PRESENT SIMPLE

Infinitive (verb)
*for regular actions, habits, and things that are always or usually true facts.
We get up at 6.30 every day (habit)

PRESENT CONTINUOUS
To be + verb+ing
*for actions or temporary situations happening at or around the moment of speaking
What are you working on at the moment?
The BBC are making a programme about learning disorders.

PRESENT PERFECT
Have/has + past participle (3rd colon)
*actions that started in the past and continues to the present
Stephen has published several books of paintings.

PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

Have/has +been + verb+ing
*emphasize the activity itself and its duration, not the result
How long have you been learning English?
I have been waiting here for an hour!

PAST SIMPLE
Verb+ed or 2nd colon
*for events or situations which occurred before the moment of speaking
Yesterday we went in a music shop

PAST CONTINUOUS
Was/were + verb +ing
*to describe background actions in progress around a time in the past
At 8 oclock last night I was doing my homework.

PAST PERFECT
Had+ past participle (3rd colon)
*emphasize the action happened before another past action
I knew that we had met before.
When we got there, she had left.

FUTURE CONTINUOUS
Will be +verb+ing
*for an action that will be in progress at a specified time in future
Twenty years from now people will be living under the sea.

FUTURE PERFECT
Will+have+past participle (3rd colon)
*for an action that will be completed by specified time in future
By 2050 the Amazon rainforests will have vanished.

WILL (for predictions)

Its 9 o clock, it will be dark for 15 min.
GOING TO (for intentions, plans and outcomes)
Im going to be a doctor when I leave school

CONDITIONALS
Zero
If + present simple+present simple
*for condition and consequence that are always true
If you dont eat you die.

First
If +infinitive+will +infinitive
*for possible present situation, and possible future consequence.
If we raise enough money, we will build a hospital.

Second
If +past simple+would +infinitive
*for hypothetical situation in present and its future consequence which may be very
unlikely or impossible
If I were you I would buy that shirt.

Third
If+ past perfect+ would have+past participle
*for hypothetical situation and consequence in the past which is impossible to change
If the food had got there quicker, we would have saved thousands of lives.