What is Tense?

Tense is a method that we use in English to refer to time—past, present and future. Many languages use tenses to talk about time. Other languages have no tenses, but of course they can still talk about time, using different methods.

So, we talk about time in English with tenses. But, and this is a very big but:

• we can also talk about time without using tenses (for example, going to is a special construction to talk about the future, it is not a tense)
• one tense does not always talk about one time (see Tense & Time for more about this)

Here are some of the terms used in discussing verbs and tenses.

Mood

indicative mood expresses a simple statement of fact, which can be positive (affirmative) or negative

• I like coffee.
• I do not like coffee.

interrogative mood expresses a question

• Why do you like coffee?

imperative mood expresses a command

• Sit down!

subjunctive mood expresses what is imagined or wished or possible

• The President ordered that he attend the meeting.

Voice

Voice shows the relationship of the subject to the action. In the active voice, the subject does the action (cats eat mice). In the passive voice, the subject receives the action (mice are eaten by cats). Among other things, we can use voice to help us change the focus of attention.

Aspect

Aspect expresses a feature of the action related to time, such as completion or duration. Present simple and past simple tenses have no aspect, but if we wish we can stress with other tenses that:

• the action or state referred to by the verb is completed (and often still relevant), for example:
     I have emailed the report to Jane. (so now she has the report)
  (This is called perfective aspect, using perfect tenses.)
  
  
• the action or state referred to by the verb is in progress or continuing (that is, uncompleted), for example:
     We are eating.
  (This is called progressive aspect, using progressive [continuous] tenses.)

Tense & Time

It is important not to confuse the name of a verb tense with the way we use it to talk about time.

For example, a present tense does not always refer to present time:

• I hope it rains tomorrow.
  "rains" is present simple, but it refers here to future time (tomorrow)

Or a past tense does not always refer to past time:

• If I had some money now, I could buy it.
  "had" is past simple but it refers here to present time (now)

The following examples show how different tenses can be used to talk about different times.

Basic Tenses »

Basic Tenses

For past and present, there are 2 simple tenses + 6 complex tenses (using auxiliary verbs). To these, we can add 4 "modal tenses" for the future (using modal auxiliary verbs will/shall). This makes a total of 12 tenses in the active voice. Another 12 tenses are available in the passive voice. So now we have 24 tenses.

Some grammar books use the word progressive instead of continuous. They are exactly the same.

The use of tenses in English may be quite complicated, but the structure of English tenses is actually very simple. The basic structure for a positive sentence is:

subject + auxiliary verb + main verb

An auxiliary verb is used in all tenses. (In the simple present and simple past tenses, the auxiliary verb is usually suppressed for the affirmative, but it does exist for intensification.) The following table shows the 12 tenses for the verb to work in the active voice.

* Technically, there are no future tenses in English. The word will is a modal auxiliary verb and future tenses are sometimes called "modal tenses". The examples are included here for convenience and comparison.