Twelve Verb Tenses
Level Seven
Lesson 71
Do you know how many different verb tenses there are in English? There are just twelve. By now, you should be familiar with almost all of the verb tenses.
- simple verb tenses
- continuous tverb enses
- perfect verb tenses
- perfect continuous verb tenses
It’s necessary to know the twelve verb tenses well before you move forward to the passive voice (Lessons 72 – 76)
There are 12 verb tenses in English.
71a. simple verb tenses
Most students learn the simple verb tenses first. They are the present tense, the past tense, and the future tense. You may also refer to them as the simple present, the simple past, and the simple future. The helping verbs for these verb tenses are do, does, did, and will.
- simple present tense: Use for things you do every day.
- simple past tense: Use for things that happened in the past.
- simple future tense: Use for things that happen in the future or the very near future.
Click the links above if you believe you still need to practice these verb tenses.
71a. simple verb tenses
Here are examples of verbs in the present, past, and future tenses.
- They have fun together. (present)
- They had fun together yesterday. (past)
- They will have fun this weekend. (future)
71b. continuous verb tenses
Continuous verb tenses are used for actions that continue over a period of time. Verbs that are continuous are also referred to as progressive. This verb tense requires some form of the verb “be” and the main verb is in the form of a present participle: (be) + ________ing.
- present continuous tense: Use for things that you are doing now, things that are happening at this moment in your life, and things that you are planning for the future.
- past continuous tense: Use for continuous actions in the past.
- future continuous tense: Use for actions that will happen in the future.
Click on any of the links above if you aren’t sure what these verb tenses look like.
71b. continuous verb tenses
- They are arriving at a friend’s house. (present continuous tense)
- Melissa was working in her kitchen when she heard a knock on the door. (past continuous tense)
- What will they be doing this afternoon? (future continuous tense)
71c. perfect verb tenses
Perfect verb tenses extend over a period of time, often starting or related to one period of time. The helping verb is some form of have and the main verb is a past participle: (have) + past participle.
- present perfect tense: Use for situations that begin in the past and are true in the present.
- past perfect tense: Use for situation that begin and end in the past and come before another past action.
- future perfect tense: Use for a situation that is completed sometime in the future. This verb tense requires that you imagine something that has not happened yet. This is a difficult verb tense to use.
71c. perfect verb tenses
- Maria has been sick since for the last six days. (present perfect tense)
- She had felt okay before she got sick. (past perfect tense)
- By tomorrow, she will have been out of work for an entire week. (future perfect tense)
71d. perfect continuous verb tenses
Perfect continuous verb tenses are similar to perfect verb tenses except that they emphasize the action that occurs over a period of time. This must be used for ongoing activity, not for a single moment in time.
- perfect continuous tense: sss
- past perfect continuous tense:
- future perfect continuous tense:
71d. perfect continuous verb tenses
- John has been working at a brewery for the last five months.
- He had been working as a lawyer until he lost interest in the profession.
- By this time next month, he will have working at this new job for six months.