Man is a time-bound being.
I once had a history professor who liked to bellow that statement when his students complained about being required to know exact dates on exams. He argued that knowing the whens was just as important as the whys and hows of history, because it allowed us to see how the progression of events and how we fit into it.
Very rarely are our thoughts centered on what is happening right now; most of the time our thoughts are on events or conditions that happened the past or are we expect or hope to happen in the future. When we express ourselves, we don’t often talk about what we are doing; often we are expressing what we did, what we have been doing, what we will do or what we will be doing. Almost everything we talk about, think about or do is in some relation to the precise moment we are currently living in.
Verb tenses tell us the when of things—when an action occurred, if it occurred before or after another action, if it was one-time or continuous, if the effects of the action are still happening, if it was something that was expected to happen but didn’t (or did), etc. Some languages have specific tenses to communicate if something happened in the recent vs. distant past or is expected to happen in the near or distant future, and a few even have distinctions for the day before yesterday, the day after tomorrow.
The Tenses
On their own, English verbs have two tenses: past and non-past. We walk, we walked; they speak, they spoke; I am, I was. When we get into communicating complete events (perfect tense) or continuous events (progressive tense) we start adding in auxiliary verbs like will, shall, would, could, had, have, etc., combined with an infinitive or participle. English also has an additional tense of conditional, which refers to a future relative to a past event, often with the use of would or should (e.g., I knew that I would pass that test. The entire event is in the past, but would pass refers to future event, relative to I knew).
So, altogether, here are the generally accepted English tenses:
Simple tenses are used for a single action (We walked to the store.), a habitual action (The trees lose their leaves in autumn.) or a permanent state (I live in Pahrump, Nevada.).
- Simple Past (past event, action or state)
- Simple Present (present event, action or state; habitual actions; general states)
- Simple Future (future event and action)
Progressive tenses show actions that are temporary or began at an earlier time and continued to the discussed time frame, with the action verb combined with a be verb (I am watching the newest episode, We were driving when we saw the unicorn, She will be arriving at noon.)
- Past Progressive (action that was ongoing during the discussed time frame)
- Present Progressive (actions currently in progress)
- Future Progressive (actions that will be in progress at a set point in the future)
Perfect tenses show an action that was completed at a specific time, and combines a past participle with the conjugated auxiliary verb have (I had read the book, He has seen the movie, The game will have ended by then.)
- Past Perfect (past completed event/action that took place prior to the discussed time frame)
- Present Perfect (completed event/action, but the frame of reference extends to the present)
- Future Perfect (action completed at some point prior to a future reference point)
Perfect progressive tenses show the completed part of a continuing action or state by combining have with been and the present participle of the action verb (I have been waiting here for three hours, She had been driving since noon, They will have been dating for two years next month.)
- Past Perfect Progressive (past ongoing action that continued up to the discussed time frame)
- Present Perfect Progressive (ongoing action that extends to the present or has recently finished)
- Future Perfect Progressive (action that will continue until a set future point)
English Tenses
There are 12 generally recognized verb tenses in English (although some will argue that when you consider the conditional tenses, there are up to 16 tenses). They can be grouped into Past, Present and Future Tenses, with additional variations of Simple, Perfect, Progressive and Perfect Progressive of each.
Simple Tense
Simple tenses are the easiest to learn and understand—one action, completed at one time.
Simple past tense communicates a completed action or condition.
I Ate salad for dinner yesterday.
It rained during last year’s Celebrate the Sun Festival.
Simple present tense shows a present condition or action, a general truth or a constant state of being.
I eat breakfast every day.
He likes singing obscure folk tunes.
Houseflies hum in the key of F.
Future simple tense shows future events that may or may not happen (usually with will/will not/won’t and the present participle) or planned or expected future events (with a be verb + going to + a present participle).
I will eat pasta for lunch tomorrow.
I won’t give the coach the satisfaction of quitting the full-contact chess team.
I am going to scream if I have to sit through one more of his long-winded conspiracy theories about the mole people.
Perfect Tense
Past perfect tense is for when we want to talk about action completed before another action, or to talk about a condition and its result (usually with if).
I had eaten my dinner before we left for the movie.
If I had eaten a light meal instead of that hot dog and funnel cake, I wouldn’t have vomited after riding the Tilt-A-Whirl.
Present perfect tense is used when we want to talk about action that began in the past but continues (or still has an effect) in the present. This tense is formed by the combination of has or have and the past participle of the action verb.
I have eaten breakfast every morning for the past fifteen years.
Present perfect infinitives show a sequence of events. If the initial action in the sequence is ongoing, you will use the present perfect tense combined with have and an infinitive. If the initial action in the sequence is over, you will use the past perfect tense.
I am happy to have eaten dinner with you last night. (The narrator’s happiness is ongoing, but began with the shared dinner.)
I had hoped to have eaten before she arrived. (The narrator’s hope occurred before the guest’s arrival, and no longer exists.)
Future perfect tense is used for action that will be completed on a specific future date, usually by combining will and the past participle.
I will have eaten lunch before the meeting starts.
Progressive Tense
We use progressive tense when we talk about action that is continuous or as yet unfinished. Writers create the progressive tense by adding a conjugated be verb and using the present participle (–ing) of the action verb.
Progressive tense is usually only used with dynamic verbs, rather than static verbs. Dynamic verbs are verbs that show change and express activities (eat, walk, play, read, work, listen), processes (change, grow, widen, slow), sensations (feel, hurt, itch, tickle, ache) and transitional or momentary events (fall, arrive, leave, lose, hit, kick, knock). Static verbs are not capable of change but instead show permanent or long term states of being (love, know, prefer, suppose, understand, like) or show relation of some kind (own, seem, cost, include, equal, involve, be).
Past progressive tense is used to show action that took place over a period of time or was interrupted by a secondary event or action.
I was eating dinner when my phone rang.
Present progressive tense is used to express activity in progress or states of being.
I am eating the cookies you brought me.
I am feeling sad and sick because I ate all the cookies you brought me.
Future progressive tense shows action that will happen at some point in the future and combines will be with the present participle of the action verb.
I will be eating lunch during tomorrow’s call-in meeting.
Perfect Progressive Tense
When we want to talk about the duration of an action, we use perfect progressive tense. As with progressive tense verbs, you will use a be verb and the present participle of the action verb.
Past perfect progressive tense is used to show continuous action that was completed in the past. The tense uses had been combined with a present participle.
I had been eating for 10 minutes when my friends stopped by.
Present perfect progressive tense shows action that started in the past and continues to the present and potentially into the future and combines have been with a present participle.
I have been eating dinner promptly at 7 p.m. since I was a child.
Future perfect progressive tense indicates action that will be completed at some point in the future. It combines will and have been with a present participle.
I will have been eating a vegetarian diet for 10 years next May.
Grammaphile 