In English, verbs are made up of 2 parts:

tense + aspect

TENSE
Tense tells the time period that the action happens in:
– happening now (present)
– happened already (past)
– will happen later (future)

ASPECT
Aspect tells how the action of the verb unfolds in relation to time, for example:
– some actions happen only once, some actions are repeated
– some actions last a short period of time, some actions extend for longer periods
There are 4 aspects

SIMPLE
single action
habit or repeated actions

CONTINUOUS (PROGRESSIVE)
ongoing or incomplete actions
one moment in time

to be + main verb ending +ing

PERFECT
completed actions
connects two points in time – something happened before something else happened

to have + main verb ending +ed or irregular

PERFECT CONTINUOUS (PERFECT PROGRESSIVE)

connects two points in time (like Perfect)
expresses that an action is incomplete (like Progressive/Continuous)

to have + been + main verb ending +ing

So therefore in English there are 12 major tenses.