Unit I Tense Review
I- PRESENT TENSES
I-1- Present Simple
Subject + auxiliary verb + main verb
do base
There are three important exceptions:
1. For positive sentences, we do not normally use the auxiliary.
2. For the 3rd person singular (he, she, it), we add (s) to the main verb or (es) to the auxiliary.
3. For the verb to be, we do not use an auxiliary, even for questions and negatives.
Look at these examples with the main verb like:
Form Subject Auxiliary verb Main verb
I, you, we, they like coffee.
Affirmative
He, she, it likes coffee.
I, you, we, they do not like coffee.
Negative
He, she, it does not like coffee.
Do I, you, we, they like coffee ?
Interrogative
Does he, she, it like coffee ?
Look at these examples with the main verb be. Notice that there is no auxiliary:
How do we use the Present Simple Tense?
We use the present simple tense when: Form Subject Main verb
Permanent or long-term situations (The sun rises in the east) I am Student
• Facts (Water boils at 100°C) Affirmative You, we, they are Student
• Regular activities and routines He, she, it Is Student
(The postman usually comes before noon) I am not old
• Feelings Negative You, we, they are not old
(I love walking around late at night during the summer) He, she, it is not old
• Opinions and states of mind
Am I late?
(I think that you are aware of the situation)
Interrogative Are you, we, they late?
• Timetables and schedules
Is he, she, it late?
(Our plane leaves at 10 PM on Thursday)
I-2- Present continuous Look at these examples:
The structure of the present continuous
Form Subject Auxiliary verb Main verb
tense is:
I am speaking to you.
Subject + auxiliary verb + main verb
Affirmative He, she, it is reading this.
be base + ing
You, we, they are writting Letter.
I am not staying in Algeria.
Negative He, she, it Is not Playing football.
You, we, they are not learning English.
Am I washing laundry
Interrogative Is he, she, it watching TV?
Are you,we, they waiting for John?
How do we use the Present Continuous Tense?
We use the present continuous tense to talk about:
• Actions happening now I'm reading a page on the Internet at the moment
• Future plants and arrangements I'm visiting my parents next Sunday.
I-3- Present perfect
The structure of the present perfect tense is:
Subject + auxiliary verb + main verb
have past participle
Unit I Tense Review
Here are some examples of the present perfect tense: Contractions with the present perfect tense
I have I've
Form Subject Auxiliary verb Main verb
You have You've
Affirmative I have seen movie.
He has He's
You have eaten my apple
She has She's
She has not been to Rome.
Negative It has It's
We have not played football.
John has John's
Have you finished? The car has The car's
Interrogative
Has he done It? We have We've
They have They've
How do we use the Present Perfect Tense?
We use the present perfect tense to talk about past actions with present importance.
• Past actions with results in the present: ex: graphic images has had excellent results this year
• Life experience: ex: I’ve forgotten his name twice.
Examples:
• Look! I've bought a new car • I've been to the doctor's this morning
• I've read Pickwick Papers • The Prime Minister has met the President
I-4- Present perfect continuous
The structure of the present perfect continuous tense is:
subject + auxiliary verb + auxiliary verb + main verb
have been base + ing
has
Here are some examples of the present perfect continuous tense:
Form Subject Auxiliary verb Auxiliary verb Main verb
I have been waiting for one hour.
Affirmative
you have been talking too much.
it has not been raining.
Negative
we have not been playing football.
Interrogative have you been seeing her?
have they been doing their homework?
How do we use the Present Perfect Continuous Tense?
This tense is called the present perfect continuous tense. There is usually a connection with the present or now. There are basically
two uses for the present perfect continuous tense:
1. An action that has just stopped or recently stopped
We use the present perfect continuous tense to talk about an action that started in the past and stopped recently. There is usually
a result now.
• I'm tired [now] because I've been running.
• Why is the grass wet [now]? Has it been raining?
• You don't understand [now] because you haven't been listening.
2. An action continuing up to now
We use the present perfect continuous tense to talk about an action that started in the past and is continuing now. This is often used
with “For” or “Since”.
We use “For” to talk about a period of time - 5 minutes, 2 weeks, 6 years.
We use “Since” to talk about a point in past time - 9 o'clock, 1st January, Monday.
For can be used with all tenses. Since is usually used with perfect tenses only.
• I have been reading for 2 hours. [I am still reading now.]
• We've been studying since 9 o'clock. [We're still studying now.]
• How long have you been learning English? [You are still learning now.]
• We have not been smoking. [And we are not smoking now.]
Unit I Tense Review
II- PAST TENSES
II-1- Past Simple
To make the past simple tense, we use:
past form only or auxiliary did + base form
Here you can see examples of the past form and base form for irregular verbs and regular verbs:
Verb Base Past Past participle
work worked worked The past form for all regular verbs
Regular explode exploded exploded ends in -ed.
like liked liked
go went gone The past form for irregular verbs
Irregular see saw seen is variable. You need to learn it by heart.
sing sang sung
You do not need the past participle form to
make the past simple tense. It is shown here for
completeness only.
The auxiliary verb did is not conjugated. It is the same for all persons (I did, you did, he did etc). And the base form and past form do
not change. Look at these examples with the main verbs go and work:
Form Subject Auxiliary verb Main verb
I went to school.
Affirmative
you worked very hard.
She did not go with me.
Negative
we did not work yesterday.
Did you go to London?
Interrogative
Did they work at home?
Exception! The verb to be is different. We conjugate the verb to be (I was, you were, he/she/it was, we were, they were); and we do
not use an auxiliary for negative and question sentences. To make a question, we exchange the subject and verb.
Look at these examples:
Form Subject Main verb
I, he/she/it was here.
Affirmative
You, we, they were in London.
I, he/she/it was not there.
Negative
You, we, they were not happy.
Was I, he/she/it right?
Interrogative
Were you, we, they late?
How do we use the Past Simple Tense?
We use the past simple tense to talk about an action or a situation - an event - in the past. The event can be short or long. Usually used
with: yesterday, last night, in 1999, 10 years ago….
Examples:
• I watched the film on TV last night.
• I saw that film a long time ago.
• The vampire got out of his coffin and walked towards us.
Note that when we tell a story, we usually use the past simple tense. We may use the past continuous tense to "set the scene", but we
almost always use the past simple tense for the action. Look at this example of the beginning of a story:
“The wind was howling around the hotel and the rain was pouring down. It was cold. The door opened and James Bond
entered. He took off his coat, which was very wet…”
Unit I Tense Review
II-2- Past continuous
The past continuous tense expresses action at a particular moment in the past. The action started before that moment but has not
finished at that moment.
Examples:
• I was watching TV when the phone rang.
• Dracula's helpers were moving his coffin to a new location.
II-3- Past perfect
The past perfect tense is quite an easy tense to understand and to use. This tense talks about the "past in the past".
The structure of the past perfect tense is:
subject + auxiliary verb HAVE + main verb
had past participle
Look at these example sentences with the past perfect tense: Contractions with subject and auxiliary verb
Form Subject Auxiliary verb Main verb I had I'd
I had finished my work. you had you'd
Affirmative
You had stopped before me. he had he'd
She had not gone to school. she had she'd
Negative
We had not left. it had it'd
Had you arrived? we had we'd
Interrogative they had they'd
Had they eaten dinner?
How do we use the Past Perfect Tense?
The past perfect tense expresses action in the past before another action in the past. This is the past in the past. For example:
• I wasn't hungry. I had just eaten.
• They were hungry. They had not eaten for five hours.
• I didn't know who he was. I had never seen him before.
• Mary wasn't at home when I arrived. "Really? Where had she gone?"
II-4-Past perfect continuous
The structure of the past perfect continuous tense is:
Subject + Auxiliary verb ‘Have’ + Auxiliary verb ‘be’ + Main verb
conjugated in simple past tense past participle base + ing
had been
Look at these example sentences with the past perfect continuous tense:
Form Subject Auxiliary verb Auxiliary verb Main verb
Affirmative I had been Working.
You had been playing tennis.
Negative It had not been working well.
We had not been expecting her.
Interrogative Had you been drinking?
Had they been waiting long?
How do we use the Past Perfect Continuous Tense?
The past perfect continuous tense is like the past perfect tense, but it expresses longer actions in the past before another action in the
past. For example:
• John was very tired. He had been running.
• I could smell cigarettes. Somebody had been smoking.
• Suddenly, my car broke down. I was not surprised. It had not been running well for a long time.
• Had the pilot been drinking before the crash?
Unit I Tense Review
III- FUTURE TENSES
III-1- Future Simple
The structure of the future simple tense is:
Subject + auxiliary verb + main verb
Will base
For negative sentences in the future simple tense, we insert not between the auxiliary verb and main verb. For question sentences, we
exchange the subject and auxiliary verb. Look at these example sentences with the future simple tense:
Form Subject Auxiliary verb Main verb
Affirmative I will open the door
You will finish before me
Negative She will not be at school tomorrow.
We will not leave yet.
Interrogative Will you arrive on time?
Will they want dinner?
How do we use the future simple tenses?
We use the future simple tense when there is no plan or decision to do something before we speak. We make the decision
spontaneously at the time of speaking. Look at these examples:
• Hold on. I’ll get a pen. I think • I will have a holiday next year.
• We will see what we can do to help you? •People won’t go to Jupiter before the 22nd century.
• Maybe we’ll stay in and watch television tonight. • I’m going shopping. I won’t be very long.
III-2- Future continuous
The structure of future continuous tense is:
Subject + Auxiliary verb ‘Will’ + Auxiliary verb + Main verb
will be base + ing
For negative sentences in the future continuous tense, we insert not between will and be. For question sentences, we exchange the
subject and will. Look at these example sentences with the future continuous tense:
Form Subject Auxiliary verb ‘will’ Auxiliary verb Main verb
I will be working at 10 am.
Affirmative
You will be lying on the beach tomorrow
She will not be using the car.
Negative
We will not be having dinner at home.
will you be Playing football.
Interrogative
will they be watching TV?
How do we use the future continuous tenses?
The future continuous tense expresses action at a particular moment in the future. The action will start before that moment but it will
not have finished at that moment. For example, tomorrow I will start work at 2 pm and stop work at 6 pm. At 4 pm tomorrow,
I will be working. When we use the future continuous tense, our listener usually knows or understands what time we are talking
about. Look at these examples:
• I will be playing tennis at 10 am tomorrow. • What will you doing when I arrive?
• They won’t be watching TV at 9 pm tonight. • We’ill be having dinner when the film starts.
• What will you be doing at 10 pm tonight? • Take your umbrella. It will be raining when you return.
Unit I Tense Review
III-3- Future perfect
The structure of future perfect tense is:
Subject + Auxiliary verb + Auxiliary verb + Main verb
will have Past participle
Look at these example sentences with the future perfect tense:
Form Subject Auxiliary verb Auxiliary verb Main verb
I will have finished by 10 am.
Affirmative
You will have forgotten me by then.
She will not have gone to school.
Negative
We will not have left.
will you have arrived ?
Interrogative
will they have received it ?
How do we use the future perfect tenses?
The future perfect tense expresses action in the future before another action in the future. This is the past in the future. For example:
The train will leave the station at 9 am. You will arrive at the station at 9.15 am. When you arrive, the train will have left.
Look at some more examples:
• You can call me at work at 8 am. I will have arrived at the office by 8.
• They will be tired when they arrive. They will not have slept for a long time.
• Mary won’t be at home when you arrive. Really? Where will she have gone?
III-4-Future perfect continuous
The structure of future perfect continuous tense is:
Subject + Auxiliary verb + Auxiliary verb + Auxiliary verb + Main verb
will have been bese + ing
For negative sentences in the future perfect continuous tense, we insert not between will and have. For question sentences, we
exchange the subject and will. Look at these example sentences with the future continuous tense:
Form Subject Auxiliary verb Auxiliary verb Auxiliary verb Main verb
I will have been working for four hours
Affirmative
You will have been travling for two days
She will not have been using the car.
Negative
We will not have been waiting. long.
will you have been playing ? football?
Interrogative
will they have been watching TV?
How do we use the future perfect continuous tenses?
We use the future perfect continuous tenses to talk about a long action before some point in the future. Look at these examples:
• I will have been working here for ten years next week.
• He will be tired when he arrives. He will have been travelling for 24 hours.
