English Verb Tenses Explained: From Present to Future

Mastering English Verb Tenses: A Comprehensive Overview

Present Simple

Used for habitual actions, routines, general or scientific facts, and schedules or programs.

Keywords: always, usually, generally, regularly.

Present Continuous

Used to describe what is happening at the moment of speaking, future arrangements with certainty, or to express a complaint using 'always'.

Structure: is/are + verb-ing

Keywords: now, right now, at the moment, this year, this evening.

Past Simple

Used for actions that occurred at a specific moment in the past, consecutive actions in the past, or a short action introduced by 'when' that interrupted a longer ongoing action.

Keywords: yesterday, last week, two days ago, in 2007.

Past Continuous

Used to describe what was happening at a specific moment in the past, or to express a longer action that was in progress when a shorter action occurred. The longer action typically uses 'while', and the shorter action uses 'when' followed by the Past Simple.

Keywords: last night, at 4 o'clock, when, while, as.

Past Perfect Simple

Used to indicate that one action occurred before another action in the past. The second action is usually in the Past Simple.

Structure: had + past participle

Keywords: already, by the time, after, before, until, never, just.

Present Perfect Simple

Used to talk about actions that started in the past and continue to the present, past actions with visible present effects, or actions that have just occurred (using 'just' between the auxiliary and the participle).

Keywords:

• Positive/Question: never, ever, already, just
• Negative/Question: yet (at the end)

Usage:

• 'For' indicates the duration of the action.
• 'Since' indicates the starting point of the action.

Future Simple

Used to announce future facts, make predictions, or express something decided at the moment of speaking.

Keywords: this evening, in an hour, at 2 o'clock, in the future, in a few weeks.

Be going to

Used to express intentions, plans, and decisions about the near future, or to state that something is about to happen based on present evidence.

Structure: am/is/are going to + base verb

Keywords: this evening, later, in an hour.

Future Continuous

Used to express what will be happening at a specific moment in the future.

Structure: will be + verb-ing

Keywords: at this time tomorrow.

Future Perfect Simple

Used to indicate that an action will have been completed by a specific point in the future.

Structure: will have + past participle

Keywords: by this time next week, by 3 o'clock.