THE 12 ENGLISH VERB TENSES Simple Tenses Progressive Tenses Simple Present Form perfect tenses using BE + Present Participle (“—ing” verb) “I eat.” Simple Past Present Progressive “I ate.” “I am eating.” Simple Future Past Progressive “I will eat.” “I was eating.” Future Progressive “I will be eating.” Perfect Tenses Perfect-Progressive Tenses Form progressive tenses using HAVE + Past Participle Form perfect-progressive using HAVE + BEEN + Present Present Perfect participle (“—ing” verb) “I have eaten.” Past Perfect Present Perfect Progressive “I had eaten.” “I have been eating.” Future Perfect Past Perfect Progressive “I will have eaten.” “I had been eating.” Future Perfect Progressive “I will have been eating.” ____________________________________________________________________________________ EXPRESSING PAST TIME There are five verb tenses and two special verb expressions that express some aspect of past time: • Use simple past for a single past event  “I walked to the grocery store.” • Use past progressive for a past action that was happening when it was interrupted by another  “I was eating dinner when the phone rang.” • Use present perfect: a past action or situation that continues now o  “I have lived in Orlando for 7 years.” a recent past action that is important to the current situation o  “I have shut the door so we can talk in private.” a past experience (indefinite past time) o  “I have been to Argentina before.” with the word yet to indicate a past indefinite action o  “I have not finished my homework yet.” with a superlative to indicate a past indefinite action o  “Pizza is the most delicious food I have ever tasted.” Repetition of an action before now (exact time is not important) o  “I have flown in an airplane over fifty times.” • Use past perfect for a past action that was completed before a second past action  “I had already finished lunch by the time my friend arrived.” • Use past perfect progressive for an action that began in the past before a second past action (with emphasis on the duration of the action)  “I had been waiting for forty-five minutes before the doctor finally saw me.” Special Expressions for Past Time: “Used to” and “Would” • Use the special expression used to for an action that happened many times in the past but is no longer true; frequently opens a past narrative  “I used to go fishing with my dad every weekend as a kid.” • Use the word would for smaller actions that happened repeatedly in a past narrative but are no longer true Note: When telling a story, we often used “used to” to set the scene, and “would” for all subsequent details o  “When I was little, I used to bring peanut butter sandwiches to school every day for lunch. Every morning, I would pull the bread out of the pantry, and then I would layer it with a thick spoonful of peanut butter. Sometimes, I would get so hungry as I was making my sandwich that I would eat the whole thing for breakfast. When that happened, I would have to start over and make another one to bring to school.” Note: Don’t use “would” with non-action verbs o  When I was little I would be very shy. EXPRESSING FUTURE TIME Even though we have four future tenses, we rarely use them. Instead, we tend to express future in the following ways: 1. “Be going to” (Present Progressive): • We use “be going to” to express an event in the future, especially one that is already planned • Common Mistakes when using “be going to”: Forgetting to use “be” o  “I going to the beach on Sunday.” Forgetting the word “to” o  “I am going the beach on Sunday.” Using “-s” or “-ed” or “-ing” after “to” o  “I am going to bakes a cake for my sister’s birthday.  “I am going to baked a cake for my sister’s birthday.”  “I am going to baking a cake for my sister’s birthday.” Neglecting to establish future time in the conversation o  “I am going to the car wash.” (When??) 2. Simple present • We use simple present to express a future action marked by a specific future adverb “I go back to work tomorrow.” o • OR…a future action in a dependent clause (NOTE: We don’t use the future tense in a dependent clause) “When I go to the bank tomorrow, I must remember to deposit my paycheck.” o • Common Mistakes: Using simple present tense for a future action without a future time marker o  “I go back to work.” (When??) Using “will” or “be going to” in a future time clause o  “When I will go to the bank tomorrow, I must remember to deposit my paycheck.”