Verb Tense Revision Chart

Verb Tense Use Example

-Regular activities / Amy and Sue play tennis on

I play Present Simple
routine Saturdays.

Present -Continuous present Amy and Sue are playing at the

I am playing
Continuous action moment.

-Finished part of
-Amy and Sue have played two sets.
continuous action.
-They have played several other
-Completed actions in
matches
unfinished
this year.
time period.
I have Present -Their parents have just arrived.
-Recent events
played Perf.Simple
(unspecified time)
-Sue has broken her racket so she
can't
-Past action with a result
continue.
in the
present.
-They have played in many
tournaments.
-Experiences up to now.

I have been Present Perf. Actions begun in the They have been playing tennis since
playing Cont. past which continue
today. 2 o'clock this afternoon.

Finished actions at a Last Saturday Sue played in another

I played Past Simple
specific time in the past. tournament.

I was At 2.45 pm they were playing the

Past Continuous Past continuous actions.
playing second set.

Two other people had played a

Completed actions
Past Perfect
I had played before a specific time or match before Amy and Sue arrived.
Simple
event in the past.
 Continuous actions
I had been Past Perfect At 4 pm they had been playing for 2
before a specific time or hours.
playing Cont.
event in the past.

-Predictions Amy will win the match today.

I will play Future Simple
-Spontaneous I'll lend you my racket!
decisions/offers

I will be Future
Continuous future action Tomorrow they will be playing in
playing Continuous another club.

I will have By September they will have played

Future Perfect Completed future action ten matches.
played

Continuous future action

I will have Future Perfect A 5 pm Amy and Sue will have
estimated at a time in
been playing Cont. been playing for 3 hours.
the future.

Conditional Probable action in an

I would play I would play tennis if I had a racket.
Simple imaginary situation

I would be Conditional Continuous action in an Amy would be playing tennis if you

playing Cont. imaginary situation came by on Saturday afternoon.

Speculation about
I would have Conditional I would have played tennis yesterday
imaginary situations in
played Perfect if you had asked me.
the past.

I would have Conditional Continuous hypothetical

I would have been playing with Sue
been playing Perf.Continuous situations.
if I had won my last match.