Verbs & Verb Tenses - Explanation and Exercises

All 12 tenses at a glance

English builds 12 tenses from three time frames (present, past, future) crossed with four aspects (simple, continuous, perfect, perfect continuous). Here's the full grid with one example for each.

Commonly confused tense pairs

Most tense mistakes come from a handful of pairs that overlap in meaning. Here's the quick distinction for each.

• Present simple vs. present continuous: habits and facts (I work in sales) vs. something happening right now or temporarily (I'm working on a new project this month).
• Past simple vs. past continuous: a completed action at a specific time (I left at 6pm) vs. an action in progress at a past moment, often interrupted (I was leaving when the phone rang).
• Simple past vs. present perfect: a finished action tied to a specific past time (I visited Rome in 2019) vs. an action with no fixed time, or one still relevant now (I have visited Rome three times).
• Past simple vs. past perfect: use the past perfect only when a sentence has two past events and the order between them matters (By the time I arrived, the train had already left).
• Will vs. going to: spontaneous decisions and predictions based on opinion (I think it will rain) vs. plans already decided or predictions based on visible evidence (Look at those clouds, it's going to rain).

Common mistakes to avoid

• Using the present perfect with a finished time word: ✗ I have seen him yesterday.  →  ✓ I saw him yesterday.
• Forgetting the third person -s in the present simple: ✗ She work every day.  →  ✓ She works every day.
• Using the wrong past participle: ✗ I have wrote the report.  →  ✓ I have written the report.
• Mixing tenses within one timeline: ✗ While I was cooking, my phone rings.  →  ✓ While I was cooking, my phone rang.