We use the present simple to talk about things and situations that are generally true

Past Tense	Present tense
Future Tense
Simple (action has taken place)	I danced	I dance	I want dance
Continuous / progressive (an ongoing, uncompleted action)	I was dancing	I a m dancing	I want to be dancing
Perfect (a completed action that occurs before a specific point in time)	I had danced	I have danced	I will have danced
Perfect continuous (an action started in the past is continuing into the present)	I had been dancing	I have been dancing	I will have been dancing

Tense in everyday conversation

Let's have a look at this conversation and see if we can identify different tenses by considering the use of verb inflections and the formation of the sentences.
"Why weren't you answering my calls?"
"I have been to the cinema, I'm going to go again tomorrow"
"I've been waiting for you all afternoon!"
"Well I'm here now, so let's hurry"
Can you spot the different tenses? Below you can see where the different tenses are used.
"Why weren't you answering my calls?" (past continuous tense)
"I have been to the cinema"(present perfect continuous tense), "I'm going to go again tomorrow" (future simple tense)
"I've was waiting for you all afternoon!"(past continuous tense)
"Well I'm here now, so let's hurry" (present simple tense)

How are tenses formed?

English tenses (past, present, and future) have developed over years and have formed into what we now know as English tenses. Not all languages have tenses - for example, Chinese has no verb conjugation or inflection - other languages use different numbers of tenses. Arabic and Japanese use two basic tenses rather than three and some languages even have more than three tenses.
Tense is normally shown through the use of a particular verb form. This is normally through either an inflected form of the main verb (where the verb is modified to express different categories like tense, aspect, etc.) or a multi-word construction ( where separate words contain the meaning of prefixes, suffixes, or verbs).Some verb forms are made by combining inflected verbs and multi-word patterns.
'walked'- an example of an inflected verb (-ed forms the past tense)
'will walk'- an example of a multi-word pattern (the word 'will' forms the future tense)
'will have walked'- an example of a combination of inflection and added words (the words 'will have' form and the inflection -ed forms the perfect continuous tense)

Why is tense important?

Why is it so important to use tense accurately? Let's take a look at the following passages
We went to the cinema yesterday. We are walking there but were already late. Quickly, we will run inside so we could buy some popcorn before the movie starts .Once we were inside the cinema, Dan is sitting down but dropped his popcorn. It will go everywhere!