Guess the Tense

Learn to choose the right English tense by meaning, not memorization.

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Guess the Tense

After working for 11 years at a technical company, I took a break and spent about two years tutoring English. During that time, I noticed the same problem again and again. Many students had studied English for years, but they still did not feel confident speaking.

I wanted to understand why. I did a small independent study within the limits of my experience and resources. I bought and reviewed school textbooks from different years. I also compared the experiences of my students and people I knew from different generations. Some learners were able to overcome the speaking barrier, but many were not.

At first, I tried to group the problem by age, profession, or number of years spent learning English. In the end, I found a more common reason: many learners did not understand which English tense to use in a real situation. This uncertainty made them afraid of making mistakes, so they avoided speaking.

I also studied competing learning apps. Most of them ask users to translate a sentence right away. Under pressure, learners focus on remembering words and building the sentence. They have less attention left for the main question: what does the speaker mean, and which tense fits that meaning?

That gave me the idea for Guess the Tense. I wanted to create an alternative where learners do not need to remember many words or choose a grammar formula by habit. The app guides them through simple questions about meaning and helps them understand why a certain tense fits the situation.

I am the only developer on the project, and I was prepared for the technical work. The bigger challenge was learning how many different roles one person must handle while building a startup. I took courses in entrepreneurship to understand how to build a business. I studied marketing to define my target audience and choose a promotion strategy. I also improved my time-management skills and created a long-term plan that I have followed for the past six months.

I apply these skills while building and planning the project. I will continue learning, asking for advice, and improving my decisions until I build it into a successful and sustainable product.

This project also taught me a lot about my own abilities. I discovered that I am strong in analysis, persistent when solving difficult problems, and able to keep working toward a long-term goal.

Most importantly, I realized once again how much I love programming and creating something new.

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