ENGLISH

TENSES
FORMULAS
 ENGLISH TENSES FORMULAS
General rules for each tense:
In questions, auxiliary (helping) verbs go to the beginning of the sentence
(Will, do, have...)

“Will Kate be at university tomorrow?”

“Have you ever travelled to the USA?”
“Is she a good teacher?”
The position of a noun or a pronoun is usually right after the auxiliary
verb.
Full forms of negative constructions like “am not”, “was not”, “have not” etc.
sound more formal than their short versions (‘m not, wasn’t, haven’t).

SIMPLE TENSES
PRESENT SIMPLE
• V-inf (I/you/we/they)
• V+s (he/she/it)
I go to school
everyday
Question: DOES (he/she/it) V-inf?
DO (I/you/we/they) V-inf?

Negative: He DOESN’T/DOES NOT V-inf.

They DON’T/DO NOT V-inf.

PAST SIMPLE
• V-(e)d2
• Regular verbs - V + (e)d
• Irregular verbs - 2nd form of the verb in the past. Must be memorized.

Question: DID + V-inf?

I went to school
For the verb “be” - WAS (I/he/she/it) at the party?
everyday WERE (you/we/they) at the party?
when I was a kid
Negative: DIDN’T/DID NOT V-inf.

(I/he/she/it) WASN’T/WAS NOT at the party.

(You/we/they) WEREN’T/WERE NOT at the party.

FUTURE SIMPLE
I will go to school . will + V-inf
everyday,
I promise Question: WILL + V-inf?
Negative: WON’T/WILL NOT + V-inf.
 PROGRESSIVE TENSES
PRESENT PROGRESSIVE
(he/she/it) + IS + V-ing
(I) + AM + V-ing
She is going to school (you/we/they) + ARE + V-ing
next year,
as she turns 7 Question: AM/IS/ARE + V-ing?
Negative: ISN’T/IS NOT + V-ing
‘M NOT/AM NOT + V-ing
AREN’T/ARE NOT + V-ing

PAST PROGRESSIVE
(I/he/she/it) + WAS + V-ing
She was going to school, (you/we/they) + WERE + V-ing
When she saw
a beautiful dog Question: WAS/WERE + V-ing?
Negative: WASN’T/WAS NOT + V-ing
WEREN’T/WERE NOT + V-ing

She will be going to school
through this neighborhood
from now on
FUTURE PROGRESSIVE
will + be + V-ing
Question: WILL + be + V-ing?
Negative: WON’T/WILL NOT + be + V-ing.

PERFECT TENSES

I have gone to school once
and didn’t like it. Now I’m
homeschooled.
PRESENT PERFECT
(he/she/it) + has + V-3
(I/you/we/they) + have + V-3
Question: HAS/HAVE + V-3?
Negative: HASN’T/HAS NOT + V-3
HAVEN’T/HAVE NOT + V-3

PAST PERFECT
I had gone to school had + V-3
before they noticed my
disappearance. Question: HAD + V-3?
Negative: HADN’T/HAD NOT + V-3

FUTURE PERFECT
will + have + V-3
I will have gone to school
by 7 am tomorrow.
Question: WILL + HAVE + V-3?
Negative: WON’T/WILL NOT + HAVE + V-3.
 PERFECT PROGRESSIVE TENSES

PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

(he/she/it) + has + been + V-ing
(I/you/we/they) + have + been + V-ing
They have been going to
School for 10 years already.
Question: HAS/HAVE + BEEN + V-ing?
Negative: HASN’T/HAS NOT + BEEN + V-ing
HAVEN’T/HAVE NOT + BEEN + V-ing

PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

They had been going had + been + V-ing
to school before they
entered a university. Question: HAD + BEEN + V-ing?
Negative: HADN’T/HAD NOT + BEEN + V-ing

FUTURE PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

They will have been going
will + have + been + V-ing
to elementary school
for several years by the
Question: WILL + HAVE + BEEN + V-ing?
time middle one starts.
Negative: WON’T/WILL NOT + HAVE + BEEN + V-ing.