August 25, 2025

Category: Types of Tenses

Types of Tenses

Tenses – Used to indicate time

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Tenses   

 A tense is a form of the verb which denotes the particular point of time. The form of verbs tell us the action or state and time.

Tense is distributed into three periods

1. Present     2. Past   3. Future  

      Subdivisions: there are four categories  of Tenses

Indefinite    Continuous      
Perfect perfect continuous

Tenses Chart

  Indefinite Continuous Pefect Perfect continuous
Present V1/verb +es/s Or do/does + v1 Is/are/am + verb + ing Has/have + v3 Has been/have been + verb + ing
Past V2 or did + v1 Was/were + v + ing Had + v3 Had been + verb + ing
Future Will/shall + v1 Will be/shall be + verb + ing Will have + v3 Will have been/shall have been + verb + ing

 

Indefinite:

  1. Present indefinite tense (Simple present tense)

I do.                  He does.  
Do you play hockey?  I don’t play but he plays.  

  • Past indefinite tense (Simple past tense)

I did. What did you find there?
Did you walk at night? I didn’t walk at night but He walked.
  • Future indefinite tense (I will do.)
I will help him.          he will not go.  
Will you learn English? We will follow the rules.  

Continuous Tenses(progressive actions)

I am speaking the truth. You are making a mistake.
She is buying some vegetables. Are they not helping others?
  • Past continuous tense ( I was doing)
He was going home.
Were they smoking in the street?
  • Future continuous tense (I will be doing)
She will be learning how to swim in summer vacations. He will be going to his hometown by train tomorrow.

 

Perfect (action done)

  • Present perfect tense  ( I have done)

he hasn’t got ready yet. They have taken breakfast.
She has gone. Rahul has not reached the railway station yet.
  • Past perfect tense  (I had done)
I had already taken dinner.
She hadn’t done her homework before.
  • Future perfect tense  (I will have done)
She will have done her graduation by next year.
I will have completed my class by 10 am.
Perfect continuous tense (progressive actions with time expressions)
  1. Present perfect continuous tense  ( I have been doing)
She has been reading a novel for an hour.

2. Past perfect continuous tense( I had been doing)

I had been walking in the park since 9 pm.
3. Future perfect continuous tense  ( I will have been doing)
He will have been running in a marathon since 6 am.

Exercise (Tenses):

Write the name of tenses

  1.  He has done it.
  2. She did.
  3. They had done it before.
  4.  You have been doing it for a long time.
  5. He will have done it by Monday.
  6. Katherine is still doing it.
  7. We were doing then.
  8. I am doing.
  9. I will be doing.
  10. Were you doing?
  11. Who did it?
  12. She does.
  13. He will do.
  14. Rock had been doing the exercise since morning.
  15. Not only that, but Jack will have been doing his work since night.
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