Indefinite

The word indefinite refers to something that is not defined and is vague. It also represents something that persists for an unknown period of time. In English grammar, there are indefinite pronouns and indefinite tenses. Indefinite pronouns are those pronouns that do not point out at one particular person. These do not address anybody in particular. The examples of indefinite pronouns are anyone, anything, everyone and more. The indefinite tenses are those tenses that represent the activities that aren’t defined properly. It is unknown whether these are complete or incomplete. These are basically habits or facts. The indefinite tenses are also known as simple tenses. There are three types – present, past and future. 

The Indefinite Pronouns 

A pronoun is something that is used in place of a noun. If nouns are repeated continuously, the sentences look vague and weird. Pronouns can thus be called shorter nouns used for a person, place, animal or thing. The examples of pronouns are he, she, it, they, us, we and so on. There are different types of pronouns. Indefinite pronouns are one of them. 

Indefinite pronouns are those pronouns that do not refer to any particular person specifically. They are used for addressing random things or people. The examples of indefinite pronouns are something, anything, much, nothing, somebody, everybody and more. The basic rule is to add -ing, -thing, -one, -body to the existing pronouns. Some rules to be followed are as follows – 

• The verb that comes after the indefinite pronoun should be singular. 
• The pronouns in negative clauses begin with ‘no’.
•  In case an indefinite pronoun is possessive, an ‘s’ can be added. 
• When random people are being referred to, ‘else’ can be used.  

The Indefinite Tenses 

Tenses are used to depict the time of an action. These are also used to indicate whether an action is complete or incomplete. There are different types of tenses like indefinite, continuous, perfect tenses and perfect continuous tenses. The indefinite tenses are also known as the simple tenses. Simple tenses are of three types – Past indefinite, Present indefinite and Future indefinite. These sentences are used simply in a sentence. These tenses depict whether an action has occurred now or in the past or will occur in the future. 

These also depict the completion of a task. 

Indefinite Present Tense

The indefinite present tense, also known as simple present tense, describes the habits and the general facts. Things that take place every day in a routine are in simple/indefinite present tense. This type of indefinite tense is also used to depict things taking place in the present. In the simple present tense, ‘s’ and ‘es’ are added at the end of the verb in case of a third person singular number. In first and second person singular and plural, the verbs mostly remain in the same form. In affirmative sentences, the formula is simple – subject+normal form of the verb. In negative sentences, the formula is do/does+not+verb. Examples – 

• I brush my teeth twice a day. 
• He does not brush his teeth twice a day. 

Indefinite Past Tense 

The indefinite past tense is also known as the simple past tense. Past means something that happened yesterday. So, the simple past tense is used for actions that have already taken place in the past. It is used to indicate the actions that have been completed in the past. In simple past tense or the indefinite past tense, ‘ed’ or ‘d’ are added at the end of the verb. In affirmative sentences, ‘ed’ or ‘d’ is added to the regular verbs like played, worked, listened, heard. However, the irregular verbs change their forms like flow- flew, go-went, etc, and some of them remain the same, like cut, put, hit. For some irregular verbs, the verb ‘to be’ is added. For negative sentences, the formula is  did not+verb 

Examples – 

• Ayush played this game yesterday. 
• Ayush did not play this game yesterday. 

Indefinite Future tense

The indefinite future tense is the simple future tense that is used to indicate something that is going to take place in the coming time. It represents things that will start and get over in future. The formula for affirmative sentences is simple – will+verb. For negative sentences, the formula is will+not+verb. 

Examples – 

• We will go shopping.
• We will not go shopping.

Conclusion

Indefinite refers to things that are vague or not defined properly. Something that is present for an unknown period of time is called indefinite. Indefinite tenses and indefinite pronouns are a part of English grammar. Indefinite pronouns are used to describe random people and things. The examples are – something, someone, nobody, everybody and more. An example of an indefinite pronoun in a sentence is – I am not going anywhere with you. 

The indefinite tenses are basically simple tenses. There are three types – past, present and future. The state of the actions described in indefinite tenses is unknown. Examples of the indefinite past, present and future tense are- We went for a walk. We walk everyday. We will go for a walk.