Classification and Structure of Tense

Tenses are mainly 3 types:

1) Present Tense: It denotes the present time. The verb of the sentence will be in
present form.
Such as, 1) I am here, 2) I eat rice, 3) They talk in the classroom. Here am, eat, talk,
these verbs are expressing the present or usual situation, so the tense is Present
Tense.

2) Past Tense: It denotes the past time. The time is already gone. The verb of the
Sentence will be in Past form.
Such as, 1) I ate rice, 2) I was there, 3) They talked about the topic. In these
sentences the work has been done in the past, so the verbs ate (eat), talked (talk),
was (be) are in their past form.

3) Future Tense: It denotes the future time. Something is going to happen in the
future. The verb of the sentence will be following a modal “Shall or Will” to
represents the future form.
Such as, 1) I will be there, 2) I will eat food, 3) They will talk in the classroom. In
these sentences the verbs are following by the auxiliary “shall or will” to represent
the future Tense.

These three types of tenses are also divided with 4 different times.
1) Indefinite
2) Continuous
3) Perfect
4) Perfect Continuous
The structure of the 12 Tenses are given below with examples:
Types of Tenses with structure Examples
Present Indefinite Tense She eats rice.
Subject + Verb s/es (base form) + Object They play football.
We talk a lot.
I go to the market.
Present Continuous Tense She is eating rice.
Subject + am/is/are + Verb with ing + They are playing football.
object We are talking a lot.
I am going to the market.
Present Perfect Tense She has eaten rice.
Subject + Have/Has + Past Participle form They have played football.
of Verb + Object We have talked a lot.
(When a work is done, but the impact of I have gone to the market.
the work is still there)
Present Perfect Continuous Tense She has been eating rice.
Subject + have/has + Been + Verb with They have been playing football.
ing + object can be put here too + We have been talking a lot.
Since/For + Time + object I have been going to the market.
Since = Point of time
For = Period of time
Past Indefinite Tense She ate rice.
Subject + Past form of Verb + Object They played football.
We talked a lot.
I went to the market.
Past Continuous Tense She was eating rice.
Subject + was/were + verb with ing + They were playing football.
Object We were talking a lot.
I was going to the market.Past
Past Perfect Tense She had eaten rice.
Subject + Had + Past Participle form of They had played football.
Verb + Object We had talked a lot.
There is a matter of before and after too. I had gone to the market.
If there is a sentence which has two main * When “before or after” situation
verbs and the work is being the past. The arrives:
first work which was done before will be 1) She had eaten rice before I was there.
Past Perfect Tense. The Later work will 2) I was there after She had eaten rice.
be considered as past Indefinite. 3) They had played football before the
* Before: teacher came into the class.
Subject + Had + Past Participle form of 4) The teacher came into the class after
Verb + Object + Before + Subject + Past they had played football.
form of Verbs + Object
* After:
Subject + Past form of Verbs + After +
Subject + Had + Past Participle form of
Verb + Object
Past Perfect Continuous Tense She had been eating rice.
Subject + had been + Verb with ing + They had been playing football.
object We had been talking a lot.
I had been going to the Market.
Future Indefinite Tense She will eat rice.
Subject + shall/will + Verb (root or base They will play football.
form) + Object We will talk a lot.
I will go to the market.
Future Continuous Tense She will be eating rice.
Subject + shall/will + Be + verb with ing + They will be playing football.
Object We will be talking a lot.
I will be going to the market.
Future Perfect Tense She will have eaten rice.
Subject + Shall/ Will + Have + Past They will have played football.
Participle form of Verb + Object We will have talked a lot.
I will have gone to the market.
Future Perfect Continuous Tense She will have been eating rice.
Subject + shall/will + Have + been + Verb They will have been playing football.
with ing We will have talked a lot.
I will have been going to the market