"How many times in English?" - This is the question usually asked by those who are just starting to learn the language. And at best they get the answer: “Oh, a lot! The names are complex and confusing! ” Well, at worst they start to scare them, sometimes even completely discouraging the acquisition or improvement of previously acquired knowledge.
From my point of view, everything is not so complicated. Rather, if you study the theory, then the theme "Tenses of verbs in English", like, by the way, any other, always turns into a set of incomprehensible terms and names. Such new and, I agree, far from the simplest and easiest to understand material should be submitted systematically and in small portions, and only in this case the student is guaranteed to succeed.
In principle, it seems to me that the question of how many times in the English language is not fundamental. The point is not in quantity, but in understanding information and putting it into practice.
So, English is a tense of verbs. A brief description of.
Just like in our native Russian, all actions expressed by the English verb can occur in the past (Past), present (Present) or future (Future).
In addition, the times of the English language are divided into four groups unusual for a Russian-speaking person:
• Group Simple / Indefinite. Describes an action as a fact that occurs continuously, regularly, or repeats from time to time.
• Continuous group. It characterizes what is happening in terms of its duration or extent. It is formed using the verb to be and adding the ending -ing to the main verb (predicate);
• The Perfect group. They testify that the action has already been completed at a certain point in time. Method of education: to have (has), performing the role of an auxiliary verb, + the form of the past participle;
• The Perfect-Continuous Group. It’s not at all difficult to guess from the name that it determines the characteristic features of the times of both a perfect and a long group: it describes an action that lasted for a certain period of time and ended before a certain point in time. 2 auxiliary verbs are used - to have (has) and been, and the main verb (predicate) gets the ending -ing.
And now be careful - in order to correctly calculate how many times in English, you need to remember that each of the groups listed above can be expressed both in the present, in the past and future tenses.
Those. as a result, we have twelve times.
1. Simple group:
• Present. simple time Present Simple Tense;
I usually wake up at 10. - I usually wake up at 10 o’clock.
• Past. simple time Past Simple Tense;
Yesterday I woke up at 10. - Yesterday I woke up at 10 o’clock.
• Future. simple time Future Simple Tense.
I'll wake up at 10 tomorrow. - Tomorrow I will wake up at 10 o’clock.
2. Continuous Group:
• Present. long time, English Present Continuous Tense;
Now I'm working. - At the moment I'm working.
• Past. long time, English Past Continuous Tense;
Yesterday I was working from 9 till 11. - Yesterday I worked from 9 to 11.
• Future. long time, English Future Continuous Tense.
Tomorrow at this very minute I'll be working. - Tomorrow at this time I will work.
3. Perfect group
• Present. perfect time Present Perfect Tense;
I've finished work by 10. - I finish work at 10 o’clock.
• Past. perfect time Past Perfect Tense;
Yesterday I had finished work by 10. - Yesterday I finished work at 10 o’clock.
• Future. perfect time Future Perfect Tense.
Tomorrow I'll have finish work by 10. - Tomorrow I will finish the work at 10 o’clock.
4. Perfect-Continuous Group:
• Present. accomplished, a long time, English Present Perfect-Continuous;
I've been staying in NY for 3 years already. “I have been living in New York for three years.”
• Past. accomplished, a long time, English Past Perfect-Continuous;
By 2011 I'd been living NY for 3 years already. - In 2011, I lived in New York for three years.
• Future. accomplished, a long time, English Future Perfect-Continuous.
By 2013 I'll have been staying in NY for five years. - In 2013, I will live in New York for 5 years.
We answered the question how many times in English. There are twelve, three times in each of the four groups. And, as you could see for yourself, although the system of tenses in this foreign language is not at all similar to the one we are used to using in our own, some parallels can still be drawn.
And I almost forgot about one very important nuance: the indisputable advantage of the English language is strict orderliness, logic and complete submission to the laws of grammar.