Tenses
The
English Tense System
The links opposite are to lessons for each of the 12 basic
tenses. In each lesson we look at two aspects of the
tense:
Some lessons look at additional aspects, and most of them
finish with a quiz to check your understanding.
|
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! | | |
Present
Simple 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
Simple 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
Simple 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 |