How many types of tense are there?
Are there 12 or 16 tenses in English? You might be surprised to know that in linguistic analysis, only two tenses are identified in English ◾The present tense. ◾The past tense. The future is not considered a tense because to form it, we need a helping verb, namely, the modal "will" or "shall". However, for pedagogical reasons, teachers prefer to focus on three major tenses in English: the present, past, and future. These three tenses may be used in combination with four different aspects: simple, progressive, perfect, and perfect progressive. What are the 16 tenses in English? The following table summarizes the 16 tenses in English: Present Past Future Conditional Simple I walk I walked I will walk I would walk Progressive I am walking I was walking I will be walking I would be walking Perfect I have walked I had walked I will have walked I would have walked Perfect Progressive I have been walking I had been walking I will have been walking I wou...