Verb Tenses

Verb Tense Rules – Explanations

In grammar, verb tenses indicate when something happens, in the past, present, or future. These three main forms can be divided further to add more detail about when. For example, the continuous tenses talk about actions that have continuity – that talk place over time. The simple present tense concerns actions that happen every day, or describe a state, and the simple past simple refers to something that happened in the past.

COMING SOON:

We are preparing a page for each tense where we will look at the  tense in detail and try to explain the rules for each tense, as well as time expression that are commonly used with each.

• Simple Present

  Things that happen every day.
  – I usually wake up at 6 am every day.
  – I don’t normally have coffee with breakfast.
  – Does she always do her homework after lunch?
  Facts (states)
  – The book is on the table.
  – The tables aren’t blue.
  – Why is the door open?

  More about the Simple Present.
  More about the Simple present of ‘BE’.

• Simple Past

  Things that happened at some time in the past.
  – I woke up at 6 am yesterday.
  – I didn’t have coffee with my breakfast (today).
  – Did she do her homework after lunch yesterday?

• Future with ‘going to’

  This indicates future plans – things have have been thought about in advance.
  – I‘m going to wake up at 6 am tomorrow.
  – I‘m not going to have coffee with my breakfast tomorrow.
  – Is she going to do her homework later?

• Future with ‘will’

  This is used to talk about predictions, promises, and decisions made without planning.
  – I will wake up at 6 am tomorrow. (prediction)
  – I will love you forever. (promise)
  – Will she  do her homework  now or later? (quick decision)

• Present Continuous

  This indicates something that is happening now or is on-going.
  – I‘m studying now.
  – He‘s not having coffee now.
  – Is she doing her homework?

• Past Continuous

  This refers to an activity that had duration in the past whech was interrupted by another action or time.
  – I was watching TV when the phone rang.
  – He wasn’t having dinner a 6 pm last night.
  – Was she studying when the fire started?

• Future Continuous

  This indicates what will be happening at some moment in the future.
  – I‘m going to be studying on Saturday afternoon. (with going to)
  – He won’t be working next weekend. (with will + not = won’t)
  – Will she be traveling in June?

• Present Perfect  (The past without when!)

  Refers to something in the past before now (present perfect).
  – I have visited NY. (sometime before now)
  – He hasn’t eaten lunch yet.
  – Has Susan seen the new Tom Cruise movie?

• Past Perfect

  Refers to something that happened before a moment in the past (past perfect).
  – I had seen the movie before I read the book.
  – He hadn’t eaten lunch before she arrived.
  – Had she done her homework  when the movie started?

• Future Perfect

  Refers to something that will happen before a moment in the future.
  – I will have finished my homework by 6 pm.
  – He won’t have eaten lunch before the meeting starts.
  – Will she have finished the report by tomorrow?

• Present Perfect Continuous

  Usually used to draw attention to time spend doing something from a point in the past until now.
  – I have been waking up at 6 am for two months.
  – He hasn’t been working here for very long.
  – Has she been waiting for more than an hour?

• Past Perfect Continuous

  Refers to something that had been happeing up to a moment in the past.
  – I had been sleeping for only three hours when the alarm rang.
  – They hadn’t been watching the movie for long when the power went out.
  – Had the car been running well before it broke down?

• Future Perfect Continuous

  Refers to something that will have been happening up to a moment in the future
  – I will have been sleeping for 6 hours when you arrive home.
  – They won’t have been playing  for long if you don’t take too long.
  – How long will you have been playing at 8 o’clock tonight?

COMING SOON:

We are preparing a page for each tense where we will look at the  tense in detail and try to explain the rules for each tense, as well as time expression that are commonly used with each.