English Tenses

English Tense | Affirmative/Negative/Question | Use | Signal Words |
Simple Present | A: He speaks.
N: He does not speak.
Q: Does he speak? | * action in the present taking place once,never or several times * facts * actions taking place one after another * action set by a timetable or schedule | always, every …, never, normally, often, seldom, sometimes, usually
ifsentences type I (If I talk, …) |
Present Progressive | A: He is speaking.
N: He is not speaking.
Q: Is he speaking? | * action taking place in the moment of speaking * action taking place onlyfor a limited period of time * action arranged for the future | at the moment, just, just now, Listen!, Look!, now, right now |
Simple Past | A: He spoke.
N: He did not speak.
Q: Did hespeak? | * action in the past taking place once, never or several times * actions taking place one after another * action taking place in the middle of another action | yesterday, 2 minutesago, in 1990, the other day, last Friday
if sentence type II (If I talked, …) |
Past Progressive | A: He was speaking.
N: He was not speaking.
Q: Was he speaking? | * action going on at acertain time in the past * actions taking place at the same time * action in the past that is interrupted by another action | when, while, as long as |
Present Perfect | A: He has spoken.N: He has not spoken.
Q: Has he spoken? | * putting emphasis on the result * action that is still going on * action that stopped recently * finished action that has an influence on thepresent * action that has taken place once, never or several times before the moment of speaking | already, ever, just, never, not yet, so far, till now, up to now |
Present Perfect Progressive |A: He has been speaking.
N: He has not been speaking.
Q: Has he been speaking? | * putting emphasis on the course or duration (not the result) * action that recently stopped or is still...