PRESENT SIMPLE

 Key time words: always, often, usually, regularly, often, everyday, rarely,
scarcely, (once, twice, three times a day, a week, a month, a year), daily,
weekly, monthly, yearly)
 General facts

PRESENT CONTINUOUS
Indicates an action that is taking place at the moment of speaking.
 Key words/phrases: now, right now, at the moment, (this week, month,
semester, term, season, year), today, look, listen, be careful, be quiet, shhh,

PAST SIMPLE
Indicates an action that took place before now, and has no real connection with the
current time.
Regular verbs:
1. The teacher explained the lesson yesterday.
2. We invited them to our party three days ago.
Irregular verbs:
1. We all left the party at 11:00.
2. This house cost $75,000 in 1980.
You will often find the past simple used with time expressions such as these:
1. Yesterday
2. three weeks ago
3. last year
4. in 2002
5. from March to June (past months)
6. for a long time
7. for 6 weeks
8. in the 1980s
9. in the last century
10.in the past
PAST CONTINUOUS
It indicates an action in the past that is longer in duration than another one in the past.
1. He was walking when it started to rain.
2. They were playing tennis yesterday at 10.30.
3. It was raining when I got up.
4. When Helen arrived, we were having dinner.

PRESENT PERFECT
Indicates an action that has been completed sometime before now, with a result that
affects the current situation.
1. We have just finished our activity.
2. They have already discussed the test.
3. We haven’t finished our class yet.
4. We haven’t talked to each other since January.
5. I have met many people since I worked here.

PAST PERFECT
Indicates an action in the past that had been completed before another action or event
in the past (past before past).
My mother had cooked before I woke up.
1. She had talked to me before she left.
2. They were angry because Tom hadn’t invited them to the party.
3. We had waited for him for two hours before he arrived yesterday
4. She left after she had talked to me.
5. The storm destroyed the tent that we had built.
6. We had slept for 12 hours when he woke us up.
7. My brother ate all of the cake that our mum had made.

FUTURE SIMPLE
Indicates an action that will take place after the current moment, and that has no real
connection with the current time.
1. The President will visit Italy next week.
2. The voters will go to the polls tomorrow to elect a new president.
3. The Minister of Health will resign from post next month.
 4. He will walk home.

CONDITIONALS
The zero conditional
This conditional is used when the result will always happen. So, if water reaches 100
degrees, it always boils. It's a fact. I'm talking in general, not about one particular
situation. The result of the 'if clause' is always the main clause.
if + present simple, ... present simple
1. If you heat water to 100 degrees, it boils.
2. People die if they don’t eat.
3. If I eat peanuts, I am sick.

The first conditional

It's used to talk about things which might happen in the future. Of course, we can't
know what will happen in the future, but this describes possible things, which could
easily come true.

if + present simple, ... will + infinitive

1. If it rains, I won't go to the park.

2. If I study today, I'll go to the party tonight.
3. If I have enough money, I'll buy some new shoes.
4. If it rains tomorrow, we'll go to the cinema.

First vs. Zero conditional

The first conditional describes a particular situation, whereas the zero

conditional describes what happens in general.

For example (zero conditional): if you sit in the sun, you get burned (here I'm talking
about every time a person sits in the sun - the burning is a natural consequence of the
sitting)

But (first conditional): if you sit in the sun, you'll get burned (here I'm talking about
what will happen today, another day might be different).
Second conditional

if + past simple, ... would + infinitive

It has two uses.

First, we can use it to talk about things in the future that are probably not going to be
true. Maybe I'm imagining some dream for example.

1. If I won the lottery, I would buy a big house.(I probably won't win the lottery).
2. If I met the Queen of England, I would say hello.
3. She would travel all over the world if she were rich.
4. She would pass the exam if she ever studied.(She never studies, so this won't
happen).

Second, we can use it to talk about something in the present which is impossible,
because it's not true. Is that clear? Have a look at the examples:
1. If I had his number, I would call him. (I don't have his number now, so it's
impossible for me to call him).
2. If I were you, I wouldn't go out with that man.

For example (second conditional): If I had enough money I would buy a house with
twenty bedrooms and a swimming pool (I'm probably not going to have this much
money, it's just a dream, not very real)

But (first conditional): If I have enough money, I'll buy some new shoes (It's much
more likely that I'll have enough money to buy some shoes).

The third conditional

if + past perfect, ... would + have + past participle

It's used to talk about things which might happen in the future. Of course, we can't
know what will happen in the future, but this describes possible things, which could
easily come true.

It talks about the past. It's used to describe a situation that didn't happen, and to
imagine the result of this situation.
1. If she had studied, she would have passed the exam (but, really we know she
didn't study and so she didn't pass)
2. If I hadn't eaten so much, I wouldn't have felt sick (but I did eat a lot, and so I
did feel sick).
3. If we had taken a taxi, we wouldn't have missed the plane
4. She wouldn't have been tired if she had gone to bed earlier
5. She would have become a teacher if she had gone to university
6. He would have been on time for the interview if he had left the house at nine.