Verb Tenses Explained, With Examples

16 Tenses in English Grammar (Formula and Examples) Ultimate Guide

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Tense is a modal aspect of the verb. There are 16 tenses in English Grammar in all. The tenses refer to the time of an action or state.

The time of the state is not indicated by the tense. For example, if I say: I run (state); I run (present tense); I ran (past tense); I will run (future tense) – it does not say when I run – right now, yesterday, or tomorrow.
In this blog post, we will look at 16 tenses in English grammar. For each of these 16 tenses, we will see the formula, the structure, and the definition.
16 Tenses in English Grammar
English Grammar is a very complex language and tenses are one of the basic things to learn and master the grammar. There are a lot of rules and even more exceptions.
The table of content shows 16 tenses. Let’s explain them briefly one by one.
Past Tense
The past tense is used for events that have already taken place, like “I ate dinner last night”. It has four types, simple past, past continuous, past perfect, and past perfect continuous tense.
Simple Past Tense
Definition
Simple past tense is used to describe actions that occurred in the past, which were completed at a definite time and are not happening currently.
For example, “I went to school yesterday.”
Simple past tense is used in stories with a definite beginning and end. It’s often used to talk about what someone did or experienced on a particular day or to talk about the weather.
Structure/Formula
Subject + main verb(+ed) or second form of verb
Examples

1. 
   Yesterday I went to the market.
   
2. 
   Did you ride your bike this morning?
   
3. 
   The bus was late, so I missed the train.
   
4. 
   She tried to make us feel better, but it didn’t work.
   
5. 
   He did not know you were kidding when you said that.