Learn 12 English Tenses in 18 minutes - English Tenses Overview

Hello everyone!

Welcome back to my channel!

Today I’m gonna teach you all English Tenses in 20 minutes!

First of all, I will explain the Tense, and then I’ll give you a lot of examples.

If you don’t know me, I’m Kate, and I love to help you learn English fast and easily.

Now let’s get started.

Let’s have a look at 12 English Tenses.

The Present Simple I talk to you.

The Present Continuous I’m talking to you.

The Present Perfect I have talked to you.

The Present Perfect Continuous I have been talking to you

The Past Simple I talked to you.

The Past Continuous I was talking to you The Past Perfect I had talked to you.

The Past Perfect Continuous I had been talking to you

The Future Simple I will talk to you.

The Future Continuous I will be talking to you.

The Future Perfect I will have talked to you.

And the Future Perfect Continuous I will have been talking to you.

If you are a beginner, it’s better for you to start watching grammar lessons in your

Native language, and after you understand the grammar rules, you can go back to this

video.

Now let’s start with Present Tenses.

The first one is the Present Simple Tense and it’s very easy.

Children study this tense at primary school I suppose.

Native speakers use this tense all the time.

For example, I drink coffee.

It’s used to talk about Habits, facts and general statements

The Present continuous.

I’m drinking coffee now.

This tense is used to describe actions that are happening right now.

The Present Perfect I have drunk my coffee.

We use it to talk about past events that have a result at the present

The Present Perfect Continuous I have been drinking coffee since 2009.

This Tense is used to describe an action that started in the past and continues to the present

moment.

Ok, now let’s have a look at the structure of the Present Simple Tense.

How do we form it?

We have the subject + base form of a verb.

But in the third person singular, we add an –s.

I eat, You go, we run, they watch, he eats, she goes, it runs, he watches.

It’s important to remember that the verb to be has its own forms, like I am, you are,

he is, she is, it is, they are, we are.

We use the Present Simple to describe an action that is regular, true or normal.

For example -I like eating cheese.

(I really like it).

She usually spends her holidays at the summer camp.

Or They often have mistakes in their tests.

We use the Present Simple when we talk about facts.

A cat has four legs.

When we talk about habits.

I get up early every day.

When we describe things that are generally true - In Russia it snows in winter.

We have marker words for the Present Simple Tense – Always - Often – Usually – Sometimes

- Never Let’s move on to the present continuous

tense.

We use the Present Continuous to talk about activities that are happening at the moment

of speaking: You are learning English at home at the moment.

I guess you are, if you’re watching this video.

The present continuous is made from the present tense of the verb be and the –ing form of

a verb: I am working, You are playing, He is talking.

Let’s have a look at the example.

She is spending her holidays at the summer camp these days.

They are having tea now.

Also we use the Present Continuous tense to talk about events that are temporary, For

example I am living in Turkey now.

This means that the situation is temporary.

But if I live here constantly, in this case I say - I live in Turkey.

We also use The Present Continuous Tense to talk about future plans: I am going to enter

a university.

We do not use the continuous tense with state verbs like verbs of thinking, feeling and

senses: believe know like love hate prefer realise recognize remember suppose think believe

understand want wish appear feel look seem smell sound taste.

But sometimes you may hear native speakers using state verbs in the present continuous

tense.

For example, I’m loving it.

Now we have the Present Perfect tense.

The present perfect is formed from the present tense of the verb have and the past participle

of a verb.

So the structure is the Subject + have\has +

Past Participle We use the present perfect when we want to

describe something that started in the past and continues in the present: for example

- I have lived in Russia all my life.

I was born there, I lived there a year ago and I’m still living there now.

We also use the present perfect to talk about our experiences.

For example - I have been to Spain five times.

I have seen Black Mirror twice And finally we use the Present Perfect to

talk about past events that have a result in the present.

I have done my homework.

We have marker words for the Present Perfect tense like Recently, already, since, just,

yet, for.

We also use the Present Perfect Tense to describe finished actions which have recently stopped

and have a result, that we can see, hear, or feel in the present.

I'm so tired, I've been studying.

I've been running, so I'm really sweaty.

Or I have eaten all the chocolate.

They have made a lot of mistakes in their tests.

The next tense is the Present Perfect Continuous.

The structure of this tense is The Subject + have or has + been + a verb

+ ing We use the Present Perfect Continuous to describe

unfinished actions that started in the past and continue to the present.

We often use this tense with 'for' and 'since'.

She has been spending her holidays at the summer camp for a week.

I have been doing this exercise since morning.

When you want to emphasize how long you’ve been doing the action, use the Present Perfect

Continuous.

For example - They have been cleaning their room for two hours.

I have another video about Present Perfect Tense and Present Perfect Continuous, There’s

a link to this video, If you’re interested in improving your grammar, you can watch it

after this lesson.

Let’s have a look at the summary of all past tenses.

The Past Simple - I studied at school last year.

It’s used to talk about past completed actions.

The Past Continuous - I was studying at school when I met him – we use it to describe actions

that started in the past and were still going on when another event happened.

The Past Perfect - I had studied at school for ten years before I went to college.

We use this tense to describe a past event that happened before another past event.

The Past Perfect Continuous - I had been studying at school for ten years before I finally went

to college.

With this tense we describe a past event that continued before another past event.

And now we move on to the Past Simple.

It’s very easy and simple to understand.

And it’s very common.

The past simple is formed using the verb + ed.

The past simple is a verb tense which is used to show that an action happened at a specific

time in the past and the action is completed, for example- I cooked dinner for my family

yesterday.

Basically, there are many verbs with irregular past forms and you need to learn them Like

go – went, do-did, swim – swam and many others.

We use the past simple to express the idea that an action started and finished in the

past.

An example - She spent her holidays at the summer camp last year.

Or She left her home country in 1995.

Another example is - I liked eating chocolate, when I was younger.

Let’s move on to the Past Continuous.

The structure of the Past Continuous is the Subject + was or were + verb + ing

We use the Past Continuous to describe events in a time before now, which started in the

past and were still going on when another event happened.

We were having tea, when my friend came.

We use this tense to describe an event that happened at a specific time in the past.

I was playing tennis yesterday from 4 till 5 pm.

The Past Continuous Tense is used to describe background information - It was raining when

I went outside

Now let’s talk about the Past Perfect Tense.

The structure is the subject + had + past participle.

We use this tense to describe an action that happened before another action in the past,

and it’s often used with the Past Simple.

She had spent all her money, before she came back home.

Or The train had left, when we arrived at the station.

Another example is I had learned English before I visited the US.

So the Past Perfect tense is used to talk about actions that were completed before some

point in the past.

Let’s move on to the Past Perfect Continuous.

We form this tense by using the subject + had been + verb + ing.

The Past Perfect and the Past Perfect Continuous are very similar and often used by native

speakers.

There is no difference in meaning.

I had lived there for five years before the pandemic started Or I had been living there

for five years before the pandemic started.

These sentences have the same meaning.

But we use the Past Perfect Continuous when we are talking about an event in the past

that continued up to a certain time.

An example - I had been doing the exercise until 6 pm.

Or She had been playing tennis for three hours before her father called her.

Another example - They had been cleaning their room for two hours before everything was ready.

Let’s have a look at all Future Tenses.

If you’re still watching this video, you’re rock!

I’m so proud of you.

We use Future Tenses when we talk about events that will happen after the present moment.

The Future Simple - I will read this book tomorrow.

We use it to describe Events that we expect to happen in the future.

The Future Continuous - I will be reading this book at 3 pm tomorrow.

We use it to talk about actions that will take place at a specific time in the future.

The Future Perfect - I will have read this book by two p.m. on Tuesday.

We use this tense to describe an event that is planned to happen before a certain time

in the future.

The Future Perfect Continuous -I will have been reading this book for two hours on Tuesday.

We use this tense to talk about an event that will be continuing up to the certain moment.

The Future Simple is a very simple way to talk about future events.

The structure of this tense is the Subject+will+base form of a verb.

For example -She will spend her holidays at the summer camp next year.

We can use this tense to give promises: I will do this exercise in an hour.

I will help you to make your project.

We can use the Future Simple to talk about actions that WE THINK will happen in the future:

I think we will go to Spain next year.

Another example - They will have no mistakes in their tests, if they study hard.

This is a conditional sentence, and I have another lesson about Conditionals, the link

is right here.

The next tense is the Future Continuous.

The structure is the subject + will be + verb + ing.

This tense is used to talk about events that will be happening at a certain time in the

future.

For example -I will be playing tennis tomorrow from 4 till 5 p.m.

Another example -They will be having tea, when I come.

Or - I will be filming my new video next Monday at 6 a.m.

(And this is true, I love filming videos in the morning, I’m an early bird)

We also have the Future Perfect Tense.

The structure is the subject + will have + past participle.

It’s used to talk about future events that will be finished before a certain moment in

the future.

I will have done this task by 3 pm tomorrow.

(3 pm is the certain moment in the future.)

She will have spent all her money before she comes back home.

He will have read this book before I need it.

And finally, the Future Perfect Continuous.

The structure is the subject+will have been+verb+ing.

We use this tense to describe events that will be continuing at a certain moment in

the future.

For example, She will have been playing tennis for three hours before her father calls her.

I will have been doing this task for an hour by 2 pm.

They will have been working here for five years by the end of this month.

And it’s important to remember that we do NOT use the state verbs in the continuous

tense.

Thank you for watching this video, I hope it was useful and now you’ve learned all

English tenses.

Please don’t forget to subscribe to my channel if you haven’t yet and hit the like button,

it will help other learners to see the video.

I love you guys, bye bye!