English Tenses

English tenses
Tense | Signal words | Use | Form | Examples
affirmative | Examples
negative | Examples
interrogative |
Simple
Present
or
Present Simple | every day 

sometimes 

always 

often 

usually 

seldom 

never 

first ... then | something happens repeatedly 

how often something happens 

one action follows another 

things in general

with the followingverbs (to love, to hate, to think, etc.) 

future meaning: timetables, programmes | infinitive he/she/it + -s | I work.  | I don't work. | Do I work? |
| | | | He works. | He doesn'twork. | Does hework? |
| | | | I go. | I don't go. | Do I go? |
| | | | He goes. | He doesn't go. | Does he go? |
Present
Progressive or 
Present Continuous | now 

at the moment 

Look! Listen! | something is happening at the same time of speaking or around it 

future meaning: when you have already decided and arranged to do it (a fixed plan, date) | to be (am/are/is) +infinitive + -ing | I'm working. | I'm not working. | Am Iworking? |
| | | | He's working. | He isn'tworking. | Is heworking? |
| | | | 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 | last ...

... ago

in 1990

yesterday | 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.  | 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 | an action happened in the middle of another action 

someone was doing sth. at a certain time (in the past) - you do not know whether it was finished or not | was/were +infinitive + -ing | I was working.  |I wasn'tworking.  | Was Iworking? |
| | | | He wasworking. | He wasn'tworking. | Was heworking? |
| | | | I was going. | I wasn't going. | Was I going? |
| | | | He was going. | He wasn'tgoing. | Was hegoing? |
Simple
Present
Perfect
or
Present
Perfect | just 

yet 

never 

ever 

already 

so far, 

up to now, 

since 

for 

recently | you say that sth. hashappened or is finished in the past and it has a connection to the present 

action started in the past and continues up to the present | have/has + past participle* 

*(infinitive + -ed) or (3rd column of table of irregular verbs) | I have worked.  | I haven'tworked.  | Have Iworked? |
| | | | He has worked. | He hasn'tworked. | Has heworked? |
| | | | 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 | all day 

the whole day 

how long 

since 

for | action began in the past and has just stopped

how long the action has been happening

emphasis: length of time of an action | have/has +been + infinitive+ -ing | I have beenworking. |I haven't beenworking. | Have I beenworking? |
| | | | He has beenworking. | He hasn't beenworking. | Has he beenworking? |
| | | | I have beengoing. | I haven't beengoing. | Have I beengoing? |
| | | | He has beengoing. | He hasn't beengoing. | Has he beengoing? |
Simple
Past
Perfect
or
Past
Perfect
(Simple) | already 

just 

never | mostly when two actions in a story arerelated to each other: the action which had already happened is put into Past Perfect, the other action into Simple Past 

the past of the Present Perfect | had + past participle* 

*(infinitive + -ed) or (3rd column of table of irregular verbs) | I had worked. | I hadn'tworked. | Had Iworked? |
| | | | He had worked. | He hadn'tworked. | Had heworked? |
| | | | I had gone. |...