Tense is mainly used to say when the verb happens: in the past, present, or future. In order to explain and understand tense, it is useful to imagine time as a line on which past tense, present tense and future tense are positioned.
t ɛ n s WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ z WORD_BOUNDARY m eɪ n l i WORD_BOUNDARY j uː z d WORD_BOUNDARY t ə WORD_BOUNDARY s eɪ WORD_BOUNDARY w ɛ n WORD_BOUNDARY ð ə WORD_BOUNDARY v ɜː b WORD_BOUNDARY h æ p ə n z WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ n ð ə WORD_BOUNDARY p æ s t WORD_BOUNDARY p ɹ ɛ z ə n t WORD_BOUNDARY ɔ ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY f j uː t̠ʃ ə ɹ ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ n WORD_BOUNDARY ɔ ɹ d ə ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY t ʊ WORD_BOUNDARY ɛ k s p l eɪ n WORD_BOUNDARY æ n d WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ n d ə ɹ s t æ n d WORD_BOUNDARY t ɛ n s WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ t WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ z WORD_BOUNDARY j uː s f ə l WORD_BOUNDARY t ʊ WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ m æ d̠ʒ ɪ n WORD_BOUNDARY t aɪ m WORD_BOUNDARY æ z WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ WORD_BOUNDARY l aɪ n WORD_BOUNDARY ɔ n WORD_BOUNDARY w ɪ t̠ʃ WORD_BOUNDARY p æ s t WORD_BOUNDARY t ɛ n s WORD_BOUNDARY p ɹ ɛ z ə n t WORD_BOUNDARY t ɛ n s WORD_BOUNDARY æ n d WORD_BOUNDARY f j uː t̠ʃ ə ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY t ɛ n s WORD_BOUNDARY ɑ ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY p ə z ɪ ʃ ə n d WORD_BOUNDARY