English grammar, explained in English and Hindi

• How a sentence is built14The frame every English sentence hangs on.
• Tenses23When it happened, and whether it is finished.
• Modals22Can, must, should — how sure, how necessary, how polite.
• Sentence types6Statements, negatives, orders.
• Questions12Every way of asking something.
• Connectors17Joining two ideas into one sentence.
• Prepositions15The small words that decide where and when.
• Nouns, articles & quantity21A, the, some, many — and what takes a plural.
• Pronouns10Standing in for a noun you have already said.
• Adjectives & adverbs10Words that colour a noun or a verb.
• Comparing things9Bigger, the biggest, as big as.
• Conditionals & wishes11If this, then that — and what you wish had happened.
• Verb patterns14What follows a verb: to go, going, or nothing.
• Clauses11Sentences with a sentence inside them.
• Passive voice8When the thing done matters more than who did it.
• Reported speech7Saying what somebody else said.
• Agreement & negation7Making the parts match, and saying no.
• Everyday English12The sentences you actually need out loud.
• Emphasis & advanced13Putting the weight where you want it.

• A1 · Starting3232 grammar structures sit at A1.
• A2 · Everyday5454 grammar structures sit at A2.
• B1 · Independent6767 grammar structures sit at B1.
• B2 · Confident6262 grammar structures sit at B2.
• C1 · Fluent2323 grammar structures sit at C1.
• C2 · Mastery44 grammar structures sit at C2.

• Present SimpleA1Talk about what you do every day
• Present ContinuousA1Say what is happening right now
• Past SimpleA1Tell somebody what happened yesterday
• Present PerfectB1Talk about experience and about what has changed
• Time: in / on / atA1Say when something happens without guessing
• a / an / theA1Stop dropping the little words English cannot do without
• First conditionalA2Talk about what will happen if something does
• Active vs PassiveB2Talk about what was done without saying who did it

How many tenses are there in English?

Twelve, if you count each combination of time and aspect: past, present and future, each in simple, continuous, perfect and perfect continuous form. In practice five of them carry almost all everyday speech — present simple, present continuous, past simple, present perfect and "will" for the future — and the other seven are worth learning once those five are automatic.

Which English grammar should I learn first?

Word order, then the present simple, then the past simple. English fixes the subject before the verb where Hindi puts the verb last, so the sentence has to be rebuilt rather than translated — and until that is automatic, every other rule is being applied to a broken frame. After those three, the present perfect is the single highest-value structure for an Indian learner, because "since two years" instead of "for two years" is the most common error in Indian English.

Why do I know English grammar but still cannot speak?

Because grammar was taught to you as something to identify, not something to produce. You can name the present perfect in an exam and still not reach for it in a conversation, since recognising a structure and generating one under time pressure are different skills with different practice. The fix is production practice: build the sentence yourself, out loud or in writing, and get it corrected — which is what CoCap is for.

Is CoCap’s grammar reference free?

Yes. Every page on this site is free to read with no account, and the practice inside the app is free too — there are no plans and no card.

Looking for phrases rather than rules? The speaking pages index the same English by what you are trying to do — an interview, a phone call, a shop — rather than by what the grammar is called.

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