📊 English Tenses – Full Comparison Table

Simple | Continuous | Perfect | Perfect Continuous

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🔹 PRESENT TENSES

Tense	Structure	Main Usage	Example
Simple Present	V¹ / V¹+s	Habits, facts	I play cricket.
Present Continuous	am/is/are + V-ing	Action happening now	I am playing.
Present Perfect	has/have + V³	Result till now	I have played.
Present Perfect Continuous	has/have been + V-ing	Duration till now	I have been playing.

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🔹 PAST TENSES

Tense	Structure	Main Usage	Example
Simple Past	V²	Completed past action	I played.
Past Continuous	was/were + V-ing	Action in progress in past	I was playing.
Past Perfect	had + V³	Earlier past action	I had played.
Past Perfect Continuous	had been + V-ing	Duration before past time	I had been playing.

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🔹 KEY DIFFERENCE (Most Confusing)

Sentence	Meaning
I played.	Only past action
I was playing.	Action in progress
I had played.	Earlier past action
I had been playing.	Duration before past

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 FINAL SUMMARY

✔ Simple → fact / completed
✔ Continuous → action in progress
✔ Perfect → result / sequence
✔ Perfect Continuous → duration

— Shaktimatha Learning