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If you're a bit confused with English tenses, let me show you how to use all 12 English tenses easily and quickly. Hello, it's Keith from the Keith Speaking Academy here to help you use English tenses fluently today. Now, if you're a bit confused by English tenses, don't worry. I'm going to help you today. Is it I go, I went, I have been, I have gone, I will have been going? I'm going to help fix all of that today. In the next 50 minutes, I'm going to show you all 12 tenses in English, how to form them, how to use them, examples, super easy, no confusion. By the end of this video, you will know when to say I
worked or I have worked. Are you ready? Let's begin. Okay, so we have three basic times. There's the past, the present, and the future. And for each of those, there are four kind of aspects, okay? There's the simple, which is a basic fact. There's the continuous, which is a kind of action in progress. There's the perfect, which is a completed action and some result, and there's the perfect continuous, which is an ongoing action with kind of duration. So, 3 * 4 = 12 tenses. Let me go through them one by one very easily, so you know how to use all of them. Let's begin well where we are now, in the present. So, first of all, present simple. And we use this for permanent situations.
I live in Spain. Habits. I run every day. And things that are always true. When I run, I feel better. To form it, you've got the subject plus the base verb. And then if it's he or she or it with s or es. And notice, we often use this tense with words like always, usually, sometimes, once a month, never. Let's move on. Next, present continuous. And this is used for things happening now, at this moment. [clears throat] I am thinking. Actually, I'm not thinking. And current trends. More and more people are running to stay healthy. The form is the subject plus am, are, or is and then the verb with ing in the gerund.
I am thinking. Common mistake is people say, "I am run." No. Now, I am running. Remember the ing in the gerund. Let's move on. Next, present perfect. And this confuses people because there are three or four or more different uses of this. I'm going to talk about one of the main uses, which is to talk about our experience in our life. So, this is used to connect some action in the past to the present. Our experiences make who we are today, right? For example, I have visited 20 countries so far. And the form is the subject plus have or has and the past participle.
I have visited 20 countries in my life so far. And there's another clue. With the present perfect, we often use words like so far, ever, never, yet, already. This is one of the main uses. There are others and there's a link to other videos here to help you with that, but now let's move on. And the final present tense is the present perfect continuous. And this is for an action that starting in the past and continues into the present up until now. We can use this to show the duration of an action up to the present. For example, I've been running since I was 15 years old.
We can also use this to show how long an action has happened. For example, I've been living here for 2 years. And we form this with the subject, have or has and then the verb in the gerund, the i n g. I have been living here in Spain for 8 years. The action began 8 years ago and continues to the present. I still live in Spain. We also use present perfect continuous to show the duration of an action to the present and the impact on the present situation.
Like, Oh, I'm so tired. I've been running around the park. And the present perfect continuous often focuses on how long the action happens. So, it's really useful for complaining about things. Like, Oh, it's been raining for 6 weeks non-stop. I hate autumn. That's it for the present. Let's go back to the past. Great. Well done with the present and being present. Let's now travel back in time to the past. And in the past, we have the same four aspects: simple, continuous, perfect, and perfect continuous. Okay, let's begin with the simple past. The simple past is used to describe an action in the past that started in the past, finished in the past, and the time is finished, too.
Okay? You can use it to talk about your childhood or your youth, any time in the past. I played football every day at school. To tell a story. I walked into the shop and suddenly everything went quiet. To give historical facts. Edison invented the light bulb. The form is simple, the subject plus the past form of the verb. Typically, that's the infinitive plus D or ED. I travel, I traveled. But be careful. There are irregular verbs. In fact, the most common verbs we use are irregular. Eat, ate, take, took, put, put, and so on. You need to learn these and memorize these by heart.
Next, the past continuous. Now, this is used to give the context or the setting of a story or an event. It looks at an action in progress in the past, and then a second action happens. For example, I was sitting on the sofa at home, when suddenly I heard a strange noise. The form is subject plus was or were, and then the verb with ing, the gerund of the verb. I was sitting. Just remember, the past continuous is for the longer action, and the simple past for that second action that interrupts.
Next, the past perfect. You can think of this as the double past. You've got present, past, and then another time in the past. Looking at it from now, today, and we use this to explain why things happened in the past by explaining something in the double past. For example, "Why didn't you come for dinner last night?" "I'd already eaten." So, present, in the past, he ate. Then, later, there was the dinner invitation. And then today he says, "I didn't come because I had already eaten." That second past explains the reason in the past looking at it from today.
The form is subject plus had plus the past participle. Here's another example. I didn't win the race because I hadn't trained enough. Let's move on. The past perfect continuous. Now, this, again, looking from the present, we look at the past and we look at the duration of an action in the past up to a point in time in the past looking at it from today, now. Do you remember the present perfect continuous? Looked at the duration of an action in the past up to the present. Well, this is similar but looking at the action in the past up to a past point looking at it from today.
This is today. I moved, true story, I moved to China in 2002. I left China in 2012. I had been living in China for 10 years when I left. The form of this is subject plus had been plus the verb in the gerund. I had been living in China for 10 years. Wow. 10 years. Gosh. That's it for the past. Excellent. Let's now look to the future. First of all, the simple future looking at a single point in time or a single action in the future.
Here we use will in English. And we can use it for spontaneous or a sudden decision like this. I will run in the London Marathon next year. He's just decided. We can use it for a promise in the future. I will help you tomorrow. And for predictions in the future. I will win the London Marathon next year. The form is subject plus will plus the base verb. I will run the marathon. Boom.
Next year, 2027 in April. [clears throat] Just note, if you're making a plan or have made a plan in English, we would then use going to. I'm going to do it. So, if I decided to run the marathon, I will run the marathon, then the next day I tell my friends, I'm going to run the marathon. Got it? Let's move on. The next, the future continuous. And this is used to describe an action in the future happening over a period of time. Okay? From now. Now, we use this a lot to explain to somebody that we are busy and that we cannot help them or do something for them. For example, Can we have a class tomorrow at 8:00 p.m.?
No, I will be having dinner at that time. And in that case, you can imagine me at 8:00 eating my food. So, it's hard for the other person to insist. The form is subject plus will be plus the verb ing in the gerund. Don't call me tomorrow at 9:00. I will be watching television. Let's move on. Okay, next the future perfect. Now, and this is used to describe an action that will be completed before or by a point in the future.
It's really useful to talk about goals, for example, like professional or business goals. I will have finished my project by Friday. Notice the difference. I will reach my sales target by June is a promise or a decision. But I will have reached is describing a future reality. It's more convincing. So, if you want to convince your boss or whoever, say, "No, I will have finished by June. I will have finished by Friday." Talk about goals, you can use it to talk about deadlines. Again, much more convincing.
She will finish by Friday, that's a promise. She will have finished by Friday is a reality or it feels more real. The form is subject plus will have plus the past participle. I will, often I'll, I'll have finished by Friday. Again, notice we often use this um tense with by Friday, by next year, by this time next week. Let's move on. Okay, the last one, the future perfect continuous. Honestly, native speakers rarely use this, but it's useful to recognize when it's used. So, this is a point in the present to describe an action that continues up to a point in the future.
And the emphasis is on that action. In fact, the action continue can start anytime, but continues to a point in the future. So, because the emphasis is on the duration of time, and it's often a long time, we use this to surprise people or talk about something we don't like very much. By next year, I will have been living in Spain for 10 years. Wow. Surprising, amazing. By next year, I will have been teaching English for donkey's years. Something I do like, but something surprising. So, useful to recognize, probably not a tense you're going to use very much. That's it. So, there you have 12 tenses in English made super simple. I hope this helps a lot. You can get a PDF including an
infographic, some examples, there's even a quiz at the end you can test yourself. Let me know how you did in the comments in the video. If you want to not only brush up on your grammar, but also activate it so you can use it fluently when speaking, go and check out my fluent grammar course, which is aimed just at that, learning grammar through speaking. So, you can become a confident speaker of English. Thank you so much for watching today. Look forward to seeing you soon. Take care. Bye-bye.
