Here are some tips for you to understand the tenses a little bit more and to use them appropriately.

There are three categories of tenses (and no, I am not talking about the Past, Present and Future):

• The simple tenses;
• The progressive tenses;
• The perfect tenses.

The simple tenses are pretty basic so we will focus on the progressive and perfect tenses.

PROGRESSIVE TENSES
How to determine if your sentence is in a progressive tense? Look out for the –ING form! Indeed, the progressive tenses follow the same pattern, no matter if it’s a past, present or future action:  subject + verb to be + verb of action followed by –ing. It states an action that is ongoing.

Example:

• I am walking in the streets (present progressive form)
• I was walking in the streets (past progressive form)
• I will be walking in the streets (future progressive form)

PERFECT TENSES
The key to detect a perfect tense is the presence of the past participle after the verb to have or to be. Such as the progressive tenses, the perfect tenses respects the same patterns, no matter the period of time: subject + verb to have / to be + past participle of the verb of action. It states an action that is completed.

Example:

• I have done my homework (present perfect form)
• I had done my homework (past perfect form)
• I will have done my homework (future perfect form)

PERFECT PROGRESSIVE TENSES
As if it wasn’t complicated enough, here is a combo of the two latter categories. The way to detect this tense is simply the presence of the past participle of the verb to be after the verb to have, followed by a verb in the –ING form. The pattern is as followed: subject + verb to have + been + verb of action followed by –ing. It states an action that is ongoing and that will be completed before another action in the past, present or future according to which tense you use.

Example:

• I have been eating all afternoon, and I am full now (present perfect progressive form)
• I had been eating all afternoon, so I couldn’t eat at diner time (past perfect form)
• I will have been eating all afternoon by the time you arrive (future perfect form)