Tenses Overview
PRESENT TENSES
Present Simple – I/you/we/they/you do
he/she/it does
The present simple is used for four main reasons:
1. When we talk about something at this precise moment-
“I am hot” “It is sunny” “You look pale”
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2. When we talk about a general truth-
“She is tall” “I am from Cardiff” “I like music”
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3. When we talk about a repeated action-
“He plays tennis every Wednesday” “We go to Italy every year”
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4. When we talk about a timetabled event in the future-
“My plane leaves on the 27th of next month” “The president arrives on Saturday”
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Present Continuous – I am
you/we/they/you + are + doing
he/she/it is
This tense focuses on the duration of an action. The present continuous has two main uses:
1. When an action is in progress-
“I am reading a good book” “She is watching TV” “We are eating”
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2. When we have a set plan for the future-
“I am visiting friends next month” “We are starting a course later this year”
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Present Perfect- I/you/we/they/you + have + done
he/she/it has
The present perfect is a present tense connected to the past. It can be seen as the ‘experience’ tense as it tells us what we have or haven’t done in the past, and what is the outcome now.
“I have seen that movie” - I saw the movie, I know the story now.
“I haven’t tried sushi” - I don’t know how it tastes.
“She has done her homework” - She did her work, now it is complete.
action result
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Present Perfect Continuous-
I/you/we/they/you + have + been + doing
he/she/it has
This tense is very versatile, it describes the duration of an action that began in the past and leaves a legacy in the present that may or may not be in progress.
“My face is red, I have been running” “We have been working in the garden all morning” “I have been staying with friends until I find a house”
action result
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In the first example, the action is complete and has left a legacy (the red face). In the second, the action may or may not be complete. The last example suggests that the speaker will be staying with friends until the situation changes in future.
PAST TENSES
Past Simple- I/you/he/she/it/we/they/you did
The past simple indicates an action that was completed in the past.
“Harry went home” “They opened the box” “We tried to help”
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It can be studied by splitting the verbs in two categories – regular verbs and irregular verbs.
Regular verbs - To conjugate regular verbs in the past simple we simply add ‘-ed’ to the end of the verb. There are a few exceptions to this rule i.e. we double the final consonant when the penultimate letter of the root is a vowel, we omit the ‘e’ at the end of words.
The main difficulty with regular verbs is in pronunciation:
With verbs that end in an ‘ss’ ‘ch’ or ‘sh’ sound, the ‘-ed’ is pronounced as an aerated ‘T’ sound.
With verbs that end in a ‘t’ or ‘d’ sound. The ‘-ed’ is pronounced as ‘id’
With most other regular verbs the ‘-ed’ is pronounced as a soft ‘d’ sound.
Irregular verbs - These present the biggest problem at this stage of learning English. The only way to learn them is to commit them to memory. The following is a list of the most frequently used irregular verbs in English. The first 11 represent 50% of irregular verb usage in English:
Base Past Past Participle
1 say said said
2 make made made
3 go went gone
4 take took taken
5 come came come
6 see saw seen
7 know knew known
8 get got got/gotten (US)
9 give gave given
10 find found found
11 think thought thought
12 tell told told
13 become became become
14 show showed shown
15 leave left left
16 feel felt felt
17 put put put
18 bring brought brought
19 begin began begun
20 keep kept kept
21 hold held held
22 write wrote written
23 stand stood stood
24 hear heard heard
25 let let let
26 mean meant meant
27 set set set
28 meet met met
29 run ran run
30 pay paid paid
31 sit sat sat
32 speak spoke spoken
33 lie lay lain
34 lead led led
35 read read read
36 grow grew grown
37 lose lost lost
38 fall fell fallen
39 send sent sent
40 build built built
41 understand understood understood
42 draw drew drawn
43 break broke broken
44 spend spent spent
45 cut cut cut
46 rise rose risen
47 drive drove driven
48 buy bought bought
49 wear wore worn
50 choose chose chosen
Learn five a day in each of their forms and try to identify patterns
i.e. stand/understand follow the same conjugation.
Past Continuous- I/he/she/it + was + doing
you/we/they/you were
This tense focuses on the duration of a past action.
“I was looking away” “You were driving home” “He was meeting his manager”
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The past continuous is very often used together with the past simple to demonstrate a longer past activity which was interrupted by a shorter past action:
“I was looking away when the boy fell down” “You were driving home when I saw you” “He was meeting his manager when I spoke to him”
past action
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Past Perfect- I/you/he/she/it/we/they/you + had + done
This tense is often the cause of unnecessary confusion. If you consider it as being the present perfect tense set in the past you will find it easier to understand.
It is used to describe an action that had an outcome in the past and is connected with another action further back in the past.
“Paul had left when I arrived” “I had visited London before we went on holiday there last year” “They had met before Kerry introduced them”
past perfect past
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Past Perfect Continuous-
I/you/ he/she/it/we/they/you + had + been + doing
The past perfect continuous, like the past continuous combined with the past simple, focuses on the duration of a past action up to the point in the past when it stopped.
“I had been studying all night when you called” “They had been looking for the keys for hours until they found them” “She had been trying to pass the exam for a long time”
start stop
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FUTURE FORMS
“There is no future in learning English” – anon
The above quote is a play on words (a joke with two possible meanings). The ‘hidden’ meaning here is that we don’t conjugate verbs to make statements about the future. Instead we use other words or tenses to show that we are talking about the future.
The future forms here are presented in order of likelihood, from the weakest to the most definite.
Will- I/you/he/she/it/we/they/you + will + do
‘Will’ is used when we make a decision for the future at the time of speaking.
“I will answer the phone” “We will come to your house tonight” “They say that they will arrive late”
decision action
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Be Going To- I am
you/we/they/you + are + going to + do
he/she/it is
‘be going to’ is used when we have made decision for the future previous to the time of speaking.
“We are going to meet our manager on Sunday” “Joyce is going to move tomorrow”
decision action
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Present Continuous- (see present continuous)
When we want to suggest that a previously made plan is very likely we use the present continuous.
“I am meeting Sally at 1pm on Thursday” “She is having a party next week”
plan action
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Present Simple- (see present simple)
The most definite plan for the future is suggested by the use of the present simple. Usually this is used for timetables or set dates in the future.
“The Queen arrives at 9pm tonight” “James and Amy return next month” “Christmas is on a Monday next year”
timetabled arrangement action
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If we want to focus on the estimated duration or outcome of a future action we can use the ‘future continuous’ or the ‘future perfect’
Future Continuous-
I/you/ he/she/it/we/they/you + will + be + doing
am/is/are going to
When we want to talk about an action that will be in progress at a given time in the future we use this form.
“Come here at 8pm, we will be eating at 7pm” “He will be working all day on Saturday” “They are going to be traveling at this time tomorrow”
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Future Perfect-
I/you/ he/she/it/we/they/you + will + have + done
am/is/are going to
Again, the perfect tense can present problems, as with the past perfect, if you consider it as being the present perfect tense set in the future you will find it easier to understand.
It is used to give estimates of a future outcome and ‘round numbers up’
“I will have finished this by 10.15” “She is going to have completed three courses by the end of this semester” “I have worked here for eleven months, next month I will have worked here for exactly a year”
outcome point in the fututre
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Future Perfect Continuous-
I/you/ he/she/it/we/they/you + will + have + been + doing
am/is/are going to
Finally, this form is very similar to the future perfect but, as with all of the continuous tenses, it focuses more on the duration of the action.
“They will have been trying to do this for three years” “She is going to have been studying for five years by the end of this month” “Next month I will have been working here for exactly a year”
outcome point in the future
duration of action
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