Tense |
Signal words |
Use |
Form |
Examples affirmative |
Examples negative |
Examples interrogative |
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every day |
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sometimes |
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always |
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I work. |
I don't work. |
Do I work? |
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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? |
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seldom |
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He goes. |
He doesn't go. |
Does he go? |
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never |
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first ... then |
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now |
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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? |
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Listen! |
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He's going. |
He isn't going. |
Is he going? |
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Simple Past |
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. 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? |
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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? |
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He was going. |
He wasn't going. |
Was he going? |
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just |
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yet |
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never |
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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? |
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since |
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for |
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recently |
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Present Perfect Progressive |
all day the whole day how long |
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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? |
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since for |
emphasis: length of time of an action |
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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 |
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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? |
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how long something had been happening before something else happened |
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I had been working. |
I hadn't been working. |
Had I been working? |
Past Perfect Progressive |
how long since for |
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? |
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He had been going. |
He hadn't been going. |
Had he been going? |
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I'll work. |
I won't work. |
Will I work? |
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He'll work. |
He won't work. |
Will he work? |
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will - future |
will + infinitive |
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I'll go. |
I won't go. |
Will I go? |
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He'll go. |
He won't go. |
Will he go? |
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I'm going to work. |
I'm not going to work. |
Am I going to work? |
going to - future |
be (am/are/is) + going to + infinitive |
He's going to work. |
He's not going to work. |
Is he going to work? |
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I'm going to go. |
I'm not going to go. |
Am I going to go? |
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He's going to go. |
He's not going to go. |
Is he going to go? |
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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? |
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He'll be going. |
He won't be going. |
Will he be going? |
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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? |
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He'll have gone. |
He won't have gone. |
Will he have gone? |
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I'll have been working. |
I won't have been working. |
Will I have been working? |
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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? |
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He'll have been going. |
He won't have been going. |
Will he have been going? |
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I would work. |
I wouldn't work. |
Would I work? |
Conditional Simple |
would + infinitive |
He would work.
I would go. |
He wouldn't work.
I wouldn't go. |
Would he work?
Would I go? |
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He would go. |
He wouldn't go. |
Would he go? |
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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? |
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He would be going. |
He wouldn't be going. |
Would he be going? |
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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? |
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He would have gone. |
He wouldn't have gone. |
Would he have gone? |
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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 he have been working?
Would I have been going? |
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He would have been going. |
He wouldn't have been going. |
Would he have 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.
Used colours:
blue → infinitive grey → irregular verbs in the Simple Past red → negation
dark green → auxiliary purple → past participle
orange → ending light green → signal word