Verb Tenses in English

How many tenses do we have in English?

by Kasra Sharifan | Jul 23, 2019 | Grammar

We start working with English tenses from the very beginning of our English learning process and it continues until very advanced levels. However, we have never found the chance to see them all in one table and compare their meanings and structures. That is why we have gathered them here for you to brush up on them, and to compare and contrast the 12 English tenses.

English Tenses	Examples
Present Simple	John cleans his room every day.
Past Simple	John cleaned his room yesterday.
Future Simple	John will clean his room later.
Present Continuous	John is cleaning his room right now.
Past Continuous	John was cleaning his room when I called.
Future Continuous	John will be cleaning his room between 8 and 9 tomorrow.
Present Perfect Simple	John has cleaned his room already.
Past Perfect Simple	John had cleaned his room before Jill arrived.
Future Perfect Simple	John will have cleaned his room by the time Jill comes.
Present Perfect Continuous	John has been cleaning his room just until now.
Past Perfect Continuous	John had been cleaning his room up until Jill arrived.
Future Perfect Continuous	John will have been cleaning his room by the end of the day.

Your questions

Do you have any questions about the grammar point discussed in this lesson? Feel free to ask your questions by posting a comment below. We will answer them almost immediately!

Kasra Sharifan

Co-founder and CFO

British Council certified English teacher, IDP-trained IELTS instructor, content writer, editor-in-chief, co-founder, and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at IELTS Juice Online Academy.