Learn or revise the twelve tenses of English with our FREE diagram and notes:

Revise the 12 Tenses of English – Diagram

Direct download: https://purlandtraining.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Revise-the-12-English-Tenses-Diagram-Purland-Training.pdf

Find out more about each tense:

Present Simple  /  Present Continuous

Past Simple  /  Past Continuous

Present Perfect  /  Present Perfect Continuous

Future Simple  /  Future Continuous

Past Perfect  /  Past Perfect Continuous

Future Perfect  /  Future Perfect Continuous

There are six pairs of tenses in English: 

Present Simple:

Not connected to the timeline. An action in general time.

I eat dinner.

– –

Present Continuous:

An unfinished continuous action in the present moment.

I am eating dinner now.

– – 

Past Simple:

A finished action in finished time.

I ate dinner last night.

– – 

Past Continuous:

An unfinished continuous action in finished time.

I was eating dinner last night when the phone rang.

– – 

Present Perfect:

A finished action in unfinished time.

I have eaten dinner today.

– – 

Present Perfect Continuous:

An unfinished continuous action in unfinished time.

I have been eating dinner for ten minutes.

– – 

Future Simple:

A predicted action in the future.

I will eat dinner tomorrow.

– – 

Future Continuous:

An unfinished continuous action at a specific time in the future.

I will be eating dinner tomorrow at 6pm.

– – 

Past Perfect:

A finished action in the past before a later action / time.

I had eaten dinner before leaving.

– – 

Past Perfect Continuous:

An unfinished continuous action in the past before a later action / time.

I had been eating dinner when the phone rang.

– – 

Future Perfect:

A finished action in the future before a later action / time.

I will have eaten dinner by 6pm.

– – 

Future Perfect Continuous:

An unfinished continuous action in the future before a later action / time.

I will have been eating dinner for ten minutes by 6pm.

– –

Let’s add four conditionals: 

First Conditional:

An action that is conditional in the real future.

If I eat dinner at 6pm, I will be ready to go out at 7pm.

– –

Second Conditional:

An action that is conditional in the unreal – i.e. hypothetical – future.

If I ate dinner on a boat, I would feel ill.

– –

Third Conditional:

An action that is conditional in the unreal – i.e. hypothetical – past.

If I had eaten dinner, I wouldn’t have felt hungry.

– –

Zero Conditional:

An action that is conditional in general time.

If I don’t eat dinner, I feel hungry.

– –

It’s not a tense, but let’s include this useful verb form:

Imperative Form:

An order or instruction that demands action immediately.

Eat dinner! (now)

Further study:

Best FREE Resources for Learning English Tenses

Revise the 12 English Tenses – worksheets

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