What are Tenses in English?

Tenses are very important for a learner who is learning English. If you know what is a tense and how to use it, then you will never make a grammatical error.

The word tense means the time or period. There are three basic tenses. It also tells about the action.

Many of the students, find it difficult to learn tenses. Here is the easiest way through which you surely understand the tense.

Types Of Tenses

There are three types of tenses

1. Present

2. Past

3. Future

Present tense:

The present tense is used to describe what is happening in the present. You can use the
present tense to describe your present state, your present condition, etc.
Examples:
I am watching TV.
I am eating ice cream.
I am reading a book.

Past tense:

Past tense is used when we talk about actions that took place in the past. You can use
past tense to describe an action that you did, saw, heard, etc.
Examples:
I watched the movie.
She was running in the park.
He gave me a book.

Future tense:

The future tense is used to talk about what is going to happen in the future. You can use
the future tense to describe your future state, your future condition, etc.
Examples:
I will play football.
I will go to school tomorrow.
I will study hard.

Conditional tense:

The conditional tense is used to talk about something that might happen. You can use
the conditional tense to describe your future condition, your condition, etc.
Examples:
If I had a bag, I would have bought it.
If I had a car, I would have driven it.
If I had a house, I would have painted it.

Progressive Tense:

Progressive tense is used to describe a process that will continue over a period of time.

Example

if you were eating the pizza, then you would have eaten it all.

States of Tenses

Tenses indicate whether work has been done or is being done. According to this, each tense has four states; as

1. Indefinite

2. Continuous

3. Perfect

4. Perfect Continuous

Indefinite

This is the state, which tells that work is done but this is not clear whether the work is continuing or has been completed.

Continuous:

This is the state, which tells whether the work is containing or not

Perfect:

This is the state, which tells whether the work is complete or not.

Perfect Continuous:

This is the state, which tells that a part of the work has been completed while the remaining work is continuing.

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