Past tense forms

The past tense consists of the past simple, past perfect, past continuous, and past perfect continuous.

Past simple

This tense is used to describe a completed action. The sentence structure is: subject + verb (past form/V2)

➜ E.g. I walked to school. 

Past perfect 

This tense is used to describe a completed action before another past action. The sentence structure is: subject + had + verb (past participle/V3)

➜ E.g. I had arrived at school when the bell rang.

Past continuous 

This tense describes a past action that was ongoing when another event occurred. The sentence structure is: subject + was/were + verb(-ing)

➜ E.g. I was walking home when my mum called me. 

Past perfect continuous 

This tense is used to describe an action that started in the past and continued till another action or time in the past.

The sentence structure is: subject + had been + verb(-ing)

➜ E.g. It had been raining all day, so I couldn’t walk to work.

Present tense forms

The present tense consists of the present simple, present perfect, present continuous, and present perfect continuous.

Present simple
This tense describes an action that occurs in the present time.
The sentence structure is: subject + verb (present form/V1)

➜ E.g. I walk to work.

Present perfect
This tense describes an action that has taken place once or many times before now.
The sentence structure is: subject + have/has + verb (past participle/V3)

➜ E.g. She has bought a handbag.

Present continuous
This tense describes an action that’s ongoing now.
The sentence structure is: subject + am/is/are + verb(-ing)

➜ E.g. It is snowing.

Present perfect continuous
This tense describes an action that started in the past and is continuing till the present moment.
The sentence structure is: subject + have/has been + verb(-ing)

➜ E.g. I have been studying for an hour now.

Future tense forms

The future tense consists of the future simple, future perfect, future continuous, and future perfect continuous.

Future simple
This tense describes an action that hasn’t happened yet.
There are 3 possible structures of the future simple tense.

Structure 1 ⤍ Subject + am/is/are going to + verb (present form/V1)
➜ E.g. I am going to buy some clothes.

Structure 2 ⤍ Subject + am/is/are + verb (-ing)
➜ E.g. she is starting the English course tomorrow.

Structure 3 ⤍ Subject + will/shall + verb (present form/V1)
➜ E.g. They will go to the park on Sunday.

Future perfect
This tense describes an action that will be completed before a specified time.
The sentence structure is: subject + will have + verb (past participle/V3)

➜ E.g. I will have finished my homework by tomorrow evening.

Future continuous
This tense describes an action that will occur and will continue for a set period of time in the future.
The structure is: subject + will be + verb(-ing)

➜ E.g. I will be traveling to Turkey tomorrow.

Future perfect continuous
This tense describes an action that will continue up until a point in the future.
The structure: subject + will have been + verb(-ing)

➜ E.g. I will have been cleaning the house for an hour when she arrives home.