English verb tenses

English organises time using twelve main tenses, built from three time frames — present, past and future — crossed with four aspects — simple, continuous, perfect and perfect continuous. Learning the tenses as a 3-by-4 grid, rather than twelve unconnected rules, makes the whole system far easier to hold in your head.

The table below lists all twelve, with the structure that builds each one and a natural example. Use it as a map: once you know which time frame and which aspect you need, the tense almost chooses itself.

• Compare one verb across all twelve tenses: I work, I am working, I have worked, I have been working, I worked, I was working, I had worked, I had been working, I will work, I will be working, I will have worked, I will have been working.(one verb, twelve forms — the grid in action)

Time frame answers a simple question: is this happening now, did it happen before now, or will it happen after now? Present-frame tenses describe the world as it currently is; past-frame tenses look back at what already happened; future-frame tenses look ahead at what has not happened yet.

Time frame alone does not tell you everything, though — 'I work in marketing' and 'I have worked in marketing for six years' are both present-frame in the sense that they are true now, yet they use different aspects. That is where the second axis comes in.

• Our supplier ships the goods from Busan.(present time frame — a general fact)
• Our supplier shipped the goods from Busan.(past time frame — a completed action)
• Our supplier will ship the goods from Busan.(future time frame — not yet happened)

Aspect describes how the speaker views the action, independent of when it happened. Simple aspect states a fact, routine or completed whole, with no interest in its internal structure. Continuous aspect zooms in on an action in progress, with a clear beginning and an end that is still open.

Perfect aspect connects two points in time — an earlier action and a later reference point — which is why perfect tenses always involve 'have' plus a past participle. Perfect continuous aspect combines both ideas: it connects two time points and stresses the duration between them.

• Amara designs shoes for a small studio in Nairobi.(simple aspect — a fact/routine)
• Amara is designing a new sandal for next season.(continuous aspect — in progress)
• Amara has designed over two hundred styles.(perfect aspect — connects past work to now)
• Amara has been designing shoes since she left art school.(perfect continuous — stresses the duration)

Two questions narrow twelve options down to one. First, ask when: is the sentence about now, before now, or after now? Second, ask how: is it a fact, an action in progress, a link between two times, or a duration up to a point? Time words often answer both questions for you — 'every day' signals simple, 'right now' signals continuous, 'since 2019' signals perfect, and 'for the last hour' can signal either perfect or perfect continuous.

Beginners tend to overuse the present simple and past simple because they are the easiest forms to produce. Moving beyond intermediate level means reaching for continuous forms to show actions in progress and perfect forms to show how actions relate to each other in time — precisely the flexibility IELTS examiners reward under Grammatical Range.

• He checks his email every hour, even on holiday.(routine → simple)
• He is checking his email on the beach right now.(in progress → continuous)
• He had checked his email before the flight boarded.(earlier of two past actions → perfect)

Most real sentences combine tenses, because real events rarely sit in a single moment. A sentence might use the past continuous for a background action and the past simple for the interruption, or the present perfect to introduce a topic and the past simple to give the details.

Mixing tenses correctly — not avoiding mixture altogether — is what produces natural, accurate English. The individual comparison and lesson pages in this section (present simple vs continuous, will vs going to, since vs for, and more) each focus on one such contrast in detail.

• While Farid was cooking dinner, the power went out.(background (continuous) + interruption (simple))
• I've broken my phone screen — I dropped it on the tiles this morning.(present result (perfect) + detail (simple))