English Grammar - The tenses

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One sentence is put into different tenses. You can see how the meaning changes. The words in green are signal words. They tell you which tense you have to use. Tense Example Explanation
Here you want to say that it happens regularly. Here you want to say that it is happening at the moment. You did it yesterday, it happened in the past. 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.

Simple I play football every week. Present Present I'm playing football now. Progressive Simple Past I played football yesterday. Past Progressive Present Perfect Present Perfect Progressive Past Perfect I was playing football the whole evening. I have just played football.

I have been playing football for 2 hours.

The two actions are related to each other: you I had played football before Susan came. had finished to play football and after that the girl arrived. Here you want to point out how long you had been doing it before the girl came. 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).

Past Perfect I had been playing football when Susan Progressive came. willfuture 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 playing football.

going tofuture Future Progressive Future Perfect Conditional Simple Conditional Progressive Conditional Perfect Conditional Perfect Progressive

I would have played football.

I would have been playing football.

Negations of the sentences Tense Example

Simple Present Present Progressive Simple Past Past Progressive

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 Example Do you play football?

Present Progressive Simple Past Past Progressive Present Perfect Present Perfect Progressive

Are you playing football? Did you play football? Were you playing football? Have you played football?

Have you been playing football? Past Perfect Had you played football? Past Perfect Progressive Had you been playing football? will-future Will you play football? going to-future Are you going to play football? Future Progressive Will you be playing football? Future Perfect Will you have played football? Conditional Simple Would you play football? Conditional Progressive Would you be playing football? Conditional Perfect Would you have played football? Conditional Perfect Progressive Would you have been playing football?

English tenses in affirmative sentences - Exercise 1

1) Simple Present He writes letters. 2) Present Progressive - He is writing letters. 3) Simple Past He wrote letters. 4) Past Progressive He was writing letters. 5) Present Perfect He has written letters. 6) Present Perfect Progressive - He has been writing letters. 7) Past Perfect He had written letters. 8) will-future He will write letters. 9) going to-future He is going to write letters. 10) Conditional He would write letters.