VERB TENSES

Every language in the world has verb tenses. These tenses, which refer to the present, past, and future, explain when something — such as an action, event, or state -– happened. The problem is that although all languages have verb tenses, not all languages have the same verb tenses or use them in a similar way. 

The charts below provide a quick reference to help you understand the tenses in English more easily:

• Chart 1 lists each English tense and explains when to use it.
• Chart 2 gives an example of each tense, in active and passive form.

Overview of English Verb Tenses
Present Simple	Usage:	general action, habitual action, general truth
	Example:	I work in a hospital.
Present Continuous Present Progressive	Usage:	ongoing or temporary action
	Example:	Sorry, I can’t talk right now. I am working.
Past Simple	Usage:	completed action or condition
	Example:	I worked for ten hours yesterday.
Past Continuous Past Progressive	Usage:	past ongoing action, past interrupted action
	Example:	I was working on my project when you called.
Future	Usage:	planned or unplanned future action
	Example:	I will work at the main branch next week.
Present Perfect	Usage:	action that happened at an indefinite time in the past and continues to the present
	Example:	I have worked at the bank for three years.
Past Perfect	Usage:	past action that happened before another past action.
	Example:	I had already worked for several years before I got married.
Future Perfect	Usage:	future action that will happen before another future action
	Example:	I will have worked here for five years next July.
Present Perfect Continuous Present Perfect Progressive	Usage:	past action that started in the past and continues to the present
	Example:	I have been working on that project for the last two weeks.
Past Perfect Continuous Past Perfect Progressive	Usage:	past ongoing action that was completed before some other past action
	Example:	I had been sleeping at my desk when my boss fired me.
Future Perfect Continuous Future Perfect Progressive	Usage:	future ongoing action that will occur before another action
	Example:	I will have been working here for ten years tomorrow, so we’re having a party.

Examples of English Verb Tenses
Verb Tense	Example – ACTIVE	Example – PASSIVE
Present Simple	I work.	The work is done.
Present Continuous Present Progressive	I am working.	The work is being done.
Past Simple	I worked.	The work was done.
Past Continuous Past Progressive	I was working.	The work was being done.
Future	I will work. I’m going to work.	The work will be done. The work is going to be done.
Present Present	I have worked.	The work has been done.
Past Perfect	I had worked.	The work had been done.
Future Perfect	I will have worked.	The work will have been done.
Present Perfect Continuous Present Perfect Progressive	I have been working.	–
Past Perfect Continuous Past Perfect Progressive	I had been working.	–
Future Perfect Continuous Future Present Progressive	I will have been working.	–