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Verb Tenses in English

Present Tense

There are four main types of present tense in English: 

  1. the simple present tense is the most common present tense. It describes actions happening now or actions that happen regularly: She walks slowly. I walk to school every day. He is tall.
  2. the present continuous tense describes actions that are happening around (and including) the time when you are speaking:
    I am walking to the store now.
  3. the present perfect tense describes an activity that, as of right now, has been completed or has ended. The exact time when the action happened is not important, so it is ignored for this tense:
    I have seen her before. I have lived in a lot of places.
  4. the present perfect continuous tense describes an action that started in the past and has been ongoing without stopping up to the present time. The duration of the action is usually mentioned in this tense: I have been living in McKinney for eight years.

Special Note on Present Continuous

Note that present continuous tense statements like ‘I am going to school’ can be used in present and future contexts, or to describe a trend.

Present Context

  • I am going to school. (I am on my way to school as I say this.)
  • I’m leaving. (I am leaving right now.)

Future Context

  • I am going to school every day next week. (I will go to school every day next week.)
  • I’m going to the beach tomorrow. (I will go to the beach tomorrow.)

Describing a Trend

  • More and more people are becoming vegetarians.

Past Tense

There are four main types of past tense in English:

  1. the simple past tense describes an activity that took place (was completed) in the past: I walked to school yesterday.
  2. the past continuous tense describes an activity that was ongoing in the past at the time you are talking about: I was walking to school when I started to feel sick.
  3. the past perfect tense describes an activity that was completed in the past before the time you are talking about: I had walked down that same road the day before.
  4. the past perfect continuous tense describes an activity that started before the time you are talking about, but had not been completed, meaning that it continued at least up until the time you are talking about: I had been walking for an hour when I realized that I was lost. I had been eating for a while when they arrived.

Future Tense

There are four main types of future tense in English:

  1. the simple future tense describes an activity that you will complete in the future: I will eat some sushi when I’m on vacation.
  2. the future continuous tense describes an activity that will be ongoing at the point you’re talking about in the future: I will be eating sushi tonight when you call me.
  3. the future perfect tense describes an activity that will be complete by the specific time you are talking about: I will have eaten by the time you get here.
  4. the future perfect continuous tense describes an action or activity that will be in progress but not completed by the time some other action takes place in the future: I will have been eating for a while by the time she gets there.