English Tenses
Tense | Signal words | Use | Form | Examples affirmative | Examples negative | Examples interrogative |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Simple Present or Present Simple |
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infinitive (he/she/it) + -s | I work. | I don't work. | Do I work? |
He works. | He doesn't work. | Does he work? | ||||
I go. | I don't go. | Do I go? | ||||
He goes. | He doesn't go. | Does he go? | ||||
Present Progressive or Present Continuous |
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to be (am/are/is) + infinitive + -ing | I'm working. | I'm not working. | Am I working? |
He's working. | He isn't working. | Is he working? | ||||
I'm going. | I'm not going. | Am I going? | ||||
He's going. | He isn't going. | Is he going? | ||||
Simple Past or Past Simple |
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action finished in the past, mostly connected with an expression of time (no connection to the present) |
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I worked. | I didn't work. | Did I work? |
He worked. | He didn't work. | Did he work? | ||||
I went. | I didn't go. | Did I go? | ||||
He went. | He didn't go. | Did he go? | ||||
Past Progressive or Past Continuous |
while |
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was/were + infinitive + -ing | I was working. | I wasn't working. | Was I working? |
He was working. | He wasn't working. | Was he working? | ||||
I was going. | I wasn't going. | Was I going? | ||||
He was going. | He wasn't going. | Was he going? | ||||
Simple Present Perfect or Present Perfect |
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have/has + past participle* | I have worked. | I haven't worked. | Have I worked? |
He has worked. | He hasn't worked. | Has he worked? | ||||
I have gone. | I haven't gone. | Have I gone? | ||||
He has gone. | He hasn't gone. | Has he gone? | ||||
Present Perfect Progressive or Present Perfect Continuous |
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have/has + been + infinitive + -ing | I have been working. | I haven't been working. | Have I been working? |
He has been working. | He hasn't been working. | Has he been working? | ||||
I have been going. | I haven't been going. | Have I been going? | ||||
He has been going. | He hasn't been going. | Has he been going? | ||||
Simple Past Perfect or Past Perfect (Simple) |
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had + past participle* | I had worked. | I hadn't worked. | Had I worked? |
He had worked. | He hadn't worked. | Had he worked? | ||||
I had gone. | I hadn't gone. | Had I gone? | ||||
He had gone. | He hadn't gone. | Had he gone? | ||||
Past Perfect Progressive or Past Perfect Continuous |
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how long something had been happening before something else happened | had + been + infinitive + ing | I had been working. | I hadn't been working. | Had I been working? |
He had been working. | He hadn't been working. | Had he been working? | ||||
I had been going. | I hadn't been going. | Had I been going? | ||||
He had been going. | He hadn't been going. | Had he been going? | ||||
will - future |
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will + infinitive | I'll work. | I won't work. | Will I work? | |
He'll work. | He won't work. | Will he work? | ||||
I'll go. | I won't go. | Will I go? | ||||
He'll go. | He won't go. | Will he go? | ||||
going to - future |
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to be (am/are/is) + going to + infinitive | I'm going to work. | I'm not going to work. | Am I going to work? | |
He's going to work. | He's not going to work. | Is he going to work? | ||||
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? | ||||
Future Progressive or Future Continuous |
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will + be + infinitive + ing | I'll be working. | I won't be working. | Will I be working? | |
He'll be working. | He won't be working. | Will he be working? | ||||
I'll be going. | I won't be going. | Will I be going? | ||||
He'll be going. | He won't be going. | Will he be going? | ||||
Simple Future Perfect or Future Perfect Simple | sth. will already have happened before a certain time in the future | will + have + past participle* | I'll have worked. | I won't have worked. | Will I have worked? | |
He'll have worked. | He won't have worked. | Will he have worked? | ||||
I'll have gone. | I won't have gone. | Will I have gone? | ||||
He'll have gone. | He won't have gone. | Will he have gone? | ||||
Future Perfect Progressive or Future Perfect Continuous |
| will + have + been + infinitive + ing | I'll have been working. | I won't have been working. | Will I have been working? | |
He'll have been working. | He won't have been working. | Will he have been working? | ||||
I'll have been going. | I won't have been going. | Will I have been going? | ||||
He'll have been going. | He won't have been going. | Will he have been going? | ||||
Conditional Simple |
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would + infinitive | I would work. | I wouldn't work. | Would I work? | |
He would work. | He wouldn't work. | Would he work? | ||||
I would go. | I wouldn't go. | Would I go? | ||||
He would go. | He wouldn't go. | Would he go? | ||||
Conditional Progressive or Conditional Continuous |
| would + be + infinitive + ing | I would be working. | I wouldn't be working. | Would I be working? | |
He would be working. | He wouldn't be working. | Would he be working? | ||||
I would be going. | I wouldn't be going. | Would I be going? | ||||
He would be going. | He wouldn't be going. | Would he be going? | ||||
Conditional Perfect |
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would + have + past participle* | I would have worked. | I wouldn't have worked. | Would I have worked? | |
He would have worked. | He wouldn't have worked. | Would he have worked? | ||||
I would have gone. | I wouldn't have gone. | Would I have gone? | ||||
He would have gone. | He wouldn't have gone. | Would I have gone? | ||||
Conditional Perfect Progressive or Conditional Perfect Continuous |
| would + have + been + infinitive + ing | I would have been working. | I wouldn't have been working. | Would I have been working? | |
He would have been going. | He wouldn't have been going. | Would he have been working? | ||||
I would have been going. | I wouldn't have been going. | Would I have been going? | ||||
He would have been going. | He wouldn't have been going. | Would he have been going? |
*(infinitive + -ed) or (3rd column of table of irregular verbs)
We sometimes use Continuous instead of Progressive. Some signal words can be found in more tenses. We have not listed signal words in the future tenses as there are no definite ones. Always remember what action is described.