SOME VERB TENSES

PRESENT SIMPLE (do)


Things that happen all the time or regularly, that are true in general:

- The sun rises in the East.
- We live in Limeira.

How often: We go home every weekend.
                  I play basketball on Sundays.
                  She brings work home every day.


PRESENT CONTINUOUS ( be + -ing)


Something that is happening at or around the time of speaking

- We are learning English.
- I´m teaching.
- He´s reading a very interesting book.


PAST SIMPLE (did)


something that happened in the past and has no consequence now (is finished.)

- Mozart died in 1791.
- Shakespeare wrote many plays.
- I went to the cinema last night.


PAST CONTINUOUS (be + -ing)


Used to say that somebody was in the middle of doing something at a certain time:

I started doing. (past) - I was doing. (past) - I finished doing. (past) - now (0)

- This time last year I was living in Britain.
- What were you doing at 7 p.m. yesterday?
- I was studying for my test when my mom called me.


PRESENT PERFECT (have + past participle)


Used when the action in the past has a result now:

- I´ve lost my keys. (I don´t know when I lost them, but I can´t find them now.)
- Is Sally here? - No, she´s gone out.
- Chico Buarque has written many songs.

Something that has just happened:

- Ouch! I´ve cut my finger!

Something that started in the past and continues until now:

- Have you ever been to Paris?
- Have you seen "Star Wars"?
- Have you heard from George recently?
- Why hasn´t Tom come to school lately?
- She hasn´t come to work for the past (last) few days.
- I haven´t eaten anything since breakfast.
- He hasn´t shown up today.
- Have you had a holiday this year?

- (in the morning):                    Sue has called you this morning.
- (in the afternoon):                  Sue called you this morning.

- It´s the first time I´ve driven a car.
- It´s the second time she has won this prize.

- Have you heard the news yet?
- Yes, Mary has already told me.
- No, I haven´t heard the news yet.


PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS (have + been + -ing)


When something started in the past, continuous in the present and has the probability of conitnuing in the future:

- It has been raining for hours.

For something that has just finished:
- Have you been running?

- How long have you been studying English?
- She´s been playing tennis since she was 8.


PAST PERFECT (had + past participle)


The past before the past:

(She left at 11 pm. I arrived at 11:30 pm.) She had already left when I arrived.

- When we got home, we realised that someone had broken into the house.
- I didn´t know who she was. I had never met her.


PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS (had + been + -ing)


- I saw the floor was wet. It had been raining.
- He was very tired. He had been working hard all day long.
- We had been playing for one hour when it started raining.

(Present Perfect Continuous) I hope the bus comes soon. I´ve been waiting for 20 minutes.
(Past Perfect Continuous)     At last the bus came. I had been waiting for 20 minutes.

(Present Perfect Continuous) He is out of breath. He has been running.
(Past Perfect Continuous)      He was out of breath. He had been running.

(Summarized from the book ESSENTIAL GRAMMAR IN USE by Raymond Murphy)