TENSES

Grammatical tense is a temporal linguistic quality

expressing the time at, during, or over which a state or action
denoted by a verb occurs.
Tense is one of at least five qualities, along with mood,
voice, aspect, and person, which verb forms may express.
Tenses cannot always be translated from one language to
another. While verbs in all languages have typical forms by
which they are identified and indexed in dictionaries, usually
the most common present tense or an infinitive, their meanings
vary among languages.
There are languages (such as isolating languages, like
Chinese) in which tense is not used, but implied in temporal
adverbs when needed, and some (such as Japanese) in which
temporal information appears in the inflection of adjectives,
lending them a verb-like quality. In some languages (such as
Russian) a simple verb may indicate aspect and tense.
The number of tenses in a language may be controversial,
since its verbs may indicate qualities of uncertainty, frequency,
completion, duration, possibility, and even whether information
derives from experience or hearsay (the last two are
evidentiality).
Basic tenses in English
English has two tenses by which verbs are inflected: a
non-past tense (present tense) and a past tense. What is
commonly called the future tense in English is indicated with a
modal auxiliary, not verbal inflection.
 Because will is a modal auxiliary, it cannot occur with
other modals, such as can, may, and must. Only aspects can be
used in infinitives ("to have talked": perfect aspect; "to be
talking": progressive aspect).
Grammarians and linguists typically consider will to be a
future marker and give English two non-inflected tenses, a
future tense and a conditional, marked by will and would
respectively. In general parlance, all combinations of aspects,
moods, and tenses are often referred to as "tenses".
Table of English Tenses

t Signal
Affirmative/Negative/Question Use
ense Words
Simple Present A: He speaks. action in the always,
N: He does not speak. present taking place every ,
Q: Does he speak? once, never or never,
several times normally,
facts often, seldom,
actions taking sometimes,
place one after usually
another if sentences
action set by a type I (If I
timetable or schedule talk, )
Present A: He is speaking. action taking at the
Progressive N: He is not speaking. place in the moment moment, just,
Q: Is he speaking? of speaking just now,
action taking Listen!, Look!,
place only for a limited now, right
period of time now
action arranged
for the future
Simple Past A: He spoke. action in the yesterday, 2
N: He did not speak. past taking place minutes ago,
Q: Did he speak? once, never or in 1990, the
several times other day,
actions taking last Friday
place one after if sentence
another type II (If I
action taking talked, )
place in the middle of
another action
Past A: He was speaking. action going on when, while,
Progressive N: He was not speaking. at a certain time in as long as
Q: Was he speaking? the past
actions taking
place at the same time
action in the
 past that is
interrupted by another
action
Present Perfect A: He has spoken. putting already, ever,
Simple N: He has not spoken. emphasis on the just, never,
Q: Has he spoken? result not yet, so
action that is far, till now,
still going on up to now
action that
stopped recently
finished action
that has an influence
on the present
action that has
taken place once,
never or several times
before the moment of
speaking
Present Perfect A: He has been speaking. putting all day, for 4
Progressive N: He has not been speaking. emphasis on the years, since
Q: Has he been speaking? course or duration 1993, how
(not the result) long?, the
action that whole week
recently stopped or is
still going on
finished action
that influenced the
present
Past Perfect A: He had spoken. action taking already, just,
Simple N: He had not spoken. place before a certain never, not
Q: Had he spoken? time in the past yet, once,
sometimes until that day
interchangeable with if sentence
past perfect type III (If I
progressive had
putting talked, )
emphasis only on the
fact (not the duration)
Past Perfect A: He had been speaking. action taking for, since, the
Progressive N: He had not been speaking. place before a certain whole day, all
Q: Had he been speaking? time in the past day
sometimes
interchangeable with
past perfect simple
putting
emphasis on the
duration or course of
an action
Future I Simple A: He will speak. action in the in a year,
N: He will not speak. future that cannot be next ,
Q: Will he speak? influenced tomorrow
spontaneous If-Satz Typ I
decision (If you ask
assumption her, she will
with regard to the help you.)
future assumption: I
think,
 probably,
perhaps
Future I Simple A: He is going to speak. decision made in one year,
(going to) N: He is not going to speak. for the future next week,
Q: Is he going to speak? conclusion with tomorrow
regard to the future
Future I A: He will be speaking. action that is in one year,
Progressive N: He will not be speaking. going on at a certain next week,
Q: Will he be speaking? time in the future tomorrow
action that is
sure to happen in the
near future
Future II A: He will have spoken. action that will by Monday,
Simple N: He will not have spoken. be finished at a in a week
Q: Will he have spoken? certain time in the
future
Future II A: He will have been speaking. action taking for , the last
Progressive N: He will not have been speaking. place before a certain couple of
Q: Will he have been speaking? time in the future hours, all day
putting long
emphasis on the
course of an action
Conditional I A: He would speak. action that if sentences
Simple N: He would not speak. might take place type II
Q: Would he speak? (If I were you,
I would go
home.)
Conditional I A: He would be speaking. action that
Progressive N: He would not be speaking. might take place
Q: Would he be speaking? putting
emphasis on the
course / duration of
the action
Conditional II A: He would have spoken. action that if sentences
Simple N: He would not have spoken. might have taken type III
Q: Would he have spoken? place in the past (If I had seen
that, I would
have
helped.)
Conditional II A: He would have been speaking. action that
Progressive N: He would not have been might have taken
speaking. place in the past
Q: Would he have been speaking? puts emphasis
on the course /
duration of the action
Basic Tenses
For past and present, there are 2 simple tenses + 6 complex tenses (using auxiliary
verbs). To these, we can add 4 "modal tenses" for the future (using modal auxiliary verbs
will/shall). This makes a total of 12 tenses in the active voice. Another 12 tenses are
available in the passive voice. So now we have 24 tenses.
24 Tenses past present future*

ACTIVE simple past present future

tenses

complex past perfect present future

tenses perfect perfect
formed past present future
with continuous continuous continuous
auxiliary
past perfect present future
verbs
continuous perfect perfect
continuous continuous

PASSIVE past present future

past perfect present future

perfect perfect

past present future

continuous continuous continuous

past perfect present future

continuous perfect perfect
continuous continuous
The use of tenses in English may be quite complicated,
but the structure of English tenses is actually very simple. The
basic structure for a positive sentence is:
subject + auxiliary verb + main verb
An auxiliary verb is used in all tenses.
STRUCTURE AND USES OF TENSES
Structure: How do we make the tense?
Use: When and why do we use the tense?
TENSE Structure
Present Tense I do do, I do
Present Continuous Tense I am doing, I am doing tomorrow
Present Perfect Tense I have done
Present Perfect Continuous Tense I have been doing
Past Tense I did do, I did
Past Continuous Tense I was doing
Past Perfect Tense I had done
Past Perfect Continuous Tense I had been doing
Future Tense I will do
Future Continuous Tense I will be doing
Future Perfect Tense I will have done
Future Perfect Continuous Tense I will have been doing