The tenses chart helps us to understand tenses at a glance. Read all about tenses with the help of infographics.
Definition:
Tense is the form of a verb that shows the time of an action, event, or state in relation to the time of the main clause in which it appears.
Tenses are used to describe when an action or state occurs in the past, present, or future. Tenses are used to describe when events happen and how things change over time.
Understanding tenses can help you figure out the difference between something that happened in the past and something that will happen in the future.
There are three main types of tenses in English grammar:
- Past
- Present
- Future
Tenses are sometimes called time-frames because they refer to specific points in time. To talk about what happened in the past, you would use the past tense verb form.
- The dog ate meat and bone.
- The dog is eating meat and bone right now.
For example, consider this sentence:
- I ran five miles today at the gym before I went to work.
The verb ran is in the past tense because it describes something that happened in the past, while went is in the present tense because it describes something that happens habitually.
There is a complete tense chart that helps us to understand the tenses.
Tense Chart:
| Tense | Formula | Example |
| Simple Present | Sub + verb(1st) + e/es + obj | He goes to the office by car |
| Simple Past | Sub +verb(2nd) + obj | He went to the office by car |
| Simple Future | Sub + will/shall + verb(1st) + obj | He will go to the office by car |
| Present continuous | Sub + is/am/are +verb(ing) +obj | He is going to the office by car |
| Past continuous | Sub + was/were+ verb(ing)+obj | He was going to the office by car |
| Future continuous | Sub +will be/ shall be+ verb(ing)+obj | He will be going to the office by car |
| Present Perfect | Sub + has/have + verb (3rd) + obj | He has gone to the office by car |
| Past Perfect | Sub + had + verb (3rd) + obj | He had gone to the office by car |
| Future Perfect | Sub + will have + verb (3rd) + obj | He will have gone to the office by car |
| Present perfect continuous | Sub + has/ have + been +verb (ing) + obj | He has been going to the office by car |
| Past perfect continuous | Sub + had + been + verb (ing) + obj | He had been going to the office by car |
| Future perfect continuous | Sub + will have been + verb (ing) + obj | He will have been going to the office by car |
So in this tense chart, we are completely describing the tenses with formulas and easy examples.
Tense Chart infographic
