This document provides an overview of different tenses in English including the present simple, present continuous, past simple, past continuous, past perfect, present perfect, present perfect continuous, future with will, future with going to, future present continuous, first conditional, second conditional, passive voice, and third conditional. For each tense, it lists the verb forms used and examples of when that tense would be used.

1. Tense Form Use Wordsrelated
PRESENT SIMPLE +’s (she / he / it)
Do/does
Don’t/doesn’t
- Habits
- Routines
- Timetables
- General Truths
Always, often, never, usually,
everyday, week...
Three times a week...
PRESENT CONTINUOUS
TO BE (am/is/are) + ing
- Things that are happening at
the time of speaking.
- Things that are happening in
a periodaroundnowfuture.
NowToday
At present
ThisYear
At the moment
Thesedays
Look! Listen!
PAST SIMPLE
Regulars verbs + ed
Irregular verbs list
Didyou...?
Didn’t - NegativeForm
- Action took place in the
past.
- One action after another.
(stories)
- Finished action in the past.
Last night/week
Ago
In 1990
Yesterday
In the past
PAST CONTINUOUS Was/were +ing
Wasn’t/weren’t +ing
- An action happened in the
middle of another.
- Someone was doing
something at a certain time
in the past.
While/as
Past continuous + when + past
simple
At 8 o’clock (+ anhour)
Yesterday
LastNight
PAST PERFECT Had + past participle
- When we talk about things before
this past
- time, we use the past perfect.
- It was six oclock, so most
of the shops had closed.
PRESENT PERFECT
SIMPLE
Have/has + 3rd column
Haven’t/hasn’t + 3rd
column
- Recent Action
- To saysomethingthat has
happened in the past andit
has a
YetToday
NeverThisMorning...
EverHow long have...?
AlreadyLately
So Far Always

2. Have+subject+3rd
column?
connectionwiththepresent. Up to nowSeveralTimes
Since/For
RecentlyJust
PRESENT PERFECT
CONTINUOUS
Have + been+ -ingform
Haven’t + been + -
ingform
?
- We use the present perfect
continuous for an action over a
period of time leading up to the
present
- We can use the present perfect
continuous to talk about repeated
actions up to now.
- For, since, how long and
recently, lately.
FUTURE WITH WILL Will + infinitiveform
Won’t + infinitveform
- To talkaboutfutureactions
- Predictionsbased on
anything
- Sudden decisions
takenatthe moment of
speaking
“Thephone is ringing.I’llanswerit”
FUTURE WITH GOING
TO
To be + going to +
infinitiveform
- To talkabout plans,
predictionsbased on
evidenceand decisions.
Later
Soon
In anhour
Tomorrow
Nextyear
In + a year
In thefuture
FUTURE (PRESENT
CONTINUOUS)
To be + ing - Fixedevents on thefuture
- Arranged
Thesametime expressions as
going to andwill.

3. FIRST CONDITIONAL
If + present simple + will
+ infinitive
- To talk about future actions.
- Real conditional. Real facts.
If you don’t study harder, you
won’t pass the exam. (evidence
situation about the present)
SECOND CONDITIONAL
If + past simple + would +
infinitive
- Dreams, wishes. Things that
are irreal.
- Less probable action.
If I won 1 milion, I would buy a
big house.
PASSIVE
A passive verb is a form of
Be (is, was, had been, have
been) + a passive participle
We use it when the subject
(who does the action) is not
important. The most
important thing is the
ACTION.
- We use by to introduce
the agent.
- The telephone was
invented by Bell.
THIRD CONDITIONAL
If + past perfect + would
have + 3rd column
- We use type 3 conditionals to talk
about things in the past happening
differently from the way they really
happened.
- We normally use it for regretting the
situations or criticizing people or
actions.
If you'd been a bit more careful, you wouldn't
have cut yourself.