Tenses in English, Verb Tenses Worksheet

Present, past, and future are the three main tenses in English. The present tense is used to describe things that are permanent and unchanging, and to talk about things happening right now. The past tense tells that something was done at a specific time in the past, something was done consistently in the past or something was done at some time in the past. The future tense is used to express situations and actions that have not happened yet.

The proper use of verb tenses is demonstrated with an example:

Simple Present Tense: She plays the piano at the weekends. 

Present Continuous Tense: She is playing the piano right now.

Present Perfect Tense: She has played the piano.

Present Perfect Continuous Tense: She has been playing the piano for two hours.

Simple Past Tense: She played the piano yesterday.

Past Continuous Tense: She was playing the piano when I stopped by.

Past Perfect Tense: She had played the piano.

Past Perfect Continuous Tense: She had been playing the piano.

Simple Future Tense: She will play the piano tomorrow.

Future Continuous Tense: She will be playing the piano soon.

Future Perfect Tense: She will have played the piano.

Future Perfect Continuous Tense: She will have been playing the piano for an hour before dinner tonight.