Verbal Times Review

The tense of verb indicates the time of the action or state of being that is expressedby the
verb. All basic form are derived from the principal parts Present, present participle, past
and past participle.

Present

Version Structures Example When they are used

Negative Subject + did + not + Jessie didn´t work
infinitive verb + yesterday  Action in the present
Complement taking placce once,
Affirmative Subject + verb in past + Jessie worked never or several time.
complement yesterday
 Action taking place one
after another.
Interrogative Did + Subject + Infinitive Did jessie work
verb + Complement? yesterday?  Action set by a
timetable or schedule.
 Present Continuous
We often use the present Continuous tense in English. It is vert different from the Present
Simple, both in structure and in use.

Version Structure Example When they are used?

Neggative Subject + have/has I haven+t been
+ not + been + working on this  Action happening now
verb(ing) + object since March
Affirmative Subject + have/has I have been working  Action in the future
+been + verb(ing) + on this since March
object

Interrogative Have/has + subject Have i been working

+ been + verb(ing) on this since
+ object + ? March?

Present Perfect
The present perfect is formed from the present tense of the verb have and the past
participle of a verb.

Version Structure Example When they are used?

Negative Subject + have/has i have not tried  Is used to show the
+ not + past sushi before result of an action.
participle  It is used to talk about
actions that started in
Affirmative Subject + have/has I have tried sushi the past and already
+ past participle before continue to tje present.
 It is use with since and
for to say how long an
action has lasted
Interrogative Have/has + Subject Have you tried sushi
+ Past participle before?
 Past
Indicates an action which is completed at a definite time in the past.

Version Structure Example When they are used?

Neggative Subject + verb to be She was not alone
(was/were) + Not +  Past events and situations
Complement  We use the past simple to
Affirmative Subject + verb to be He was at the hospital talk about
(was/were) +
Complement  something that happened
Interrogative Verb to be Was it true? once in the past
(was/were) + subject
+ complement + ?

Past Continuous
The Past Continuous tense is an important tense in English.

Version Structure Example When they are used?

Neggative Subject + was/were + She was not sleeping
not + verb ing when he came  We use it to say what
home-. we were in the middle
Affirmative Subject + was/were + She was cooking all of doing at a particular
verb ing morning. moment in the past.
Interrogative Was/were + subject + Was she sleeping
verb ing? when he came home?

Past Perfect
The past Perfect tense is quite an easy tense to understand and to use. This tense talks
about the “past in the past”.

Version Structure Example When they are used?

Neggative Subject + had not + He hadn´t enough
verb participio time to memorize it  We can use the past perfect
Affirmative SUbject + had + verb The band haf stopped to show the order of two
participio playing before we past events. The past
arrived perfect shows the earlier
Interrogative Has + subject + verb Had you ever been action and the past simple
participio + ? here before? shows the later action.
 Future
The simple future is a verb tense that’s used to talk about things that haven’t happened
yet.

Version Structure Example When they are used?

Neggative Subject + will + not + I will not see a movie Use the simple future to talk
infinitive + tomorrow about an action or condition that
complement will begin and end in the future.
Affirmative Subject + will + I will see a movie
infinitive + tomorrow
complement
Interrogative Will + subject + Will you see a movie
infinitive + tomoorow?
complement + ?