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Tenses

How verbs change to show when actions happen.

Tenses show the time of an action or state. English has three main time frames — past, present, and future — each with simple, continuous, perfect, and perfect continuous aspects.

Tenses are verb forms that indicate the time of an action or state — whether it happens in the present, happened in the past, or will happen in the future.

Present: She writes a letter.

Past: She wrote a letter.

Future: She will write a letter.

English has 12 main tense forms: 4 present, 4 past, and 4 future.