The word ‘Tense’ is taken from the Latin word “TEMPUS”, meaning time. Tenses indicate the time of an action performed.

Tenses Introduction

There are three types of tenses in the English language. They are:

• Present Tense
• Past Tense
• Future Tense
  • • A verb that refers to the present time is said to be in the Present tense.
    • A verb that refers to past time is said to be in the Past tense.
    • A verb that talks about the future time is said to be in the Future tense.

Each tense, in turn, is divided into four types. They are:

• Simple
• Continuous
• Perfect
• Perfect Continuous

So, in totality, there are 12 tenses in English.

Hence, in present tense, there are four forms 

• Simple Present tense
• Present Continuous tense
• Present Perfect Tense
• Present Perfect Continuous Tense

Similarly in Past tense

• Simple Past Tense
• Past Continuous Tense
• Past Perfect Tense
• Past Perfect Continuous Tense

In Future tense,

• Simple Future Tense
• Future Continuous Tense
• Future Perfect Tense
• Future Perfect Continuous Tense

The detailed notes on this topic containing sentence structure of every form of tense, rules to be followed while using them in a given sentence, common errors etc. will be presented in further articles on tenses. Check Here.

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