Present Simple

To express an action that is repeated, an action that happens on a regular basis, or a

generalisation.

Habit, a common event, or a general truth.

Structure

VERB + s/es (in the third person)

Example: “She speaks English”, “I like salad”, “They don’t like fish”

Signalling Words

Frequency Adverbs: Sometimes, Never, Always, Once/twice a week/month, etc.

Agreement

The following words are always in singular form: anything, anyone, either, nothing, no one,
neither, whoever, whatever, what, something, somebody, someone, everything, everyone, each,
and everybody.

Present Continous
 an action currently in progress: The Human Resources Director is interviewing a candidate.

 a temporary situation: We are installing a new invoicing application this week, so you can
expect billing delays.

 a future event which is certain or already planned: My favorite band is playing at the
Zenith next October – I can’t wait!

Verbs that are generally not used in the continuous tense:

know, believe, need, understand, realize, prefer, remember, forget, recognize, mean, want, love,
like, dislike, hate, appreciate, mind, possess, own, belong, seem, cost, owe, exist, consist of,
include, contain
 Simple Past
Used to express an action that started and finished at a specific time in the past.

Structure

VERB + ed (regular verbs), or other forms for irregular verbs

Example: “She spoke English”, “I liked the salad”, “They didn’t like the fish”

 Completed action in the past > “Last year, she travelled to Japan”
 A series of completed actions > “We talked on the phone, then met for coffee and later
went to the movies”
 Duration in the past > “They lived in Brazil for 5 years”
 Habits in the past > “I never played the piano”
 Past facts or generalisations > “I was a shy child”

Signalling Words

1 minute ago, yesterday, in 2015, the other day, last Thursday, etc.

*Pronunciation: ed, t

Present Perfect

Used to explain an action that happened in the past where the time is not specified. The exact
time is not important.

Duration from the past until now: ‘I have been sick for three weeks.’, ‘Mary has loved chocolate
since she was a child.’

Structure

Have/has + past participle of the main verb

Example: “She has always spoken English”, “I have never liked chocolate”, “They have liked pork
for a long time”, “Have you been to Spain?”, “Has she driven a car?”
Signalling Words

Once, never, ever, many times, always, before, several times, already etc.

Already: Is completed and now I´m doing something else.

For: Used to express a period of time (duration).

Since: Used to refer to the specific moment an action began.

Past Perfect

Used to make it clear that one event happened before another in the past. It does not matter
which event is mentioned first - the tense makes it clear which one happened first.

Event A Event B

John had gone out when I arrived in the office.

Event A Event B

I had saved my document before the computer crashed.

Event B Event A

When they arrived we had already started cooking.

Event B Event A

He was very tired because he hadn't slept well.

Structure

The verb to have (had) + the past participle of the main verb

Signalling Words

When, before, just