English Tenses Table

English Tenses Table. English Grammar Tenses Table with Rules and Examples. Table of English Tenses. Free printable PDF

English Tenses Table


TenseSignal wordsUseFormExamples affirmativeExamples negativeExamples interrogative
 every day  something happens repeatedlyhow often something happensone action follows anotherthings in generalwith verbs like (to love, to hate, to think, etc.)future meaning: timetables, programmes    
 sometimes    
 always work.don’t work.Do work?
 Simple Presentoften usuallyinfinitive he/she/it:infinitive sHe works. I go.He doesn’t work. I don’t go.Does he workDo go?
 seldom He goes.He doesn’t go.Does he go?
 never    
 first  then    
 nowsomething is happening at the same time of speaking or around itfuture meaning: when you have already decided and arranged to do it (a fixed plan, date) I‘m working.I‘m not working.Am working?
 Present Progressiveat the moment Look! be (am/are/is) +infinitive ingHe‘s working. I‘m going.He isn’t working. I‘m not going.Is he workingAm going?
 Listen! He‘s going.He isn’t going.Is he going?
  Simple Pastlast  … ago in 1990yesterday  action took place in the past, mostly connected with an expression of time (no connection to the present) regular:infinitive ed irregular:(2nd column of table of irregular verbs)I worked. He worked. I went.He went.I didn’t work. He didn’t work. I didn’t go.He didn’t go.Did I workDid he workDid I go?Did he go?
  an action happened in the middle of another actionsomeone was doing sth. at a certain time (in the past) – you don’t know whether it was finished or not was working.wasn’t working.Was working?
 Past Progressive while was/were +infinitive ingHe was working. I was going.He wasn’t working. I wasn’t going.Was he workingWas going?
   He was going.He wasn’t going.Was he going?
 just      you say that sth. has happened or is finished in the past and it has a connection to the presentaction started in the past and continues up to the present    
 yet    
 never    
  Simple Present Perfectever already so far,up to now, have/has + past participle* *(infinitive + ed) or (3rd column of table of irregular verbs)I have worked. He has worked. I have gone.He has gone.I haven’t worked. He hasn’t worked. I haven’t gone.He hasn’t gone.Have I workedHas he workedHave I gone?Has he gone?
 since    
 for    
 recently    
    Present Perfect Progressive all daythe whole day how long action began in the past and has just stoppedhow long the action has been happening    have/has been +infinitive ingI have been working. He has been working.haven’t been working. He hasn’t been working.Have I been workingHas he been working?
 since foremphasis: length of time of an action have been going. He has been going.haven’t been going. He hasn’t been going.Have been goingHas he been going?
   Simple Past Perfect already just nevermostly when two actions in a story are related to each other: the action which had already happened is put into Past Perfect, the other action into Simple Pastthe past of the Present Perfect had + past participle* *(infinitive + ed) or (3rd column of table of irregular verbs)I had worked. He had worked. I had gone.He had gone.I hadn’t worked. He hadn’t worked. I hadn’t gone.He hadn’t gone.Had I workedHad he workedHad I gone?Had he gone?
     how long something had been happening before something else happened had been working.I hadn’t been working.Had I been working?
 Past Perfect Progressivehow long sincefor had been +infinitive ingHe had been working. I had been going.He hadn’t been working. I hadn’t been going.Had he been workingHad been going?
    He had been going.He hadn’t been going.Had he been going?
  predictions about the future (you think that sth will happen)you decide to do sth. spontaneously at the time of speakingmain clause in type I of the Conditional sentences  I‘ll work. I won’t work. Will work?
  He‘ll work.He won’t work.Will he work?
will  futurewill infinitive   
  I‘ll go.won’t go.Will go?
  He‘ll go.He won’t go.Will he go?
    when you have already decided to do sth. in the futurewhat you think what will happen I‘m going towork.I‘m not going towork.Am going towork?
 going to – future be (am/are/is) +going to infinitiveHe‘s going towork.He‘s not going towork.Is he going towork?
  I‘m going to go.I‘m not going to go.Am going to go?
  He‘s going to go.He‘s not going to go.Is he going to go?
  An action will be in progress at a certain time in the future. This action has begun before the certain time.Something happens because it normally happens. I‘ll be working.won’t be working.Will be working?
 Future Progressive will be infinitiveingHe‘ll be working. I‘ll be going.He won’t be working. I won’t be going.Will he be workingWill be going?
  He‘ll be going.He won’t be going.Will he be going?
    I‘ll have worked.won’t have worked.Will have worked?
 Future Perfect Simple  sth. will already have happened before a certain time in the futurewill + have + past participle* *(infinitive + ed) or (3rd column of table of irregular verbs) He‘ll have worked. I‘ll have gone. He won’t have worked. I won’t have gone. Will he have workedWill have gone?
   He‘ll have gone.He won’t have gone.Will he have gone?
    I‘ll have been working.I won’t have been working.Will I have been working?
 Future Perfect Progressivesth. will already have happened before a certain time in the future emphasis: length of time of an action  will have been +infinitive ingHe‘ll have been working. I‘ll have been going.He won’t have been working. I won’t have been going.Will he have been workingWill I have been going?
 Conditional Simple would infinitiveHe would work. I would go.He wouldn’t work. I wouldn’t go.Would he workWould go?
    would be working.I wouldn’t be working.Would be working?
 Conditional Progressivesth. that might happen emphasis: length of time of an action would be +infinitive ingHe would be working. I would be going.He wouldn’t be working. I wouldn’t be going.Would he be workingWould be going?
   He would be going.He wouldn’t be going.Would he be going?
     sth. that might have happened in the pastmain clause in type III of the Conditional sentences I would have worked.wouldn’t have worked.Would I have worked?
  Conditional Perfectwould + have + past participle* *(infinitive + ed) or (3rd column of table of irregular verbs)He would have worked. I would have gone.He wouldn’t have worked. I wouldn’t have gone.Would he have workedWould I have gone?
  He would have gone.He wouldn’t have gone.Would he have gone?
    I would have been working.I wouldn’t have been working.Would I have been working?
 Conditional Perfect Progressivesth. that might have happened in the past emphasis: length of time of an action  would have beeninfinitive ingHe would have been working. I would have been going.He wouldn’t have been working. I wouldn’t have been going.Would hehave been workingWould I have been going?
   He would have been going.He wouldn’t have been going.Would hehave been going?

We sometimes use Continuous instead of Progressive. Some signal words can be found in more tenses. We did not list signal words in the future. Always remember what action is described.


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