12 English Tenses — Mixed | English Grammar Explanations

Structures and Examples
Usage and Examples

12 English Tenses — Structures and Examples

Present Simple	I/‌we/‌you/‌they + verb We read book every day. He/‌she/‌it + verb + (e)s He reads books every day.
Past Simple	Subject + irregular verb They flew to Spain last week. Subject + regular verb + ed We watched the game at home.
Future Simple	Subject + will + verb She will get married next month.
Present Continuous	I + am + verb + ing I am writing an email now. He/‌she/‌it + is + verb + ing It is raining now. We/‌you/‌they + are + verb + ing You are smiling now.
Past Continuous	I/‌he/‌she/‌it + was + verb + ing He was raining the whole day. We/‌you/‌they + were + verb + ing They were playing computer games at 5 pm yesterday.
Future Continuous	Subject + will be + verb + ing She will be having her English class at 10 am tomorrow.
Present Perfect	I/‌we/‌you/‌they + have + V3/ed We have already sent the letter. He/‌she/‌it + has + V3/ed She has just finished her report.
Past Perfect	Subject + had + V3/ed They had parked the car before the rain started.
Future Perfect	Subject + will have + V3/ed They will have written five articles by this time tomorrow.
Present Perfect Continuous	I/‌we/‌you/‌they + have + been + V + ing We have been playing tennis since morning. He/‌she/‌it + has + been + V + ing He has been looking for a job for three months.
Past Perfect Continuous	Subject + had + been + V + ing She had been sleeping for two hours before her children came from school.
Future Perfect Continuous	Subject + will have + been + V + ing I will have been studying for six years before I graduate.

Practice!

12 English Tenses — Identifying the tense

12 English Tenses — Usage and Examples

Present Simple	repeated actions He writes emails every day.
Past Simple	finished past action He wrote emails yesterday.
Past Simple	on-the-spot-decisions He will write emails next week.
Present Continuous	actions happening now He is writing an email now.
Past Continuous	actions in progress at a specific time in the past He was writing an email at 5 pm yesterday.
Future Continuous	actions in progress at a specific time in the future He will be writing an email at 5 pm tomorrow.
Present Perfect	finished actions which have a present result He has already written an email.
Past Perfect	action which had finished BY the specific moment in the past He had written an email by 5 pm yesterday.
Future Perfect	action which had finished BY the specific moment in the future He will have written an email by 5 pm tomorrow.
Present Perfect Continuous	action started in the past and continuing up to the present He has been writing an email since morning and it is still not finished.
Past Perfect Continuous	to emphasize the duration of past action which started and finished in the past BEFORE another past action He had been writing an email for an hour before his wife came.
Future Perfect Continuous	to emphasize the duration of action up to a specific time in the future He will have been writing an email for an hour by 5 pm.

Practice!