The 12 Basic English Tenses

The English Tense System
The links below are to lessons for each of the 12 basic English tenses. In each lesson we look at two aspects of the tense:

• Structure: How do we make the tense?
• Use: When and why do we use the tense?

Some lessons look at additional matters, and most of them finish with a quiz to check your understanding.

• Present Simple
  I do, I do do
• Present Continuous
  I am doing
• Present Perfect
  I have done
• Present Perfect Continuous
  I have been doing

• Past Simple
  I did, I did do
• Past Continuous
  I was doing
• Past Perfect
  I had done
• Past Perfect Continuous
  I had been doing

• Future Simple
  I will do
• Future Continuous
  I will be doing
• Future Perfect
  I will have done
• Future Perfect Continuous
  I will have been doing