The 12 English Verb Tenses in One Chart

English has three times (past, present and future) and four aspects that describe how an action unfolds. Multiply them together and you get the twelve tenses that grammar books talk about. It sounds like a lot, but they're built from the same few pieces.

All 12 tenses at a glance

Present tenses

Present simple is for habits, facts and schedules: She plays chess every Friday. Water boils at 100°C. The train leaves at six.

Present continuous covers something happening now or around now, and fixed future plans: I'm reading a great book. We're meeting at noon tomorrow.

Present perfect links a past action to now, often with already, yet, ever, never, since, for: I have finished the crossword. Have you ever played Boggle?

Present perfect continuous describes an activity that started in the past and is still going on (or has just stopped, with visible results): I've been practising anagrams for an hour. You look tired. Have you been running?

Past tenses

Past simple is for a finished action at a definite time: We played last night. She won in 2019.

Past continuous shows an action in progress at a moment in the past, often interrupted: I was shuffling the tiles when the phone rang.

Past perfect marks an action completed before another past action: By the time we arrived, the game had started.

Past perfect continuous describes an action that had been in progress up to a past moment: They had been waiting for twenty minutes when the host appeared.

Future tenses

Future simple is for predictions, promises and decisions made on the spot: It will rain later. I'll help you. (Going to is also common for plans and evidence-based predictions: Look at those clouds. It's going to rain.)

Future continuous shows an action that will be in progress at a future time: This time tomorrow, I'll be flying to Dublin.

Future perfect is for an action that will be complete before a future point: By Friday, I will have read all six books.

Future perfect continuous expresses duration up to a future point: In June, she will have been teaching for ten years.

Present perfect or past simple?

This is the choice learners find hardest. Ask: is the time finished?

• Finished time, stated or understood → past simple: I saw that film last week.
• Unfinished time, or no time mentioned, and the result matters now → present perfect: I have seen that film (so I know what happens).

So: I lost my keys yesterday (story about the past), but I have lost my keys (and I still can't find them).

Stative verbs and the continuous

Verbs that describe states rather than actions, such as know, believe, like, love, own, need and seem, don't usually take continuous forms. Say I know the answer, not I am knowing the answer. Some verbs switch meaning: I think it's right (opinion) vs I'm thinking about it (mental activity).

Irregular verbs

The past simple and past participle of regular verbs both end in -ed (play, played, played). Irregular verbs must be learned: go, went, gone; write, wrote, written; take, took, taken. Spelling counts too: written has a double T, occurred has a double R.

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