How many tenses are there in English?

English has twelve tenses in the common teaching model. They come from three times (past, present, future) crossed with four aspects (simple, continuous, perfect, perfect continuous). Three times times four aspects gives twelve combinations, from present simple to future perfect continuous.

What is the difference between tense and aspect?

Tense places an action in time: past, present or future. Aspect tells you how the action sits in that time: whether it is general (simple), in progress (continuous), looked back on from a later point (perfect), or measured by its duration (perfect continuous). Every tense is one time plus one aspect.

What are the four aspects in English?

Simple (a complete or general fact: I work), continuous (in progress: I am working), perfect (completed and connected to a later point: I have worked), and perfect continuous (the duration of something up to a point: I have been working).

Is the future a real tense in English?

Strictly, English has no future tense the way it has past and present, because there is no future verb ending. We build the future with will, going to, the present continuous and others. For teaching, will plus the four aspects is treated as the future set of tenses.

English tenses explained: all 12 with a master table

English tenses look like a long list to memorise. They are not. They are a small system with a clear logic, and once you see the grid behind them the twelve tenses stop feeling like twelve separate things to learn.

The logic: three times, four aspects

Every English tense is built from two choices.

First, the time:

Past - before now.
Present - now, or generally true.
Future - after now.

Second, the aspect, which describes how the action sits in that time:

Simple - a complete action or a general fact. You are not interested in whether it is in progress; you just state it. I work. I worked. I will work.
Continuous - the action is in progress, unfinished, happening around a point in time. I am working. I was working. I will be working.
Perfect - you look back from one point to an earlier action that is already complete, and the link between the two points matters. I have worked. I had worked. I will have worked.
Perfect continuous - you look back from a point at the duration of something leading up to it. I have been working. I had been working. I will have been working.

Three times multiplied by four aspects gives twelve tenses. That is the whole map. Learn what each aspect signals, and you can read any tense by reading its two parts.

The master table: all twelve tenses

The example verb is work throughout, so you can see only the form change.

Tense	Form	Main use	Example
Present simple	base verb (+s)	habits, facts, general truths	She works in Madrid.
Present continuous	am/is/are + -ing	happening now, temporary	She is working right now.
Present perfect	have/has + past participle	past action linked to now	She has worked here for years.
Present perfect continuous	have/has been + -ing	duration up to now	She has been working since dawn.
Past simple	past form (-ed)	finished action at a finished time	She worked yesterday.
Past continuous	was/were + -ing	in progress at a past moment	She was working at six.
Past perfect	had + past participle	the earlier of two past actions	She had worked before they arrived.
Past perfect continuous	had been + -ing	duration up to a past point	She had been working for hours.
Future simple	will + base verb	predictions, decisions, promises	She will work tomorrow.
Future continuous	will be + -ing	in progress at a future moment	She will be working at noon.
Future perfect	will have + past participle	finished before a future point	She will have worked by Friday.
Future perfect continuous	will have been + -ing	duration up to a future point	She will have been working for a year.

Each row is just a time plus an aspect. Past perfect continuous is past time plus perfect continuous aspect: looking back from a point in the past at how long something had been going on. Nothing more.

A note on the future

English has no true future tense. Past and present each have a verb form built in (work / worked), but there is no single future ending. We borrow other tools to point at the future: will (I will call), going to (I am going to call), the present continuous for arrangements (I am calling her tonight), and even the present simple for timetables (the train leaves at nine). For teaching, will plus the four aspects fills the future column above, but the real future system is wider. The future tenses page sets out when to use each form.

How to choose the right tense

You do not need to scan all twelve every time. Ask three questions in order.

When does it happen - past, present or future? That fixes the time, and so the column.
Is it in progress at that point, or complete? In progress points you to a continuous aspect; complete or general points you to simple or perfect.
Does it connect to another point in time? If you are looking back from a later moment at something already done, you need a perfect aspect. If you also care about how long it lasted up to that moment, use perfect continuous.

Worked example. You want to talk about a report. It is happening now (present), it is unfinished (continuous): I am writing the report. You finished it and it matters now (present, perfect): I have written the report. You finished it before the meeting started (past, perfect): I had written the report before the meeting. Same verb, three answers, driven entirely by the three questions.

For the detail behind each box, see the individual pages: present simple, present continuous, past simple, present perfect and future tenses.

Common mistakes

These three account for most tense errors, regardless of first language.

Present perfect vs past simple. If you say exactly when something happened, use the past simple. I have seen him yesterday is wrong; it is I saw him yesterday. Keep the present perfect for unfinished or unstated time: I have seen him (so I know the news). This is the single most common tense error in English, and the present perfect page covers the split in full.
Using simple where continuous is needed. For an action in progress right now, the simple sounds wrong: Be quiet, I work should be Be quiet, I am working. If it is happening around the moment you are speaking, reach for the continuous.
Overusing the continuous with stative verbs. Verbs of state - know, want, like, believe, own, understand - normally avoid the continuous. I am knowing the answer and I am wanting tea are wrong; say I know the answer and I want tea. State verbs prefer the simple even when the meaning feels ongoing.

A quick rule of thumb: when a sentence feels off, check the aspect before the time. Most learner errors are the wrong aspect, not the wrong time.

Practice

Choose the correct tense. Answers are below.

Listen - someone ___ (knock) at the door right now.
By next June, I ___ (live) here for ten years.
I ___ (see) that film last weekend.
She ___ (already / finish) her dinner, so she is not hungry.
I ___ (want) to tell you something. (state verb)

Answers: 1. is knocking (in progress now, present continuous) 2. will have lived (duration completed before a future point, future perfect continuous is also accepted: will have been living) 3. saw (a finished time, "last weekend", forces the past simple) 4. has already finished (completed action linked to now, present perfect) 5. want (a state verb, so the present simple, not "am wanting").