Verb tenses are grammatical forms that indicate the time of an action or state of being. They help convey whether an action is happening in the present, occurred in the past, or will happen in the future. The three main tenses are present, past, and future, each of which can be further divided into simple, continuous, perfect, and perfect continuous forms. Using the correct verb tense is essential for clear communication. For example, the present simple tense describes habitual actions, while the past perfect tense indicates an action that was completed before another past action. Understanding verb tenses allows for more precise expression of time in language.