basic tenses but remember this is the very basic and it is for beginners alone. Now we subdivide each into 4 forms as given below.

1.Present Tense                 2.Past Tense               3.Future Tense

     (do)                                    (did)                             (will do)

Present continuous           Past continuous            Future continuous 

     (doing)                            (was doing)                  (will be doing)

Present perfect                  Past perfect                  Future perfect

   (have done)                       (had done)                 (will have done)

Present perfect                  Past perfect                  Future perfect

  continuous                        continuous                     continuous

(have been doing)         (had been doing)       (will have been doing)

Here are few simple examples: there are 3 examples for each sentence first one is an example for positive statement, second one is negative form and the third one is the question form.

Examples:

Simple Present - He loves, He does not love, Does he love?

Present continuous - He is loving, He is not loving, Is he loving?

Present perfect - He has loved, He has not loved, Has he loved?

Present perfect continuous - He has been loving, He has not been loving, Has he been loving?

Simple Past - He loved, He did not loved, Did he loved?

Past continuous - He was loving, He was not loving, Was he loving?

Past perfect - He had loved, He had not loved, Had he loved?

Past perfect continuous - He had been loving, He had not been loving, Had he been loving?

Simple Future - He will love, He will not love, Will he love?

Future continuous - He will be loving, He will not be loving, Will he be loving?

Future perfect - He will have loved, He will not have loved, Will he have loved?

Future perfect continuous - He will have been loving, He will not have been loving, Will he have been loving?

Books for further reference to develop your grammar skills