Tenses in English - Reference

One sentence is put into different tenses. Can you see how the meaning changes? The words in green are signal words. They tell you which tense you have to use.

Tense Simple Present Present Progressive Simple Past Past Progressive Present Perfect Present Perfect Progressive Past Perfect Past Perfect Progressive will-future going tofuture Future Progressive Future Perfect Conditional Simple Conditional Progressive Conditional Perfect Conditional Perfect Progressive

Example

Explanation

I play football every week. Here you want to say that it happens regularly. I'm playing football now. Here you want to say that it is happening at the moment.

I played footballyesterday. You did it yesterday, it happened in the past. I was playing football the whole evening. I have just played football. I have been playing football for 2 hours. I had played football before Susan came. You were doing it in the past. It's not sure whether the action was finished or not. You have just finished it. So it has a connection to the present. Maybe your clothes are dirty. You want to say how long you have been doing it. (You started in the past and it continues up to the present. The two actions are related to each other: you had finished to play football and after that the girl arrived.

I had been playing football Here you want to point out how long you had been for two hours when Susan doing it before the girl came. came. I will play football next week. I'm going to play football this afternoon. I will be playing football next Sunday. I will have played football by tomorrow. I would play football. I would be playingfootball. I would have playedfootball. I would have been playing football. This is a prediction, you can probably do something else. This is a plan you've made. You do it every Sunday (as usual) You will have done it before tomorrow. You'll probably do it. You'll probably do it. Here you concentrate more on the progress of the action. You'll probably have finished playing football at a special time in the future. Here you concentrate on the fact (football). You'll probably have finished playing football at a special time in the future. Here you concentrate on the progress of playing (football).

Negations of the sentences Tense Simple Present Present Progressive Simple Past Past Progressive Example I do not play football every week. I don't play football every week. I am not playing football now. I'm not playing football now. I did not play football yesterday. I didn't play football yesterday. I was not playing football yesterday. I wasn't playing football yesterday. I have not played football. I haven't played football. I've not played football. I have not been playing football. I haven't been playing football. I've not been playing football. I had not played football. I hadn't played football. I'd not played football. I had not been playing football. I hadn't been playing football. I'd not been playing football. I will/shall not play football next week. I won't play football next week. I am not going to play football this afternoon. I'm not going to play football this afternoon. I will/shall not be playing football. I won't be playing football. I will/shall not have played football. I won't have played football. I would not play football. I'd not play football. I would not be playing football. I wouldn't be playing football. I'd not be playing football. I would not have played football. I wouldn't have played football. I'd not have played football. I would not have been playing football. I wouldn't have been playing football. I'd not have been playing football.

Present Perfect

Present Perfect Progressive

Past Perfect

Past Perfect Progressive

will-future going to-future Future Progressive Future Perfect Conditional Simple

Conditional Progressive

Conditional Perfect

Conditional Perfect Progressive

Questions Tense Simple Present Present Progressive Simple Past Past Progressive Present Perfect Present Perfect Progressive Past Perfect Past Perfect Progressive will-future going to-future Future Progressive Future Perfect Conditional Simple Conditional Progressive Conditional Perfect Conditional Perfect Progressive Example Do you play football? Are you playing football? Did you play football? Were you playing football? Have you played football? Have you been playing football? Had you played football? Had you been playing football? Will you play football? Are you going to play football? Will you be playing football? Will you have played football? Would you play football? Would you be playing football? Would you have played football? Would you have been playing football?