There are many languages. And in most of them, times play a key role. With their help, we can determine exactly when an action occurs. Each of us is well familiar with the times of the Russian language. There are only three of them. Therefore, there are no special problems with them when studying.

In this regard, the English language gives us a more difficult task. There are as many as 16 times here. It looks terrifying. But in reality everything is simple.

When you opened this article, you undoubtedly had only one goal in mind. Understand this topic. Definitely having a little difficulty with them. In this case, in this article you can familiarize yourself with tips that will help you once and for all distinguish and understand the logic of English tenses.

Create certain images in your head

To correctly understand times, it is necessary to imagine a certain situation that will correspond to the time passage. Despite the fact that there are only 12 of them, it is quite easy to distinguish them. Especially if you use this method.

For example, most people find it difficult to distinguish between Past Simple and Past Continuous. In order to understand this situation, you need to remember that Past Simple denotes a one-time action in the past, and Past Continuous means some process in the past.

Most textbooks describe this difference very dryly. That's why there are so many questions with times.

To understand the difference, just imagine a person clapping his hands. If he clapped only once and called it a day, then it is Past Simple. If the same action was continuous and continued until a certain moment, for example, his phone rang, then this is Past Continuous. Since he was carrying out the process (clapping his hands), but then suddenly it was interrupted by another action.

This example shows very well the usefulness of this method. You can create any images. It doesn’t matter what, as long as it is clear to you.

There are many useful channels that explain English tenses and the English language in general in a very accessible and clear way.

Since the information is often presented there in a rather restrained manner. No further explanation. Although this is precisely the kind of explanation that beginners need. Therefore, video is the best option. The teacher explains many nuances and interacts with you in the comments and answers questions. This advice is especially suitable for those who have a very developed auditory memory.

Organize your study plan

If you think that you can learn everything in a day or a week, then you are mistaken. There are many nuances that cannot be understood in one lesson. Knowledge must come gradually.

If you start learning everything at once, without a specific order, you will quickly get confused.

The next day you won't remember anything. There is absolutely no point in such training. Therefore, this advice is probably one of the most important for beginners. Of course, you want to learn everything quickly and easily. You can't wait to use them correctly. But don't rush.

You can take a piece of paper and write down your curriculum in detail. Indicate on which days you work in the present, on which days in the past, or in the future.

This also saves time. Instead of choosing what materials to study, you can simply look at your schedule and distribute your workload throughout the day.

Beacon words

There are certain beacon words in English that can tell you which tense is best to use. This is the best tip for a beginner.

• For example, for Present Perfect tenses one can distinguish: just, already, yet.
• And the Present Continuous tense usually refers to: now, at the moment.

The easiest way to learn these words is to draw a table where you indicate all the tenses, and then add the corresponding beacon words to them.

It's quite convenient. Sometimes it is indeed very difficult to determine the correct time. And it is the words-beacons that come to the rescue. They may not always be there, but their presence clearly makes the task easier. Below are the most useful and most common. It is advisable to consider and learn them.

Practice often

There are many resources to help you practice your English skills. They can be either paid or free. But, to be honest, you shouldn’t focus your attention on cost, because they have the same goal. The main thing is desire.

English grammar seems complicated and confusing to beginners. However, first impressions are deceiving. For example, the tense system is an example of a clearly thought-out and logically constructed scheme that allows you to understand the time of events at the first glance at the verb. Desperate to grasp this logic and comprehend the essence of each aspect? Don't worry! The purpose of today's article is to explain in detail all the tenses in English for dummies, beginners and all those who dedicatedly learned the theory, but still do not know how to apply the memorized rules in practice.

Let's start with a general explanation of the English tense system.

In Russian speech we use three types of tense: present, past and future. In the English language, there are more than 12 types, as many believe. But this is not entirely the right approach.

In fact, the British have exactly the same 3 types of time, but each of them is divided into 4 more subtypes:

• – just an action;
• - an action taking place at a specific moment in time.
• – completed action;
• Perfect Continuous - an action that has been going on for some time, brings certain results, but has not yet been completed.

If you know how to understand these semantic shades, then the use of tenses will not cause any problems. We will try to develop this skill and provide accessible explanations for each aspect.

All the rules for tenses in English for dummies

Here we will find examples of all possible tense groups, an explanation of their use and detailed information about sentence construction.

Present

If for us the present is everything that relates to a given moment, then for the British the present plays with four different colors.

1) Present Simple

Facts, everyday actions, abilities, skills. This aspect carries the most generalized understanding of time.

• I write poems - I write poetry(always, every day, never, often, rarely).
• He writes poems– in the 3rd person the predicate is always supplemented with –s.

For questions and negatives, remember to use the auxiliary do.

3) Present Perfect

The result of a completed action. Such sentences are always translated into Russian using perfective verbs (what did you do?). In this case, the duration of action is not indicated specifically, but approximately.

• I have written poems- I wrote poetry(just now, already, not yet, once upon a time, by such and such a day, hour, month).

All types of statements are constructed using the auxiliary verb have (for the 3rd person has).

4) Present Perfect Continuous

An action that has already brought some results, but is not yet completed. The extent of events over time is emphasized.

• I have been writing poemssince2005 – I write poetry since 2005(from childhood, from such and such a time, from ... to, all day, during, recently).

2) Past Continuous

Events took place at a specific moment in the past.

• She was writing this letter at 5 o’clock yesterday –ShewroteThisletteryesterdayat 5hours(at that moment).

4) Past Perfect Continuous

An action that continued for a long time and was completed at a certain point in the past.

• She had been writing theletterforafewdaysbeforeshesentit– She wrote this letter for several days before sending it.(before when).

2) Future Continuous

The action is planned to take place at a specific point in the future.

• I will be flying to Spain at this time tomorrow –TomorrowVThistimeIwillflyVSpain.

4) Future Perfect Continuous

The action will last until a certain point in the future. This aspect is used in speech extremely rarely.

• By April 15, I will have been living in Spain for 3 months –K 15AprilIwillliveVSpainalready 3month.

We hope we have coped with the task and clarified the tenses in English even for dummies. To consolidate the theory you have learned, we recommend solving practical exercises on verb tenses in English.

Good luck in improving your knowledge and see you again!

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Anyone who has studied English as a foreign language, and even more so those who have chosen the profession of teaching English at school, lyceum, gymnasium or university, knows that the greatest difficulty for speakers of Russian is the “tens” of the English verb. Indeed, if anyone who speaks Russian as a native language knows that there are three tenses, then what bewilderment should be caused by English grammars, which state that in this language there are not three or five tenses, but twelve. However, the presence of twelve tenses recorded in grammars as a fact very rarely raises a puzzled question in anyone: what other tenses are there in the English language, besides the present, past and future? Try to answer it! Doesn't work? Don't waste your time. Because, besides the three mentioned, there are no other times and cannot be. In no language in the world (and there are several thousand of them) the number of verb tenses expressed in special grammatical forms does not exceed the “magic” number “three”. There may be less than three. There are languages ​​with only two forms of tenses (for example, “past” “non-past”), there are languages ​​without verb tenses at all, but there are no languages ​​where there are more than three of these tenses.

The name of any of the twelve English tenses begins with one of three words: Present, Past, Future. There are four kinds of present, four kinds of past and four kinds of future, which are known as Simple, Progressive, Perfect and Perfect Progressive. In Russian there is a similar picture, only there are fewer forms: one present (I am going), two past (I went/came) and two future (I will go/I will come). Strictly speaking, if we agree that there are 12 tenses in the English language, then we should talk about at least five tenses in Russian (in fact, there are even more). But for some reason we don't do this. Why? Yes, because we understand perfectly well that both went and came - forms of the past tense. Just as an English speaker understands that I work, I am working, I have worked and I have been working are all present tense forms.

The difficulties that English language learners encounter in mastering the grammatical forms of the verb (not only with the grammatical category of tenses, but also the passive voice) are caused by the fact that in the educational literature there is no clear theoretical understanding of the meanings and functions of verb forms, which would allow a simple explanation , what is their purpose. In other words, you need to understand well why such categories as tense, aspect, voice are needed in a language in order to clearly and simply explain the principles of functioning of the corresponding forms. This understanding provides a cognitive approach to language as a system for representing knowledge.

In accordance with this approach, any grammatical category serves to express and preserve certain knowledge in a language. Compared to the lexicon, grammar is a more abstract system, therefore the knowledge presented in it is universal in the sense that it is important for the normal functioning of society: it does not matter what language members of society communicate with each other. This means that grammatical categories, which have different expressions in different languages, differ little from each other in content. That is why translation from one language (for example, Russian) to another (for example, English) is possible.

Why are the categories of time and aspect needed? Using the category of time, a person divides the entire world around him into three spheres of experience: 1) experience directly included in the sphere of perceived and conscious reality, or the present (present from the Latin praesens - mo, which is before the senses); 2) experience, preserved as a memory of what has passed by our senses, or the past (past); 3) experience, which is predicted on the basis of existing knowledge, or the future (future). It is very important to understand here that, unlike the English language, in Russian there is no one-to-one correspondence between these concepts and the so-called forms of the verb. Consider the following situation as an example.

Dad went on a business trip some time ago. Vova is studying homework in her room, mom is preparing dinner in the kitchen. The doorbell rings. The boy opens the door and, at the sight of his father, joyfully announces: “Mom, dad has arrived!”

In any school (and not only school) grammar it will be indicated that he has arrived (in this case) - the perfect past tense form denotes an action that took place in the past and was completed at the time of speech. This is a traditional approach to which all speakers of Russian are accustomed (especially since this is knowledge that none of us ever uses in practice: after all, we all learned our native language, including grammar, in infancy, when we still had no idea neither about time, nor about aspect, nor about other subtleties of grammatical science). But when studying English as a foreign language, this approach no longer suits us, since it does not allow us to correlate what we know about our native language with what we find in a foreign language. The cognitive approach focuses on answering the question: “What exactly does the boy tell his mother?” In this case, his exclamation is interpreted as follows: “I see dad. Since some point in the past, I have not seen him, that is, he was not at home, since he went on a business trip. Now dad is here again, which means he has arrived ( logical inference based on the boy's background knowledge)." In other words, the meaning of the boy’s exclamation is: “Daddy is home again (I see him again).” But this is the present time. And in the English language, where the correspondence between tense concepts and tense forms of the verb is much more consistent than in Russian, the present tense form will, of course, be used. Another question is, which of the four possible: Simple, Progressive, Perfect or Perfect Progressive? And here a correct (i.e. cognitive) understanding of the species category comes to the rescue.

Using the category of type, a person differentiates knowledge by its source: we know about something because we saw (heard, felt, etc.) it ourselves, and we know about something because this knowledge was transmitted to us in ready-made (someone said, read about it, learned at school, etc. - the possibilities here are very diverse). This distinction is very important, and in everyday activities we take it into account at a subconscious level all the time. We are all well aware of the proverb “It is better to see once than to hear a hundred times.” Its meaning is that what is seen with one’s own eyes, as a rule, is not questioned, while knowledge received from someone else’s hands is not always necessarily reliable. In this regard, look what happens if in the above situation the boy uses an imperfect one instead of the perfect form of the verb: “Mom, dad came!” Although formally this statement is grammatically correct, it cannot be used in our situation because that is not how they say it. But they don’t say that because the arrived form does not contain any indication that at the moment of the statement the boy sees his father, whereas the arrived form contains such an indication.

The difference between the Russian language and English is that in Russian this kind of semantic differences are very often conveyed not by special verb forms, but by context. Compare the following examples: Ivan smokes, despite doctors’ warnings; Look, Ivan is smoking again, despite the doctors’ warnings. In the first case, we are talking about what we know about Ivan, and it is not at all necessary that Ivan be before our eyes; he may even be in another city, even in another country. In the second case, we are talking about what we directly observe: this is directly indicated by the verb look. In English, everything is much simpler, because there these semantic differences are conveyed by special (specific) forms of the verb: Simple and Progressive, respectively. Note that the term view comes from the verb to see (which is etymologically related to the Latin videre - to see and the Greek eidos - that which is visible).

But so far we have talked about two types of knowledge, to which two types correspond: one knowledge has a definite source of information (for example, the boy in the example given), and the other has an indefinite source (for example, saying Ivan smokes, I do not make it clear how I know about this ). There are four forms of the English verb. Why so many?

Yes, because situations when we talk about what we directly observe can differ significantly, depending on what exactly we see (hear, etc.). When I say: Look, Ivan is smoking again, I have the opportunity to observe the smoking process itself (he holds a cigarette in his hand, brings it to his mouth, inhales the smoke and then releases it - an action, generally speaking, meaningless and harmful). But if mom, meeting Ivan, smells tobacco smoke emanating from his clothes and asks: Have you been smoking again?, she asks a question based on what she perceives at the moment of speech (in this case, through the olfactory organs), and this, of course, present time. But she does not observe the actual action of smoking; only certain signs are available to her perception, indicating that Ivan smoked. To express this cognitive meaning, the English language has its own special form of the verb - Perfect. This form is used when we compare what we see with what happened before (for example, in the morning Ivan didn’t smell, but now he smells like tobacco, which means he smoked). Finally, there may be cases when we talk about a directly observed action and at the same time compare what we see with what we saw at some moment (or at some moments) before. For example, I see that Ivan is smoking now, but I also saw him smoking before, throughout the day. In this case, two forms are combined that express different cognitive meanings, and we get the Perfect Progressive form, which is very disliked by many students, although in fact it is not simple, but very simple.

The explanations given (naturally, in a very brief form) of the cognitive content of English verb forms can be summarized in the form of a very simple algorithm that allows you to almost accurately select the correct form of the verb.

Algorithm for choosing aspectual verb form:

• Decide for yourself what time it is that you are going to say (Present, Past, Future).
• Decide for yourself what you are going to talk about: what you see (saw, will see), or what you know (knew, will know).
  • If you are talking about what you see, ask yourself: “What exactly am I seeing?”
    • I see the action itself → Use the form Progressive
    • I see signs (traces) of action → Use the form Perfect
    • I see the action itself and compare what I see now with what I saw before -> Use the form Perfect Progressive
  • If about what you know (no matter where) → use the form Simple

This algorithm, as an integral part of the methodology for teaching the grammatical forms of the English verb, is described in the textbook “English Verb. New Grammar for Everyone” (Kravchenko A. V. (ed.), Irkutsk, 1999).

Moreover, a cognitive approach to English tenses makes it possible to clearly see that there are no so-called exceptions regarding the use of verbs of various groups in certain grammatical forms. So, any verb (for example, see, know, remember, like, etc.) can be used in the Progressive form, you just need to know when this can and should be done, and when it cannot. The simple principle that determines the choice of passive or active voice in speech becomes clear; especially since this principle is exactly the same as in the Russian language.

In short, it turns out that there is nothing complex and incomprehensible in the system of grammatical forms of the English verb. As practice shows, a thinking person (no matter a schoolchild, student or adult) learns the meaning and functions of English tenses in a short time. The rest is a matter of technique, training students in using the forms themselves and automating the selection algorithm.

A. V. Kravchenko, Irkutsk

Times in English represent perhaps the greatest difficulty in understanding, remembering and applying. Today we give several recommendations that will make your life easier and allow you to master the tenses in the most effective way.

Let us immediately note that we are not considering the formation of tenses: as practice shows, this is not a problem for English language learners. It is quite easy to learn the patterns, but understanding the use of tenses is not at all easy. So let's get started...

• Understanding the names

There are, in principle, only three tenses in English - Present (present), Past (past) and Future (future). However, the situation is complicated by the fact that each named time can have four types. Those. The present tense has four types, the past and future also have four types. What types of tenses exist?

The first type of tenses is called Simple. Thus, there are Past Simple (past simple) and Future Simple (future simple).

The second type of tense is called Continuous (continued, long). Accordingly, tenses can be (present continuous), Past Continuous (past continuous) and Future Continuous (future continuous).

The third type is called Perfect. Thus, there are (present perfect), Past Perfect (past perfect) and Future Perfect (future perfect).

The last type of tense combines the names of the previous two and is called Perfect Continuous. Accordingly, the tenses can be (present perfect continuous), Past Perfect Continuous (past perfect continuous) and Future Perfect Continuous (future perfect continuous).

As you can see, you need to remember, on the one hand, the names of tenses (Present, Past, Future), and on the other, their types (Simple, Continuous, Perfect, Perfect Continuous).

By the way, in many textbooks the first two types of tenses may be called differently. Instead of Simple you can find the term Indefinite, and instead of Continuous - Progressive. You should know that these terms are used interchangeably.

The name of a specific time consists of the name of the time itself and its type, for example: Present Simple, Past Continuous, etc.

• Understand and remember meanings

The next key point you need to remember is that each type of time has its own meaning. Next, we will analyze each type separately.

Remember the meaning of the form Simple - a) simple action, fact; b) regular, repeated action. Simple conveys its meaning to specific tenses. So, Present Simple means: a) a simple action, a fact in the present tense; b) regular, repeated action in the present tense. For example: “The earth revolves around the sun” is a fact, so when translating this sentence into English we will use the Present Simple. Another example: “This boy gets sick often” is a regular, repeated action, so when translating into English we will also use the Present Simple.

Past Simple means: a) a simple action, a fact in the past; b) regular, repeated action in the past. For example: “Moscow was founded by Yuri Dolgoruky” is a fact of the past, therefore, when translating this sentence into English, we will use the Past Simple. Another example: “As a child, I was often sick” is a regular, repeated action, so when translating into English we will also use the Past Simple.

Future Simple means: a) a simple action, a fact in the future; b) regular, repeated action in the future. For example: “Next year I will move to Germany” is a designation of the fact of the future, so we use the Future Simple. “He will visit you often” is a regular, repeated action, hence again Future Simple.

So, we've dealt with Simple, now let's move on to Continuous. Everything is much simpler here. Remember the most basic meaning - process. It is the meaning of the process that Continuous conveys to specific times.

Present Continuous denotes a process in the present. For example: “He is sleeping now” is a process in the present tense, so when translating into English we will resort to the Present Continuous.

Past Continuous denotes a process at a certain point in the past. For example: “Yesterday at six o’clock he was sleeping.”

Future Continuous denotes a process at a certain point in the future. For example: “Tomorrow at six o’clock he will be asleep.”

Now let's look at Perfect. Remember the key value of this type is the result. This meaning is conveyed to specific times.

Present Perfect denotes the result to date. For example: “I wrote a letter. I'm free." The act of writing a letter itself is no longer completed, it is over, but by now the result remains from it - a letter ready to be sent.

Past Perfect denotes the result at a certain moment in the past. For example: “I wrote a letter in the evening.” In the evening, the act of writing a letter was no longer completed, it was over, but the result remained from it - a letter ready to be sent.

Future Perfect denotes a result at a certain point in the future. For example: “I will write a letter by evening.” In the evening, the action of writing a letter will no longer take place, it will be completed, but the result will remain from it - a letter ready to be sent.

And finally, let's look at the Perfect Continuous. Remember the main meaning - a process lasting a specified amount of time. This meaning will be transferred to specific times.

Thus, Present Perfect Continuous denotes a process that lasts a specific time and continues at the present moment. For example: “He has been sleeping for three hours.”

Past Perfect Continuous denotes a process that lasted a specified amount of time until a certain point in the past. For example: “He had been asleep for three hours when you returned.” This sentence contains a moment of the past - your return. Until this moment, the process was taking place - he was sleeping. The process lasted the specified amount of time - three hours.

Future Perfect Continuous denotes a process that will last a certain amount of time at some point in the future. For example: “He will sleep for three hours before you return.”

To finally understand the tenses of the English language, we recommend watching a lecture on this topic (in Russian). This lecture discusses in detail the issue of formation and use of tenses of the active voice.

When learning English, even the most dedicated beginners have difficulty with tenses. After all, in English, unlike Russian, there are as many as 12 tense forms. Despite this, the system of English tenses is logical, orderly and strictly obeys the laws of grammar.

Learning all the rules for using verbs seems very difficult at first glance. But this is only at first glance. The easiest and most effective way to master all 12 tenses is to use tables that concisely and clearly present material about the formation and use of tenses in the English language.

Everyone knows from school that there are only three tenses in the Russian language - present/past/future. In English there are also three of them - present/past/future, but each tense, depending on the duration of the action, can be of 4 types: simple, continuous, perfect and perfect continuous. As a result, there are 12 temporary forms.

Time formation table with examples

Table of tenses

Hint words to help

In the English language there are many so-called “clue words” or sign words that can tell you exactly what tense should be used in a given sentence. The ability to recognize such words greatly helps when choosing tenses. But one should take into account the fact that some of these feature words can be used in several groups of tenses.