First information about tenses

How many tenses does English have?

According to modern grammarians the answer is two: past and present*. They base their claim on the fact that only in these two tenses does the verb inflect (or change its form/spelling).

Verb inflections

Verbs inflect in the present tense and in the past tense: For example:

• Present tense: I eat an egg every day. She eats an egg every day.
• Past tense: I play chess every day. I played chess yesterday.

Here are many more examples of inflections, including noun and adjective inflections.

Tenses in English language teaching

Learners of English are taught the combinations of tense (present, past, future) and aspect (simple, continuous, perfect). So for example, I am reading War and Peace is a present continuous form. She had not done her homework is a past perfect form. And At this time tomorrow I will be lying on the beach in Corfu is a future continuous form.

These various forms are commonly called tenses in English language teaching, including course books and online resources.

Verb terminology on this website

Most visitors to this site will be learners or teachers of English. In many cases they will use or be exposed to the term tense in its wider sense to apply to the various combinations of tense and aspect, as exemplified in red above.

Generally, I adopt this approach in the articles and quizzes on verbs here. But I will often use the alternative terms verb construction or verb form for tense/aspect combinations - particularly in the more recent material that I have posted to the site.

More on verb terminology

Elsewhere on the site there is a video project and a quiz on essential verb terminology. As well as a more detailed look at the discussion on what constitutes a tense, the project also has information about verb aspect, mood and voice.