Tenses in English

There are 12 tenses in English. Each tense has two parts, time and aspect.

Time

The time part of a tense talks about where in time your sentence is located: the past, (before now), the present, (now or close to now), and future, (at a time after the present).

I went to the store.

She goes to the store.

He will go to the store.

Aspect

Aspect is more complicated. In this case, a synonym for aspect is angle. When we speak about the aspect of a tense, we are speaking about the angle of time. The four aspects in English tenses are: simple, continuous, perfect, and perfect continuous.

Simple Aspect

Simple is easy. When we speak about tense, simple means direct or strait. We are thinking directly about the past, present, or future.

Example: I often go to the movies.

In this example, I am talking about something I often do. The angle, or aspect I am using is simple because each time I go to the movies, it is in the present.

Perfect Aspect

The perfect aspect is about connecting two different times. For example, the past perfect tense is used to connect two times, the past, and the earlier past.

Example: I had fed my dog before I ate breakfast.

In this example, I am showing that in the earlier past, “I had fed my dog,” but I also “ate breakfast” in the past. When I use past time with the perfect aspect, I can explain how the two actions are connected.

Continuous Aspect

The continuous aspect is used to show how processes are connected to time. It is used with words like “while,” “when,” and of course, the verb “to be.”

Example: I will be reading my novel while you are out tonight.

In this example, I talk about a process, “reading my novel.” I show that this process will be in the future, “will be.” And I show that this process is connected to another event that will happen at the same time, “while you are out tonight.”

Perfect Continuous Aspect

The perfect continuous aspect is two aspects inside one. It shows time from two angles. It connects two times, like the perfect aspect, and also talks about processes connecting these times to each other.

Example: I have been living in Ireland since 2002.

First we have a process, been “living in Ireland.” We also have the connection of the past to the present, “since 2002.” Of course you know that we can use the present perfect for this, but the present perfect continuous is more correct here because the speaker wants to communicate that this process will continue. Or, if it is a completed process, it was completed very recently.

Angles/Aspects Explained

You can see from the examples in this article that English is very expressive about time. This is because we like to think about time as a thing that can be seen in small parts, the simple tenses, a thing that moves, continuous and perfect continuous tenses, and a thing with small pieces that can be connected, perfect and perfect continuous tenses. We look at time from different angles. This is hard work sometimes; even for native speakers. So you will hear native English speakers make many mistakes. But learning how English speakers speak about time is important for communicating your ideas correctly. When you learn to feel time like a native speaker, then you will also learn to feel which mistakes are natural. It is a process, and I hope this little article has made the process just a little easier for you.

Your Turn

But no grammar article is complete without a little practice. So here is your assignment. Make 3 sentences in different tenses. Write them in the comments below and tell me which time and and aspect each is using to talk about time.