THE VERBE TENSES

THE VERBE TENSES

The Present Tenses 

The Simple Present

form

			3° person singular affirmative . verbs in -s, -ss, -ch, -sh, -x, -z, -o add -es . verbs in consonant + y drop y, add -ies . verbs in vowel + y add -s

meaning

. to express a repeated action, routine

. to express a general truth

The Present Continuous

form to be + -ing form

	. verbs in -e drop -e, add -ing . verbs in -y add -ing . short verbs ending in one vowel+one consonant double final consonant . verbs in one vowel+ l double l + add -ing . verbs in -c add -k + ing

meaning

. to express an action happening now

. to express an action which is not part of my routine but I do for a period of time

(ex. I'm reading a book in this days.)

The Past and Perfect Tenses

The Simple Past

form

meaning .to talk about a finish event that happened at a specific time in the past

.to express habits in the past

. to express states in the past

The Past Continuous

form was/were + -ing form

meaning . to describe an action in progress in the past

. to talk about temporary situations in the past

. to talk about actions in progress at the same time in the past

. to talk about anticipeted events that did not happen

The Present Perfect

form have/has + past participle

meaning finished events connected with the present

. action in the recent past

. indefinite past: we express What happened, not When

. general experience

. action starting in the past and continuing to the present

The Present Perfect Continuous

form have been + -ing form

meaning to talk about a recent activity when the effects can still be seen

. to emphasis how long an action has been going on for, or that it has been

repeated many times

. to express that an activity is temporary

. to talk about an action that is not complete

The Past Perfect

form had + past participle

meaning . an action which happened before an other action in my past

The Past Perfect Continuous

form had been + -ing form

meaning . to talk about an action which started in my past and finished in an other part of

my past

The Futur Tenses

The Simple Present

meaning . time table = something who is fixed

. to express an action determined by time ( a travel)

The Present Continuous

meaning . to talk about an action has been decided and you want insist on the decision,

ning

The "going to" form

form going to + infinitive

meaning to expresse an intention not decided, I can also change idea

. to talk about an action which is about to happen

The Shall/Will Tenses

form shall/will + infinitive

meaning sudden decision

. prediction (about the weather..)

. to express an opinion, a doute (=I think/hope/believe..)

. to express an action will happen and we can do anything to modifier the action

. in a neutral tense, to express anything special

The future continuous

form will + be + -ing form

meaning to express the routine in the future

. to express an action will be in progress in the future

The future perfect

form will + have + past participle

meaning to describe something that will be completed before a definite time in the future