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Tenses of English

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Tenses of English
The Twelve Tenses of English
PRESENT (main verb)
I study English.
He studies English.

PAST (past tense of main verb)
I studied English.
He studied English.

FUTURE (will or shall + main verb)
I will study English.
He will study English.

PRESENT PERFECT (have or has + past participle of verb)
I have studied English.
He has studied English.

PAST PERFECT (had + past participle of verb)
I had studied English.
He had studied English.

FUTURE PERFECT (will or shall + have + past participle of verb)
I will have studied English.
He will have studied English.

PRESENT PROGRESSIVE (form of "be" verb + "ing" form of main verb)
I am studying English.
He is studying English.

PAST PROGRESSIVE (past tense of form "be" verb + "ing" form of main verb)
I was studying English.
He was studying English.

FUTURE PROGRESSIVE (will or shall +be + "ing" form of main verb)
I will be studying English.
He will be studying English.

PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE (have or has + been + "ing" form of main verb)
I have been studying English.
He has been studying English.

PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE (had + been + "ing" form of main verb)
I had been studying English.
He had been studying English.

FUTURE PERFECT PROGRESSIVE (will or shall + have + been + "ing" form of main verb)
I will have been studying English.
He will have been studying English. | MPC English & Study Skills Center | | VerbsThere are 12 tenses in English. There are basically 4 different forms and each form has 3 different times--present, past, and future--so this equals 12. A sentence may have one single verb or a combination of verb forms. The first verb in the sequence tells the time (present, past, future) and the sequence of verbs tells the tense. Verbs have a variety of forms that are combined to makes tenses. There are two types of verbs (Regular and Irregular) and 6 forms that verbs can take, but not all verb forms (verbals) act as verbs in sentences. Regular
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