Tiempos verbales inglés

SIMPLE

CONTINUOUS

PERFECT SIMPLE

PERFECT CONTINUOUS

PR

It is used for routines and facts, so it will be normally accompanied by time expressions such as: everyday, every morning, twice a week… and also by adverbs of frequency: always, usually, never, rarely…

aff. I play tennis once a week.

- he she it: She plays tennis every week

neg. I don’t play tennis once a week

- he she it: She doesn’t play tennis.

int. Do you play tennis?

- he she it: Does he play tennis?

the two exceptions to this will be: to be and have got, which happen to be auxiliary verbs in the coming tenses (continuous and perfect)

to be: I am, you/we/they are, he/she/it is 

which do not need of an auxiliary verb to carry the negative form, I am not, they are not (=aren’t), he is not (=isn’t)

Have got: I/you/we/they have he /she/it has. This verb can use the auxiliary verb or just use its own negative form and it will be just the same: I don’t have = I haven’t got.

It is used to talk about what is happening at the moment or what will happen soon. Therefore the time expressions used with it will be: now, right now, at the moment, soon, this weekend, at the end of the month…

SUBJ + AUX (to be: am, is, are) + VB-ing

aff. I: I am dancing here tonight (soon) 

- he she it: She is sleeping at Maria’s this week.

- you we they: You are listening to me at the moment.

neg. I: I am not dancing here tonight (soon) 

- he she it: She is not sleeping at Maria’s this week.

- you we they: You are not listening to me at the moment.

    ** am not // is not = isn’t // are not = aren’t

int.  Am I dancing here tonight? (soon) 

- he she it: Is she sleeping at Maria’s this week?

- you we they: Are you not listening to me at the moment?

There are a couple of exceptions: check the stative VBs list!

Are you interested in this course?

** when someone is annoying you get to use the present continuous to talk about it. (=sempre estam igual)

It is used to talk about a past action related to the present moment. It will therefore be accompanied by a present time expression (today, this week… ) and it might also be carrying an already (ya) or a yet (todavía).

aff. I have already had lunch today.

- She has done her homework so she can go out later.

- He has gone there before, don’t worry!

neg. I haven’t had lunch yet.

- she hasn’t read the book so she has to read it!

int. Have you read the book?

- Has she seen the movie?

There are no exceptions to the present tense. Just notice that it is not a finished action. It is easily confused with the past tense!!

PST

It is used to talk about the past. A finished action in the past, so it will normally be accompanied by time expressions such as: yesterday, last week, last month, last year…

aff. We need to check the irregular verbs list. If verbs are not on that list, we will assume they are regular and just add -ed at the end of its bare form. When they are on that list just use the 2nd column!

• I played tennis last week.

• She sang here last month.

neg. Please notice that English speakers never say things twice, so as soon as we use the PAST TENSE on the auxiliary verb we don’t use it again on the verb.

• I didn’t play tennis last week

• She didn’t sing here last month.

int. Did you play tennis yesterday?

Did he sing with you?

Please notice that to talk about routines we will use the expression “used to” and as this is already carrying the past tense the verb following is in its bare form: I used to be taller.  Only on the - and ? tenses we use the auxiliary: She didn’t use to sing a lot and Did they used to play tennis every day?

It is used to talk about what is happening at a certain moment in time. It opens the time breach and it is normally accompanied by a past simple, another past continuous or a time expression in the past (in 1996, when I was a child, while you were here… )

It is used to talk about a past action previous to a past tense. It will therefore be accompanied by a past simple structure) and it might also be carrying an already (ya) or a yet (todavía).

FUT.

It is used to talk about things that are to happen in the future.

It is used to talk about something that will be going on at a certain point in the future.

It is used to talk about something that will be done at a certain point in the future. It will therefore be accompanied by a future tense or a future moment in time.