Tenses
“In grammar, tense is a category that expresses time reference with reference to the
moment of speaking”. There are ten tenses in English language and they are:
1. Present Simple Tense.
7. Past Perfect Tense.
2. Past Simple Tense.
8. Present Perfect Continuous Tense.
3. Present Continuous Tense.
9. Simple Future Tense.
4. Past Continuous Tense.
10. Future Continuous Tense.
5. Present Perfect Tense.
11. Future Perfect Tense.
6. Past Perfect Continuous.
12. Future Prefect Continuous
1) Present Simple Tense :
The simple present tense is one of several forms of present tense in English. We structure the simple
tense by keeping the verb with no addition in plural form and by adding‘s’,’es’ and ’ies’ in third
person singular.
Affirmative form:
Subject + verb +( s, es , ies ) + complement
I / you / they / we
read novel every day.
(Plural form)
He/ she
reads novel every day. (Third person singular form )
Rules for third person singular:
General verbs
Verbs ending with y
+s
+ies
Work = works
Study = studies
Go= goes
Eat = eats
Cry = cries
Wash = washes
Play = plays
Try = tries
Watch = watches
Write = writes
Spy= spies
Mix = mixes
Swim = swims
Fly = flies
Miss = misses
Examples: He tries very hard.
Verbs ending with
o/ ss / sh / x / tch
+es
She watches movies every Friday night.
Uses of present simple :
We use present simple to talk about facts, truth, habits/ routine, feelings /thoughts and fixed
arrangements.
a. Facts :
The human body contains 206 bones.
Light travels at almost 300,000 kilometres per second.
The sun orbits around the earth.
The Moon goes round the Earth.
b. Truth :
I'm nineteen years old.
I'm a student.
He lives in London.
John drives a taxi.
c. Habits/ routine:
I play football every weekend.
We meet every Thursday.
I wake up at 7:00 o’clock every day.
They go to the every day.
d. Feelings /thoughts:
They like pizza.
I promise you I will pay you back.
Most of children love ice cream
My wife thinks that I need to lose some weight.
e. Future/ fixed arrangements:
The school term starts next week.
The train leaves at 19.45 this evening.
We fly to Paris next week.
His mother arrives tomorrow.
Our holiday starts on the 26th March.
Note : We use adverb of frequency with present simple :
Always/ sometimes/ never/ rarely/ seldom/ usually/ occasionally
For example:
I sometimes go to the cinema.
She never plays football.
Negative and question :
We use a form of do in negatives and questions. We use do and don't except in the third
person singular, where we use does and doesn't.
a. Negative form :
Subject+ do + not + verb in infinitive + complement (plural)
I/ you / they / we/
do not know how to ride a bicycle.
Subject+ does + not + verb in infinitive + complement
He/ she/ it
(third person singular)
does not understand me.
Examples:
I like tennis but I don't like football.
(Don’t = do not)
I don't live in London now.
I don't play the piano but I play the guitar.
They don't work at the weekend.
John doesn't live in Manchester.
(Doesn’t = does not)
Angela doesn't drive to work. She goes by bus.
NOTE:
We do not add s to the verb in negatives and questions.
We do not say:
He-doesn't gets and NOT Does he gets?
b. Question form with ‘Do’:
We use do and does to make questions with the present simple. We use does for the
third person singular (she/he/it) and do for the others.
Do + subject + verb in infinitive + complement (plural)
Do I/ you / they / we play football?
Does + subject + verb in infinitive + complement
Does he/she/ it play football?
(third person singular)
Examples:
Do you play the piano?
Do you live in London?
Does Jack play football?
Does he like this weather?
Do Rita and Angela live in Manchester?
Do you have a job?
c. Questions with ‘wh’ question:
We use do and does with question words like where, what and when:
For example:
Where do Angela and Rita live?
What does Angela do?
When does Rita usually get up?
Where do you come from?
Note: questions with who often don't use do or does:
Who lives in London?
Who plays football at the weekend?
Who works at Liverpool City Hospital?
2) Past Simple Tense:
We use past simple tense for something happened and finished in the past. For example:
We went to the theatre on Friday.
Elvis Presley died in 1977.
Positive form :
a. A regular form:
Regular past form ends with ed. Same structure for plural and third person singular.
Subject + verb + ed + object/complement
I/you/ he/ she/ it / they cooked the dinner.
Examples:
The van crashed into the cat.
I painted the room last night.
They played football yesterday.
I posted the letter yesterday.
b. Irregular forms:
verbs that ends with y and preceded by consonant, we change it by adding ‘ied’
to the verb. For example:
He studied very hard for his exams
They tried to win the race, but they lost.
The baby cried all night long.
Some verbs have an irregular past form. For example :
I met my wife in 1983.
We went to Spain for our holidays.
They got home very late last night.
I won the game.
The past simple is the same in all persons except in the past tense of be.
I/he/she/it was
you/we/they were
Those cakes were nice.
I was ill last week
We were busy with moving to our new house.
Negative and question :
We use did in negatives and questions:
a. Negative form :
Subject + did + not + verb in infinitive + object/complement
I/you/he/she/it/we/they + did not win the game.
Examples:
They didn't go to Spain this year.
We didn't get home until very late last night.
I didn't see you yesterday.
b. Question form with did:
Did + subject + verb in infinitive +object/complement
Examples:
Did she play tennis when she was younger?
Did you live abroad?
Did you ring home? ~ Yes, I did.
c. Questions with verb to be :
Was/ were + subject + complement
Examples:
Was I sleepy?
Were you late?
Was he at the cinema?
Were they at work?
d. Questions with wh questions:
Wh questions +was / were + subject + object/complement
Example:
Where were you?
When was he at the cinema?
How was she?
Wh questions+ did + subject + verb in infinitive + object/complement
When did you meet your wife?
Where did you go for your holidays?
How did they meet?
Note: we use adverbs of time are often used to talk about the past:
Yesterday, the day before, ago, last week/month/year, and in 1988 ,
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