The English Tense System

Many English learners worry too much about tense. If you stopped 100 native English speakers in the street and asked them about tense, one of them might give you an intelligent answer if you were lucky. The other 99 would know little about terms like "past perfect" or "present continuous". And they would know nothing about aspect, voice or mood. But they can all speak fluent English and communicate effectively. Of course, for ESL it helps to know about tenses, but don't become obsessed with them. Be like those native speakers! Speak naturally!

The links below are to lessons for each of the 12 basic tenses. In each lesson we look at two aspects of the tense: 

Structure: How do we make the tense? Use: When and why do we use the tense?
Some lessons look at additional aspects. 

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