English Grammar - The most common tenses in English



The most common tenses

|tense |form |signal words |Use |examples |

|Present tense|Simple |every day |- something happens repeatedly |A: I work / he works |

| | |sometimes |- how often something happens |I go / he goes |

| |A: infinitive (he/she/it + -s) |always |- one action follows another |P: I’m asked / he is asked |

| |P: to be (am/is/are) + past participle (infinitive +|often |- things in general |I’m driven / he is driven |

| |-ed) |usually |- after the following verbs (to love, to hate, to think, etc.) | |

| | |seldom |- future meaning: timetables, programmes | |

| | |never | | |

| | |first ... then | | |

| |Progressive (Continuous) |now |- something is happening at the same time of speaking or |A: I'm working / he's working |

| | |at the moment |around it |I'm going / he's going |

| |A: to be (am/is/are) + infinitive + -ing |Look! |- future meaning: when you have already decided and |P: I'm being asked / he is being asked |

| |P: to be (am/is/are) + being + |Listen! |arranged to do it (a fixed plan, date) |I'm being driven / he is being driven |

| |past participle (infinitive + -ed) | | | |

|Present |Simple |yet; never; |- you say that sth. has happened or is finished in the past and it |A: I've worked / he's worked |

|perfect tense| |ever; already; |has a connection to the present |I've gone / he's gone |

| |A: have/has + past participle |so far; |- action started in the past and continues up to the present |P: I’ve been asked / he’s been asked |

| |(infinitive + -ed) |up to now, | |I’ve been driven / he’s been driven |

| |P: have/has + been + past participle |sometimes; | | |

| |(infinitive + -ed) |since; for; | | |

| | |recently | | |

| |Progressive (Continuous) | |emphasis: length of time of an action |A: I've been working / he's been working |

| | | |- action began in the past and has just stopped |I've been going / he's been going |

| |A: have/has + been + infinitive + -ing | |- how long the action has been happening |P: I've been being asked / / he's been being asked |

| |P: has/have + been + being + | | |I've been being driven / he's been being driven |

| |past participle (infinitive + -ed) | | | |

|Past |Simple |last ... |- action took place in the past, mostly connected with an |A: I worked / he worked |

|tense | |... ago |expression of time (no connection to the present) |I went / he went |

| |A: simple past (infinitive + -ed) |in 1990 | |P: I was asked / they were asked |

| |P: was/were + past participle |yesterday | |I was driven / they were driven |

| |(infinitive + -ed) | | | |

| |Progressive (Continuous) | |- an action happened in the middle of another action |A: I was working / he was working |

| | | |- someone was doing sth. at a certain time (in the past) |I was going / he was going |

| |A: was/were + infinitive + -ing | |- you don't know whether it was finished or not |P: I was being asked / they were being asked |

| |P: was/were + being + past participle | | |I was being driven / they were being driven |

| |(infinitive + -ed) | | | |

|Past |Simple | |mostly when two actions in a story are related to each other: the |A: I had worked / he had worked |

|Perfect | | |action which had already happened is put into Past Perfect, the other|I had gone / he had gone |

|tense |A: had + past participle (infinitive + -ed) | |action into Simple Past |P: I had been asked / he had been asked |

| |P: had + been + past participle | |the past of the Present Perfect |I had been driven / he had been driven |

| |(infinitive + -ed) | | | |

| |Progressive | |how long something had been happening before something else happened |A: I had been working / he had been working |

| | | | |I had been going / he had been going |

| |A: had + been + infinitive + -ing | | |P: I had been being asked / he had been being asked |

| |P: had + been + being + past participle | | |I had been being driven / he had been being driven |

| |(infinitive + -ed) | | | |

|will - future|A: will + infinitiv | |- predictions about the future (you think that sth will happen) |A: I'll work / he'll work |

| |P: will + be + past participle | |- you decide to do sth. spontaneously at the time of speaking, you |I'll go / he'll go |

| |(infinitive + -ed) | |haven't made a decision before |P: I'll be asked / he'll be asked |

| | | |- main clause in if clause type I |I'll be driven / he'll be driven |

|Future |Perfect | |sth. will already have happened before a certain time in the future |A: I'll have worked / he'll have worked |

|tense | | | |I'll have gone / he'll have gone |

| |A: will + have + past participle | | |P: I'll have been asked / he'll have been asked |

| |(infinitive + -ed) | | |I'll have been driven / he'll have been driven |

| |P: will + have + been + past participle | | | |

| |(infinitive + -ed) | | | |

| |Progressiv | |- An action will be in progress at a certain time in the future. |A: I'll be working / he'll be working |

| | | |This action has begun before the certain time. |I'll be going / he'll be going |

| |A: will + be + infinitive + -ing | |- Something happens because it normally happens. |P: I'll have been being asked / he'll have been being asked |

| |P: will + have + been + being + past participle | | |I'll have been being driven / he'll have been being driven |

| |(infinitive + -ed) | | | |

|going to - |A: to be (am/is/are) + going to + | |- when you have already decided to do sth. in the future |A: I'm going to work / he's going to work |

|future |Infinitive | |- what you think what will happen |I'm going to go / he's going to go |

| |P: to be (am/is/are) + going to + be + | | |P: I'm going to be asked / he's going to be asked |

| |past participle (infinitive + -ed) | | |I'm going to be driven / he's going to be driven |

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