Tenses Flashcards
Simple Past
Subject + Past form of verb
Finished events in the past with no connection to the present.
With a finished time word (yesterday, last week, in 2003).
Simple Present
Subject + verb
Habitual or eternal truth.
When discussing a timetable or a fixed plan.
Simple Future
Subject + will/shall + verb
A decision at the moment of speaking.
A future fact.
Past Continuous
Subject + was/were + verb + ing
A continuous action in the past which is interrupted by another action or a time.
For two actions which happened at the same time in the past.
Present Continuous
Subject + is/are/am + verb + ing
For things that are happening at the moment of speaking.
To talk about a situation that is slowly changing.
Definite future arrangements (with a future time word).
Future Continuous
Subject + will/shall be + verb + ing
A complete action in the future that will happen in the normal course of events.
Past Perfect
Subject + had + past participle
A completed action before something else in the past
(usually used with words like before, when, after, since, by the time).
Present Perfect
Subject + has/have + past participle of verb
With unfinished actions or an unfinished time word (this month, this week, in the last year).
Since (fixed time in the past) and For (Period of time).
A finished action with a result in the present (focus on result) and/or life experiences.
Future Perfect
Subject + will/shall have + past participle
With a future time word, (and often with ‘by’) to talk about an action that will finish before a certain time in the future, but we don’t know exactly when.
Past Perfect Continuous
Subject + had been + verb + ing
Something that started in the past and continued up to another action or event (tells us how long).
Cause of something in the past.
Present Perfect Continuous
Subject + has been/have been + verb + ing
To say how long for unfinished actions which started in the past and continue to the present (often used with for and since).
Actions that have just stopped (though the whole action can be unfinished) and have a result, which we can often see, hear, or feel, in the present (focus on action).
Future Perfect Continuous
Subject + will/shall have been + verb + ing
With a time word, to talk about an action which starters before a time in the future and continues up to that time.
Real Conditional
Often used to refer to eternal/habitual truths, anything which is always true
If + Simple Present + Simple Present
(If x happens, y happens)
Refers to a real/possible condition and its results. Indicates what will happen if a certain situation is true.
If + Simple Present + will + infinitive
(If x happens, y will happen)
Unreal Conditional
Refers to an unlikely/hypothetical/improbable condition in the past and its result.
If + Simple Past + would/count etc. + infinitive
(If x happened, y would happen)
Refers to what did not happen in the past and its result. Describes probable past results if the condition had been true.
If + Past Perfect + would/could + have + past participle
(If x had happened, y would have happened)
Mixed Conditionals
Past + Present
If he’d got better scores, he might have a job.
Past + Future
If I’d won the quiz, I’d be going to Paris next week.
Future + Present
If he didn’t have the test tomorrow, he wouldn’t be so worried today.
