The 12 English Verb Tenses

Use the Simple Present to describe actions or states that are permanent, habitual, or generally true. This tense is NOT used for things happening right now (use Present Continuous for that). It covers daily routines, scientific facts, scheduled events, and permanent situations.

Use the Present Continuous when an action is happening right now or is in progress around now (not necessarily this exact second). Also use it for temporary situations, changing/developing situations, repeated actions with "always" (to express annoyance), and confirmed future arrangements.

Use the Present Perfect when a past action is relevant to the present moment. The key rule: do NOT say when it happened if you use Present Perfect. The moment you add a specific past time (yesterday, last year, in 2010), you must switch to Simple Past. Use Present Perfect for life experience, recent news, and actions during an unfinished time period (today, this week, this year).

Use the Present Perfect Continuous to show that an action started in the past and has been ongoing up to now. The emphasis is on the duration and the process, not the result. It often explains visible present evidence: "You look tired." "Yes, I have been running." Use for (duration) or since (starting point).

Use the Simple Past for actions that are completed at a specific time in the past. Unlike the Present Perfect, Simple Past always refers to a finished, closed situation — you know when it happened. Add a past time expression (yesterday, last week, in 2005, when I was a child) and you need Simple Past.

Use the Past Continuous to describe an action that was in progress at a specific moment in the past. It is very often used with the Simple Past to show an interruption: the Past Continuous sets the scene (the background action), and the Simple Past shows the shorter event that happened in the middle.

Use the Past Perfect when you are talking about the past, and you need to go back even further — before that past point. It is the "past of the past." If there are two past events in a sentence, use Past Perfect for the first one (earlier) and Simple Past for the second (later).

Use the Past Perfect Continuous to describe an action that was ongoing for a period of time before a specific past moment. Like the Present Perfect Continuous, it emphasises duration and process — but both are anchored in the past. It often explains a past result or situation: why someone was tired, what they had been doing, etc.

Use will when you make a decision at the moment of speaking — not planned before. Also use it for predictions based on personal opinion or belief (no visible evidence), promises, offers, and in first conditional sentences. Do NOT use will for plans you made earlier — that is be going to.

Use the Future Continuous to describe an action that will be in progress at a specific future moment. Think of it as the "camera" pointing at a future time and showing the action still running. It is also used to make polite, gentle enquiries about someone's future plans without pressure.

Use the Future Perfect to show that an action will be completed before a specific future moment or deadline. The key signal is usually "by" + a future time: "by noon," "by next Friday," "by the time you arrive." Think of it as a promise of completion before a future boundary.

Use the Future Perfect Continuous to emphasise the duration of an activity that will still be in progress at a future point. It combines the idea of "ongoing" (Continuous) with "up to a future deadline" (Perfect). This tense is used to highlight how long something will have been happening by a certain future time — often to express tiredness, effort, or achievement.