The concept of time can be split into:

1.    The Present - What you are currently doing.

            I eat, I am eating

1.   The Past - What you did some time back.

            I ate, I was eating

1.   The Future - What you will do later.

            I will eat, I will be eating

In the English language, tenses play an important role in sentence formation.

The tense of a verb shows the time of an event or action.

There are four types of tenses. Simple, Perfect, Continuous and Present Perfect Continuous and each of these has a present, past and future form.

PRESENT TENSES

SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE

In Simple Present, the action is simply mentioned and there is nothing being said about its completeness.

      I eat.

      I sleep.

      I play.

PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE

In Present Continuous, the action is on-going/ still going on and hence continuous.

      I am eating.

      I am sleeping.

      I am playing.

PRESENT PERFECT TENSE

In Present Perfect, the action is complete or has ended and hence termed Perfect.

      I have eaten.

      I have slept.

      I have played.

PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE

In Present Perfect Continuous, the action has been taking place for some time and is still ongoing.

      I have been eating.

      I have been sleeping.

      I have been playing.

PAST TENSES

SIMPLE PAST TENSE

In Simple Past, the action is simply mentioned and understood to have taken place in the past.

      I ate.

      I slept.

      I played.

PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE

In Past Continuous, the action was ongoing till a certain time in the past.

      I was eating.

      I was sleeping.

      I was playing.

PAST PERFECT TENSE

Past Perfect is used to express something that happened before another action in the past.

      I had eaten.

      I had slept.

      I had played.

PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE

Past Perfect Continuous is used to express something that started in the past and continued until another time in the past.

      I had been eating.

      I had been sleeping.

      I had been playing.

FUTURE TENSES

SIMPLE FUTURE TENSE

Simple Future is used when we plan or make a decision to do something. Nothing is said about the time in the future.

      I will eat.

      I will sleep.

      I will play.

FUTURE CONTINUOUS TENSE

The future continuous tense is used to express action at a particular moment in the future. However, the action will not have finished at the moment.

      I will be eating at 9 a.m.

      I will be sleeping when you arrive.

      I will be playing at 5 p.m.

FUTURE PERFECT TENSE

Future Perfect expresses action that will occur in the future before another action in the future.

      I will have eaten before 10 a.m.

      I will have slept before you arrive.

      I will have played before 6 p.m.

FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE

Future Perfect Continuous is used to talk about an on-going action before some point in the future.

      I will have been sleeping for two hours when you arrive.

      I will have been playing for an hour when it is 5 p.m.