TENSES

Is a grammatical category that indicates time

TYPICAL TENSES Present Past Future

Tenses Past Present Future

Simple

Simple

Simple

Continous

Continous

Continous

Perfect

Perfect

Perfect

Perfect Continuous

Perfect Continuous

Perfect Continuous

PRESENT TENSE
Present Simple e.g. I cook for my family everyday. Present Continuous e.g. I am cooking for my family now. Present Perfect e.g. I have cooked food today. Present Perfect Continuous e.g. I have been cooking for an hour.

PRESENT SIMPLE Habitual Action e.g. I go to my office everyday. Facts e.g. The sun rises in the East. Fixed Dated Events e.g. The school reopens on 17th August.

PRESENT CONTINUOUS
Continuing Action e.g. I am talking to my friend now.

Events in near future e.g. My father is coming to visit us tomorrow.

PRESENT PERFECT Recently Completed Action e.g. I have finished the painting just now. The past action without any definite time e.g. He has helped me many times. Recent action whose effect is still visible e.g. I have done my work. (So, I am free now)

PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS A continuing action which started before e.g. I have been doing this work since morning. *
Sentences with present perfect tense always occur with since and for

PAST TENSE
Past Simple e.g. I cooked Chinese food yesterday. Past Continuous e.g. I was cooking rice yesterday. Past Perfect e.g. I had cooked food before my son came. Past Perfect Continuous e.g. I had been cooking for an hour.

PAST SIMPLE
Events that completed in past e.g. I cooked Chinese food yesterday. To indicate a habitual action in past e.g. Gandhiji spun on the charkha everyday. Note: The phrase used to + verb sometimes used in the place of simple past tense. e.g. Gandhiji used to spin on the charkha everyday.

PAST CONTINUOUS
Events that are continuing on/over a point/period of time in past e.g. I was resting the whole day.

To describe an action which was in progress when another action took place e.g. I was cooking when my father came.

PAST PERFECT

Events that completed at some point in the past time before another action commenced. e.g. The thieves had run away before the police arrived.

Note: Past perfect means Past of past

PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS

Action that began in past and continued upto a certain point in past

e.g. When I visited him in Mumbai, he had been teaching there for five years.

FUTURE TENSE
Future Simple e.g. The meeting will start after some time. Future Continuous e.g. Tomorrow at this time the meeting will be taking place. Future Perfect e.g. The meeting will have finished by that time. Future Perfect Continuous e.g. By the end of this month they will have been living in Canada for four years.

FUTURE SIMPLE
Action that is going to happen in the future e.g. I shall go to Mumbai tomorrow. Note: Ways of expressing future tense Simple Present Tense e.g. Our examination begins on 16th August. Present Continuous Tense e.g. I am leaving for France tomorrow.

FUTURE CONTINUOUS

An action that will be continuing at a given point of time in future e.g. Tomorrow at this time they will be reading books.

FUTURE PERFECT

An action that will be completed at a given point of time in future e.g. By the end of this year, my son will have completed his B.Tech. course.

FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS

An action that will be in progress even after a point of time in future

e.g. By the end of this year, I shall have been living in Delhi for six years. Note: This tense is no longer in use these days.

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