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What is Tense ?

Tense indicates the time of an action or verb ; different forms of verbs are used to indicate something that has already happened or is happening or is going to happen.

Types – There are three types of Tense .

They are – 1. Present Tense
2. Past Tense
3. Future Tense

Each of these three types of Tense can be divided into four subtypes –
i. Indefinite or Simple Tense
ii. Continuous Tense
iii. Perfect Tense
iv. Perfect Continuous Tense



1 . Present Tense – Present Tense indicates the action that is happening presently or happens regularly or is a universal truth or something just completed but its effect is still there or something that has been happening for a specific time being .

There are four types of Present Tense –

i . Present Indefinite or Simple Present Tense – This type of Present Tense indicates that something happens regularly or a universal truth or a common fact .

Structure of the sentence – Subject + Verb + Object

Verb – When a subject is First Person or Second Person or Third Person Plural Number, we use the main form of a verb .

But when a subject is a Third Person Singular Number then we add ‘ s ‘ or ‘ es ‘ or ‘ ies‘ at the end of the main verb .

Examples – He goes to school everyday.

The sun rises in the east.

He is a good boy .

The mosquito flies .

Negative Sentence – He is not a bad boy .

They don’t play football.

He doesn’t play football.

Interrogative Sentence – Is he a good boy?

Does he go to school everyday?

Is he not a good boy ?




ii. Present Continuous Tense – It indicates something which is happening presently or indicates an action which is still continuing.

Structure of the sentence – Subject + be verb ( am / is / are ) + Verb+ing + Object


Be Verbs – ‘ am ‘ after ‘ I ‘
‘ is ‘ after Third Person Singular Number
‘ are ‘ after ‘ We ‘, Second Person and Third Person Plural Number.


Examples – I am reading now .

He is drawing .

They are playing in the field.

Negative Sentence – He is not playing now.

Interrogative Sentence – Are they playing now ?

Are they not playing now ?

Isn’t it raining heavily ?

Who isn’t going to help you ?



iii. Present Perfect Tense – It indicates something that is just completed but its effect is still there .

Structure of the sentence – Subject + has/ have + Past Participle form of Verb + Object

Has/ have – When a subject is First Person or Second Person or Third Person Plural Number then we use ‘ have ‘ and when a subject is Third Person Singular Number then we use ‘ has ‘after the subject.


Examples – I have just taken my lunch .

He has finished the job.

Negative Sentence – He has not done this .

Interrogative Sentence – Has he done this ?

Have you done this ?

Has he not done this ?


iv . Present Perfect Continuous Tense – It indicates something that has been continuing for a time being or something that started in the past but is still continuing.

Structure of the sentence – Subject + has / have + been + Verb+ing + Object

Examples – It has been raining for two hours.

They have been working here since 2010 .


Negative Sentence –

It has not been raining since last month .

They have not been working here for a few months .




Interrogative Sentence – Has it been raining for an hour ?

Have they not been working for several years?






2. Past Tense – Past Tense indicates the action that already happened or something that was completed in the past or something that was happening at a particular moment in the past or something that was happening for a period of time in the past.


Different types of Past Tense –

i. Past Indefinite or Simple Past Tense –

It indicates an action that happened or completed in the past .

Structure of the sentence – Subject + Past form of Verb + Object

Examples –

He did the job .

They went to the college yesterday.

Negative Sentence – I didn’t attend the meeting yesterday.

Interrogative Sentence – Did you go there ?

Did you not attend the meeting yesterday?




ii. Past Continuous Tense – It indicates something that was happening continuously at a particular moment in the past or it shows an ongoing action in the past .

Structure of the sentence – Subject + Was / Were + Verb+ing + Object

Was – When the subject is ‘ I ‘ or Third Person Singular Number then we use ‘ was ‘ after that .

Were – When the subject is ‘ We ‘ or Second Person or Third Person Plural Number then we use ‘ were ‘ after that .

Examples–

She was dancing in a function last night .

I was listening to music when you called me.

( In this sentence we used Past Continuous and Simple Past together – The part ‘ You called me ‘ is in Simple Past form )

He was reading the story book at 10pm yesterday .

They were practising grammar in the evening yesterday.


Negative Sentence – You were not listening to the audio minutely in previous class .

Interrogative Sentence – Was he talking too much ?

Was he not talking too much ?

Who wasn’t reading the book carefully?

Wasn’t it raining heavily yesterday ?



iii. Past Perfect Tense – When two incidents happened in the past and one of these happened earlier than the other , then it is called Past Perfect Tense.

Structure of the sentence –

For earlier action Part – Subject + had + Participle form of the Verb

For secondary action Part – We must use Simple Past Tense to write this part .

Examples –

The train had left the station before I reached there .

Here in this sentence two incidents happened – one, the train had left the station and secondly, I reached there ( the station ) .
So the train left earlier than my arrival time.

Another Example –

When the doctor came the patient had already died.

Here ‘ the patient had already died ‘ – this action happened earlier and the doctor came later .


So in both these two sentences we used Subject + had + Past Participle form of Verb – this structure in the earlier action part and Simple Past form for the secondary action part .



Negative Sentence – The train hadn’t left the station before I reached there.

Interrogative Sentence – Had the train left the station before you reached there ?

Had the train not left the station before you reached there?



iv. Past Perfect Continuous Tense – It indicates something which was started in the past and continued up until another time or until another incident happened in the past .

Structure of the sentence –

For the action which had been continuing –

Subject + had + been + Verb+ing + object

For the action upto when the earlier action continued –

Subject+ Past form of the Verb + Object


Examples –

He had been reading story book when his father returned from the office .

Here in this sentence – ‘ He had been reading story book’ – this part is showing the continuation of his reading and we used the structure Subject + had + been + Verb+ing + Object.

The other part -‘ when his father returned home from the office’ – this part is showing upto which time or until which incident he continued to read story book . We used Simple Past Tense formula in this part of the sentence.

Another Example –

He had been working here for ten years when he got promotion .

Negative Sentence – He had not been doing homework when his father returned home from the office.


Interrogative Sentence – Had she been doing her homework when her father called her ?

Had she not been doing homework when her father returned from the office ?



3. Future Tense – Future Tense indicates an action which is still not happened but going to be happened in future .

Different types of Future Tense –

i. Future Indefinite or Simple Future Tense – It indicates an action which is going to be happened in future.

Structure of the sentence – Subject + will + Verb + Object

Examples –

I will go to the school tomorrow.

He will do it .

They will play positive cricket tomorrow.

She will visit the place next week.

Negative Sentence – They will not play defensive cricket tomorrow.

Interrogative Sentence – Will they play positive cricket tomorrow?

Will you not go to school tomorrow?



ii. Future Continuous Tense – It indicates an action happening over a period of time in future .

Structure of the sentence – Subject + will + be + Verb+ing + Object

Examples –

He will be playing all afternoon.

We will be dancing in the party tomorrow.

I will be listening music when you come back.

Negative Sentence – We will not be dancing in the party tomorrow.

Interrogative Sentence – Will you be dancing in the party tomorrow?


Will you not be dancing in the party tomorrow?



iii. Future Perfect Tense – It indicates an action in future that will be completed before some other point or time or incident in future .

Structure of the sentence – Subject + will + have + Past Participle form of Verb + Object

Examples –


I will have finished the job before the inauguration.

We will have taken lunch before you visit our office tomorrow.

At 7 pm he will have left the office .


They will have practised enough before the match starts tomorrow.


Negative Sentence – They will not have done the job before the inauguration.

We will not have finished our lunch before you visit our office tomorrow.

Interrogative Sentence –

Will you have taken your lunch before we reach tomorrow?

Will you not have taken your lunch before we visit your office tomorrow?


iv ) Future Perfect Continuous Tense – It indicates a longer action which will be continuing up to another event or time in future .


Structure of the sentence – Subject + will + have + been + Verb+ing + Object


Examples – Next week he will have been working here for five years.

They will have been practising grammar for an hour when their teacher arrives .

She will have been studying all evening.

He will have been waiting for two hours by the time the manager meets him .


Negative Sentence – He will not have been studying all evening .

They will not have been waiting for hours before the doctor visits the chamber .



We can also use won’t instead of will not .


Interrogative Sentence – Will they not have been practising when their coach arrives ?