There are generally considered to be 12 tenses in the English language:

1. Present Simple
2. Present Continuous
3. Present Perfect
4. Present Perfect Continuous
5. Past Simple
6. Past Continuous
7. Past Perfect
8. Past Perfect Continuous
9. Future Simple
10. Future Continuous
11. Future Perfect
12. Future Perfect Continuous

These tenses are formed using different combinations of the verb “to be”, “to have”, and the main verb, along with adverbs of time. The 12 tenses express different time relationships between the action and the speaker or writer.

Some linguists may categorize the tenses slightly differently, but the above 12 are the commonly accepted tenses in the English language grammar. The variety of tenses allows English speakers to convey precise temporal relationships and nuances when communicating.