Tense | Signal words | Use | Form | Examples affirmative | Examples negative | Examples interrogative |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Simple Present or Present Simple |
|
| infinitive (he/she/it) + -s | I work. | I don’t work. | Do I work? |
He works. | He doesn’t work. | Does he work? | ||||
I go. | I don’t go. | Do I go? | ||||
He goes. | He doesn’t go. | Does he go? | ||||
Present Progressive or Present Continuous |
|
| to be (am/are/is) + infinitive + -ing | I‘m working. | I‘m not working. | Am I working? |
He‘s working. | He isn’t working. | Is he working? | ||||
I‘m going. | I‘m not going. | Am I going? | ||||
He‘s going. | He isn’t going. | Is he going? | ||||
Simple Past or Past Simple |
| action finished in the past, mostly connected with an expression of time (no connection to the present) |
| I worked. | I didn’t work. | Did I work? |
He worked. | He didn’t work. | Did he work? | ||||
I went. | I didn’t go. | Did I go? | ||||
He went. | He didn’t go. | Did he go? | ||||
Past Progressive or Past Continuous | while |
| was/were + infinitive + -ing | I was working. | I wasn’t working. | Was I working? |
He was working. | He wasn’t working. | Was he working? | ||||
I was going. | I wasn’t going. | Was I going? | ||||
He was going. | He wasn’t going. | Was he going? | ||||
Simple Present Perfect or Present Perfect |
|
| have/has + past participle* | I have worked. | I haven’t worked. | Have I worked? |
He has worked. | He hasn’t worked. | Has he worked? | ||||
I have gone. | I haven’t gone. | Have I gone? | ||||
He has gone. | He hasn’t gone. | Has he gone? | ||||
Present Perfect Progressive or Present Perfect Continuous |
|
| have/has + been + infinitive + -ing | I have been working. | I haven’t been working. | Have I been working? |
He has been working. | He hasn’t been working. | Has he been working? | ||||
I have been going. | I haven’t been going. | Have I been going? | ||||
He has been going. | He hasn’t been going. | Has he been going? | ||||
Simple Past Perfect or Past Perfect (Simple) |
|
| had + past participle* | I had worked. | I hadn’t worked. | Had I worked? |
He had worked. | He hadn’t worked. | Had he worked? | ||||
I had gone. | I hadn’t gone. | Had I gone? | ||||
He had gone. | He hadn’t gone. | Had he gone? | ||||
Past Perfect Progressive or Past Perfect Continuous |
| how long something had been happening before something else happened | had + been + infinitive + ing | I had been working. | I hadn’t been working. | Had I been working? |
He had been working. | He hadn’t been working. | Had he been working? | ||||
I had been going. | I hadn’t been going. | Had I been going? | ||||
He had been going. | He hadn’t been going. | Had he been going? | ||||
will – future |
| will + infinitive | I‘ll work. | I won’t work. | Will I work? | |
He‘ll work. | He won’t work. | Will he work? | ||||
I‘ll go. | I won’t go. | Will I go? | ||||
He‘ll go. | He won’t go. | Will he go? | ||||
going to – future |
| to be (am/are/is) + going to + infinitive | I‘m going to work. | I‘m not going to work. | Am I going to work? | |
He‘s going to work. | He‘s not going to work. | Is he going to work? | ||||
I‘m going to go. | I‘m not going to go. | Am I going to go? | ||||
He‘s going to go. | He‘s not going to go. | Is he going to go? | ||||
Future Progressive or Future Continuous |
| will + be + infinitive + ing | I‘ll be working. | I won’t be working. | Will I be working? | |
He‘ll be working. | He won’t be working. | Will he be working? | ||||
I‘ll be going. | I won’t be going. | Will I be going? | ||||
He‘ll be going. | He won’t be going. | Will he be going? | ||||
Simple Future Perfect or Future Perfect Simple | sth. will already have happened before a certain time in the future | will + have + past participle* | I‘ll have worked. | I won’t have worked. | Will I have worked? | |
He‘ll have worked. | He won’t have worked. | Will he have worked? | ||||
I‘ll have gone. | I won’t have gone. | Will I have gone? | ||||
He‘ll have gone. | He won’t have gone. | Will he have gone? | ||||
Future Perfect Progressive or Future Perfect Continuous |
| will + have + been + infinitive + ing | I‘ll have been working. | I won’t have been working. | Will I have been working? | |
He‘ll have been working. | He won’t have been working. | Will he have been working? | ||||
I‘ll have been going. | I won’t have been going. | Will I have been going? | ||||
He‘ll have been going. | He won’t have been going. | Will he have been going? | ||||
Conditional Simple |
| would + infinitive | I would work. | I wouldn’t work. | Would I work? | |
He would work. | He wouldn’t work. | Would he work? | ||||
I would go. | I wouldn’t go. | Would I go? | ||||
He would go. | He wouldn’t go. | Would he go? | ||||
Conditional Progressive or Conditional Continuous |
| would + be + infinitive + ing | I would be working. | I wouldn’t be working. | Would I be working? | |
He would be working. | He wouldn’t be working. | Would he be working? | ||||
I would be going. | I wouldn’t be going. | Would I be going? | ||||
He would be going. | He wouldn’t be going. | Would he be going? | ||||
Conditional Perfect |
| would + have + past participle* | I would have worked. | I wouldn’t have worked. | Would I have worked? | |
He would have worked. | He wouldn’t have worked. | Would he have worked? | ||||
I would have gone. | I wouldn’t have gone. | Would I have gone? | ||||
He would have gone. | He wouldn’t have gone. | Would I have gone? | ||||
Conditional Perfect Progressive or Conditional Perfect Continuous |
| would + have + been + infinitive + ing | I would have been working. | I wouldn’t have been working. | Would I have been working? | |
He would have been going. | He wouldn’t have been going. | Would he have been working? | ||||
I would have been going. | I wouldn’t have been going. | Would I have been going? | ||||
He would have been going. | He wouldn’t have been going. | Would he have been going? |