Twelve tenses look like twelve separate rules. They are not. They are three times crossed with four aspects, and once you can read that grid you can build any tense in English on demand. This page also covers helping verbs and modals, the V1 V2 V3 forms, and which verbs need an object. Suits Grade/Class 6 to 9, Year 7 to 10.
Level 3 is the point where the verb stops being one word and starts being a small team of words. In Level 2 you learned the three simple tenses, and they are still the ones you will use most. There are twelve altogether, and they are far easier to hold on to once you can see how they fit together, so this page starts with the whole picture: three times, past, present and future, crossed with four aspects, simple, continuous, perfect and perfect continuous. Three fours are twelve, and that is the whole system. Once you can find a cell you can build the tense that lives in it. The page then takes apart the helping verbs and modals that do the building, the three forms every verb owns, and the question that sorts verbs into the ones that need an object and the ones that do not. Four tests, six worked examples, three games, 24 marked exercises and two free printables.
Four tests. Each one is something you can check on your own, in your head, without asking anybody.
Nobody sat down and invented twelve separate rules. English asks two questions about every action, and the twelve tenses are simply every possible pair of answers.
Question 1: when? Before now, right now, after now.
Question 2: how does it sit in that time? Four choices.
The first answer is the tense in the everyday sense: the time, past, present or future. The second answer is called the aspect, and it is the part almost nobody explains. Aspect is the shape of the action inside its time.
There are four shapes, and it helps to picture each one on a time line.
One whole action. You are not interested in how long it took.
I walked.
In the middle of happening at that moment. Built from be plus the -ing form.
I was walking.
Already finished before the moment you are talking about, and it still counts there. Built from have plus the third form.
I had walked.
Running for a stretch of time that leads right up to that moment. Built from have been plus -ing.
I had been walking.
Now cross the two. Three times down the side, four aspects across the top. Every box is a real tense with a real name, and the whole of English tense lives inside this one rectangle.
On a phone, slide the grid sideways with your finger. It is meant to stay one rectangle.
Look down any column and only the time changes. Look across any row and only the shape changes. The red words are the helping verbs doing the work, and there are only three of them in the whole grid: be, have and will. That is the entire tense system of English, and you have just read all of it.
This is how you name any tense you meet, and how you build any tense you need. Two questions, in that order, every time.
When did it sit? Past, present or future.
How did it sit? Dot, line, tick, or line and tick.
Try it on a sentence you have never seen before.
By the time the guests arrived, my mother had been cooking for three hours.
Question 1, when? The guests arriving is already over, so the whole sentence sits in the past.
Question 2, how? The cooking was running for a stretch that led right up to that arrival, so it is a line ending in a tick.
Past plus perfect continuous. Go to the grid, bottom right of the past row, and there it is: had been cooking. You did not remember that tense. You worked it out.
Do it in that order. If you try to name the tense from the shape of the words first, you will keep confusing the past perfect with the present perfect, because had and have look almost the same in a hurry. The time word settles it before you look at the verb at all.
A helping verb, also called an auxiliary verb, is a verb that carries no meaning of its own and exists only to build a tense around a main verb. In she is reading, reading is the main verb and is does the building.
Here is the part that makes twelve tenses easy. The helpers never swap places. They climb in this exact order, always.
she will have been writingAll four rungs in use.
Every tense in the grid is this ladder with some rungs left out. Nothing else changes.
All four rungs: she will have been working.
Rungs 2 and 4: she has worked.
Rungs 3 and 4: she is working.
Rung 4 alone: she works.
So here is the test. Write the rungs you need in that order and cross out the ones you do not. It cannot come out wrong, because the order is fixed. Nobody in English has ever said she been will working.
A modal is a special helping verb that changes how certain, how allowed or how able something is, rather than when it happened. The full set is short enough to learn in a minute: can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will and would.
She must finish it. She might finish it. She can finish it.
Same action, three different levels of pressure. Modals have two habits that never break, and both are worth marks in an exam.
1. A modal never takes an s. She cans swim. She can swim.
2. The verb straight after a modal is always the plain form. She must finished. She must finish.
Every verb owns three forms, and exam papers label them V1, V2 and V3.
For a rule keeper, the verbs that behave, V2 and V3 are the same word and both just take -ed. Walked and walked. That is why nobody notices V3 exists until they meet a rule breaker. Eat goes eat, ate, eaten. Write goes write, wrote, written. Those are the ones that get marked wrong.
Now the test, and it is three lines long. You never have to decide which form to use. The word immediately in front decides for you.
After will or any modal: the plain V1.
After have, has, had: always V3.
After am, is, are, was, were, be, been: always -ing.
She has eaten. Not has ate.
She will eat. Not will ate.
She was eating. Not was ate.
Why this test is worth more than a list. Have and had are the only words in English that demand V3, so the moment you see one, you know exactly what comes next before you have even thought about the tense. Most past participle mistakes are made by students who know the word eaten perfectly well and simply were not looking at what came before it.
Some verbs need something to land on. Others do not, and forcing one on them makes a sentence that no reader can follow.
A verb that lands on something is transitive, and the thing it lands on is the object. A verb that lands on nothing is intransitive.
Run the test out loud. Say the subject, say the verb, then ask what? or whom?
Ali kicked. Kicked what? The ball. Transitive, and the ball is the object.
Ali arrived. Arrived what? Nothing can answer. Intransitive.
If a word in the sentence answers the question, the verb is transitive. If the question sounds silly, it is intransitive. That is the whole test.
They feel unfinished on their own.
bring, buy, carry, enjoy, need, write
They are complete with nothing after them.
arrive, come, die, fall, go, sleep
Plenty of verbs work either way. Ask the question again for each sentence.
She sings loudly. She sings a ghazal.
A word after the verb is not automatically an object. Only answer what or whom counts.
He slept badly. Badly answers how, not what. Still intransitive.
Why it is worth knowing. Only a transitive verb can be turned into the passive, because the passive works by moving the object to the front. The ball was kicked works. Was arrived does not. That is Level 4, and this test is the door into it.
Do not try to memorise twelve names. Learn the four aspect shapes on their own, because they are the same four in every time, and then move one sentence up and down a column. Ten minutes on the grid beats an hour on a list, and the free chart on this page has a blank grid so you can fill it in from memory and check it against the filled one overleaf.
The marker word is the fastest way to name a tense. Cover the right hand column and test yourself.
| Tense | How it is built | Example | Words that give it away |
|---|---|---|---|
| Present simple | V1, plus s for he, she, it | She writes letters. | every day, usually, always |
| Present continuous | am, is, are plus -ing | She is writing a letter. | right now, at the moment |
| Present perfect | have or has plus V3 | She has written the letter. | already, just, yet, so far |
| Present perfect continuous | have or has been plus -ing | She has been writing all morning. | since, for two hours |
| Past simple | V2 | She wrote a letter. | yesterday, last week, in 2019 |
| Past continuous | was or were plus -ing | She was writing when I called. | while, all afternoon, when I called |
| Past perfect | had plus V3 | She had written it before I called. | before, by the time, already by then |
| Past perfect continuous | had been plus -ing | She had been writing for an hour. | for an hour before that |
| Future simple | will plus V1 | She will write tomorrow. | tomorrow, next week, soon |
| Future continuous | will be plus -ing | She will be writing at nine. | this time tomorrow, at nine |
| Future perfect | will have plus V3 | She will have written it by Friday. | by Friday, by then |
| Future perfect continuous | will have been plus -ing | She will have been writing for a year by June. | for a year by June |
The V3 column is the one worth learning, because it is the one that only shows up after have, has and had.
| V1, plain | V2, past | V3, after have | Where students slip |
|---|---|---|---|
| be | was, were | been | has been, never has was |
| begin | began | begun | had begun, never had began |
| break | broke | broken | has broken, never has broke |
| do | did | done | have done, never have did |
| drink | drank | drunk | had drunk, never had drank |
| eat | ate | eaten | has eaten, never has ate |
| go | went | gone | has gone, never has went |
| see | saw | seen | have seen, never have saw |
| speak | spoke | spoken | had spoken, never had spoke |
| take | took | taken | has taken, never has took |
| write | wrote | written | has written, never has wrote |
The full hundred rule breakers, grouped into families, are on the free irregular verb list from Level 2. The families still work here. All you are adding is the third column.
Check the four tests straight away. These can be read on screen, printed, or worked through on paper. Tap Show the answer, and the reason is given every time.
1. Name the tense. She has been waiting at the gate since noon.
B. Present perfect continuous. Since noon means the waiting began earlier and is still running now, which is a line ending at this moment. Has been plus the -ing form is the present perfect continuous.
2. Which sentence is correct?
B. The children have eaten their lunch. Run the after test. After have, has or had the verb must be V3, and the V3 of eat is eaten. Ate is V2 and is only used on its own, as in they ate at six.
3. Complete the sentence. By the time we reached the stadium, the match ____ already started.
B. had. Both events are in the past and the starting finished first, so it is the past perfect: had plus V3. Has would drag the sentence into the present, and was would need an -ing form after it.
4. Which sentence is in the future perfect?
C. She will have written the report by Friday. Will have plus V3 is the future perfect, and by Friday is the marker that gives it away. A is future simple and B is future continuous.
5. Which words are the helping verbs in this sentence? They will have finished the painting by Sunday.
A. will have. Finished carries the meaning, so it is the main verb sitting on rung four. Will and have are the helpers that build the tense around it and carry no meaning of their own.
6. Does the verb take an object here? The baby slept for six hours.
B. Intransitive. Run the what test. Slept what? Nothing in the sentence can answer. For six hours tells you how long, not what, so there is no object and the verb travels alone.
7. Choose the correct verb. Ali ____ his homework already, so he is free now.
B. has finished. Already is a present perfect marker: the job is done and it still matters right now, which is why he is free. Has plus V3 is the present perfect.
8. What is the V3 form of write?
B. written. Write goes write, wrote, written. Wrote is V2 and stands alone in the past simple. Written is V3 and only appears after have, has, had or a be form.
9. Which sentence is correct?
B. She can swim very fast. Can is a modal, and a modal is always followed by the plain V1 form. Modals also never take an s themselves, so cans is never a word.
10. Which tense is used here? This time tomorrow we will be flying to Islamabad.
B. Future continuous. This time tomorrow points to a moment in the future, and the flying will be in the middle of happening at that moment, which is a line. Will be plus -ing is the future continuous.
Ready for more? The 24 marked exercises further down the page tell you at once whether you are right, and the free worksheet PDF has 52 questions in six parts with a full answer key.
The verb team is highlighted, with the working underneath. Cover the working and see whether you get there first.
Right now the engineers are testing the new bridge.
Right now answers the first question, so the time is present. The action is in the middle of happening, which is a line, so the aspect is continuous. Present plus continuous is built from be plus -ing, and are is the be form that goes with engineers.
By the time the umpire arrived, the boys had already left.
Two past events, and one of them finished first. The whole sentence sits in the past, and the leaving was over before the arriving, which is a tick placed earlier. Past plus perfect is had plus V3. Leave is a rule breaker, so its V3 is left, not leaved.
She has been revising since seven this morning.
Since seven means the revising started in the past and is still running now, so the time is present and the shape is a line ending at this moment. Present plus perfect continuous is has been plus -ing. Watch the helper ladder order: have before be, every time.
The results will have been announced by Friday.
By Friday points forward to a moment that has not come yet, and the announcing will be finished before it, so the tense is future perfect. All the helpers are in ladder order: will, then have, then been. This one is also passive, which is Level 4 work, but the ladder is the same ladder.
Every evening my grandfather waters the roses.
Every evening means present simple, and grandfather is one person, so the verb takes the s you learned in Level 2. Now run the what test as well. Waters what? The roses. So waters is transitive here and the roses is the object.
The old clock in the hallway stopped at midnight.
At midnight with no other clue is a finished moment in the past, so past simple. Run the what test: stopped what? Nothing in the sentence can answer. At midnight tells you when, not what, so stopped is intransitive here.
No score here and no pressure. Run the two question test: when first, then how. Press Hint whenever you are stuck.
A sentence appears with the verb missing. Tap the time, then tap the aspect, and the game builds the form for you. Sixty seconds. Every three in a row doubles your points, and a wrong tap costs three seconds.
One link has been pulled out of the chain. Put it back. Look at the time words and at the shape of the main verb, because between them they leave only one answer. Twelve rounds.
Press Start to play
Read the sentence, say the verb in your head and ask what. If a word answers, the verb is carrying an object. If nothing answers, it is travelling alone. Ten rounds, and the object is named for you either way.
Press Start and read carefully.
Five parts. Every right answer earns 25 XP, which is simply a points score for this level, and fills the bar above until the badges unlock. A wrong answer costs nothing, so try again.
Think first, then tap to check.
I never take an s, not even for he or she. Whatever verb follows me must strip down to its plainest form. I do not tell you when something happened, only how sure, how allowed or how able it is. What am I?
A modal verb: can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will or would.
I am rung two on the ladder. The moment I appear, the verb behind me has to change into its third form. Walk barely notices me, but eat becomes eaten and go becomes gone. What am I?
The helper have, in its three shapes: have, has and had.
Say the verb, then ask me what. Sometimes a word in the sentence answers and I am standing right there. Sometimes nothing answers at all, and the verb has to manage without me. What am I?
The object, which is what makes a verb transitive.
School grammar and every exam board teach twelve, and that is the answer a student should give. The twelve come from three times, past, present and future, crossed with four aspects, simple, continuous, perfect and perfect continuous. Three fours are twelve, which is why this page teaches them as one grid rather than twelve rules. It is worth knowing that many linguists count only two true tenses, past and present, and treat the future and the aspects separately, because English marks the future with the helping verb will rather than by changing the verb ending. That debate does not change what appears on a paper.
A helping verb, also called an auxiliary verb, is a verb that carries no meaning of its own and exists only to build a tense around the main verb. English has three of them for tense: be, have and will. In she has been reading, reading is the main verb and has been are the helpers. This page teaches them as a ladder, because the helpers always appear in the same order, will first, then have, then be, then the main verb, and that order never changes in any of the twelve tenses.
A modal is a kind of helping verb, so every modal is a helper but not every helper is a modal. An ordinary helper such as have or be tells you when something happened. A modal tells you how certain, how allowed or how able it is: can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will and would. Modals have two habits that never break. They never take an s, so cans and musts do not exist, and the verb straight after a modal is always the plain form, so she must finish is right and she must finished is wrong.
They are the three forms every verb owns. V1 is the plain form you would find in a dictionary, such as write. V2 is the past form used on its own, wrote. V3 is the past participle, written, and it only appears after have, has, had or a form of be. For regular verbs, the ones this site calls rule keepers, V2 and V3 are the same word and both simply take -ed, which is why many students never notice V3 exists until they meet an irregular verb. Has wrote and have ate are the two most common mistakes in the whole of school grammar, and both are V2 sitting where V3 belongs.
A transitive verb needs something to land on, and that thing is called the object. An intransitive verb is complete on its own. The test is to say the subject and the verb and then ask what, or whom. Ali kicked what? The ball, so kicked is transitive and the ball is the object. Ali arrived what? Nothing can answer, so arrived is intransitive. Many verbs work either way depending on the sentence, so the test is run per sentence rather than learned as a list. This also matters later, because only a transitive verb can be turned into the passive voice.
Yes. There are two free PDFs on this page. The worksheet has a lesson recap, practice in six parts and a full answer key at the back, with 52 marks in total. The twelve tenses chart walks a single verb across all twelve cells on the first page, gives a blank grid to fill in from memory on the second, and prints the filled grid with time markers on the third, so it works as a revision poster and as a test. There is no sign up and no fee, and teachers may print class sets.
It matches Grade 6 to Grade 9 in the United States and Canada, Year 7 to Year 10 in the United Kingdom, Class 6 to Class 9 in Pakistan and India, and Year 6 to Year 9 in Australia. It also works as revision for an older student preparing for a board or international paper who wants the whole tense system on one page before moving on to passive voice and reported speech.
Numrahedu is an independent educational resource. All explanations, questions, games and worksheets on this page are original work produced by Numrahedu.