English Tenses Table. English Grammar Tenses Table with Rules and Examples. Table of English Tenses. Free printable PDF
English Tenses Table
Tense | Signal words | Use | Form | Examples affirmative | Examples negative | Examples 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 | I work. | I don’t work. | Do I work? | |||
Simple Present | often usually | infinitive he/she/it:infinitive + s | He works. I go. | He doesn’t work. I don’t go. | Does he work? Do I go? | |
seldom | He goes. | He doesn’t go. | Does he go? | |||
never | ||||||
first … then | ||||||
now | something 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 I working? | ||
Present Progressive | at the moment Look! | be (am/are/is) +infinitive + ing | He‘s working. I‘m going. | He isn’t working. I‘m not going. | Is he working? Am I going? | |
Listen! | He‘s going. | He isn’t going. | Is he going? | |||
Simple Past | last … … 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 work? Did he work? Did 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 | I was working. | I wasn’t working. | Was I working? | |||
Past Progressive | while | was/were +infinitive + ing | He was working. I was going. | He wasn’t working. I wasn’t going. | Was he working? Was I 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 Perfect | ever 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 worked? Has he worked? Have 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 + ing | I have been working. He has been working. | I haven’t been working. He hasn’t been working. | Have I been working? Has he been working? |
since for | emphasis: length of time of an action | I have been going. He has been going. | I haven’t been going. He hasn’t been going. | Have I been going? Has he been going? |
Simple Past Perfect | already just never | mostly 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 worked? Had he worked? Had I gone?Had he gone? |
how long something had been happening before something else happened | I had been working. | I hadn’t been working. | Had I been working? | |||
Past Perfect Progressive | how long sincefor | had + been +infinitive + ing | He had been working. I had been going. | He hadn’t been working. I hadn’t been going. | Had he been working? Had I 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 I work? | |||
He‘ll work. | He won’t work. | Will he work? | ||||
will – future | will + infinitive | |||||
I‘ll go. | I won’t go. | Will I 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 I going towork? | |||
going to – future | be (am/are/is) +going to + infinitive | He‘s going towork. | He‘s not going towork. | Is he going towork? | ||
I‘m going to go. | I‘m not going to go. | Am I 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. | I won’t be working. | Will I be working? | |||
Future Progressive | will + be + infinitive+ ing | He‘ll be working. I‘ll be going. | He won’t be working. I won’t be going. | Will he be working? Will I be going? | ||
He‘ll be going. | He won’t be going. | Will he be going? | ||||
I‘ll have worked. | I won’t have worked. | Will I have worked? | ||||
Future Perfect Simple | sth. will already have happened before a certain time in the future | will + 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 worked? Will I 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 Progressive | sth. will already have happened before a certain time in the future emphasis: length of time of an action | will + have + been +infinitive + ing | He‘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 working? Will I have been going? | |
Conditional Simple | would + infinitive | He would work. I would go. | He wouldn’t work. I wouldn’t go. | Would he work? Would I go? |
I would be working. | I wouldn’t be working. | Would I be working? | ||||
Conditional Progressive | sth. that might happen emphasis: length of time of an action | would + be +infinitive + ing | He would be working. I would be going. | He wouldn’t be working. I wouldn’t be going. | Would he be working? Would I 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. | I wouldn’t have worked. | Would I have worked? | |||
Conditional Perfect | would + 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 worked? Would 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 Progressive | sth. that might have happened in the past emphasis: length of time of an action | would + have + been+ infinitive + ing | He would have been working. I would have been going. | He wouldn’t have been working. I wouldn’t have been going. | Would hehave been working? Would 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.