There are three main grammatical times in English, as follows:

A particular tense can describe two different actions in two different periods of time. Therefore, it is important to understand the usage of each tense in order to use them correctly. Here are some examples to help illustrate this concept.

Every verb has two characteristics. One is the time and the other is the aspect. A verb is not meaningful unless it has both aspect and time together. Each tense is created from a combination of time and aspect.
The table below shows how time and aspect combine to create different tenses in the English language.

Let us learn them one by one.

The 'simple present tense' (also known as 'the present simple tense') is used to express actions or states that are always true or happen regularly. This tense may also be used to describe actions that are happening in a chain of series.
The present tense can also describe an action that is set to happen in the future. Check out the examples.

The simple past tense (also known as 'the past simple tense') is used to describe actions that began and ended in the past without any connection to the present. Here are a few examples:

The simple future (also known as 'the future simple') is used to talk about events that have not happened yet. The future simple is formed using the modal verb "will" or the phrase "be going to" and that is why it is not technically considered a tense. That is why we do not call them 'tenses'. For example:

The present progressive tense (also known as the 'present continuous tense'), is used to describe an action that is occurring at the time of speaking or at approximately the same time. In some cases, the present progressive tense can also express a fixed plan or date or describe something that has already been decided. Check out the examples:

The past progressive tense (also known as the 'past continuous tense') is used to talk about an action that was in progress for some time in the past. In some cases, it can indicate that two actions happened at the same time in the past.

The future progressive tense is used to describe an action that will be in progress at a specific time in the future, or to express an action that is expected to occur based on previous patterns or routines.

The present perfect tense is used to express actions that started in the past but have continued up to the present time or at least have a connection to the present.

The past perfect tense is used to describe an action that occurred before another action in the past or to serve as the past form of the present perfect tense. When describing a series of events in the past, the action that occurred earlier than another is expressed in the past perfect tense. For example:

The future perfect tense is used to express an action that will already have happened before a certain time or event in the future. Here are a few examples :

The present perfect progressive tense is used to express that an action began in the past and has continued up to the present moment, with an emphasis on the duration of the action. This means that the action could still be ongoing at the present moment or may have just finished. Check out the examples:

The past perfect progressive tense is used to describe an action that was ongoing in the past and continued up until a specific point in time in the past. This tense emphasizes the duration of the action and its relationship to another event in the past. Check the examples out:

The future perfect progressive tense is used to describe an ongoing action that will continue up until a certain point in the future, at which time it will be completed. This tense emphasizes the duration of the action up to a specific point in the future. For example: