Table of Verb Tenses in English Grammar

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Overview of all English tenses

English has a grand total of 12 different verb tenses.

Check out the table below for a full summary of all the different tenses complete with examples and signal words.

Tense positive/negative/question When to Use Signal Words
Simple Present
(Present Simple)
  • He speaks.
  • He doesn’t speak.
  • Does he speak?
  • repeated/regular action in the present
  • general validity
  • sequential actions
  • timetabled/scheduled future actions
 always, every …, never, normally, often, seldom, sometimes, usually
Present Progressive
(Present Continuous)
  • He is speaking.
  • He isn’t speaking.
  • Is he speaking?
  • actions currently in progress
  • temporary situations
  • future plans and arrangements
 at the moment, just, just now, Listen!, Look!, now, right now
Simple Past
(Past Simple;
Preterite)		 He spoke.
He didn’t speak.
Did he speak?
  • completed past actions (one-off or repeated)
  • sequential past actions
 yesterday, 2 minutes ago, in 1990, the other day, last Friday
Past Progressive
(Past Continuous)		 He was speaking.
He wasn’t speaking.
Was he speaking?
  • actions already in progress at a specific moment in the past
  • multiple actions in progress at the same time
  • background description in a narrative
 while, as long as
Present Perfect Simple He has spoken.
He hasn’t spoken.
Has he spoken?
  • completed past action without a concrete time marker
  • past action with an influence on the present
  • action that lasts to the present moment
  • recently completed actions
  • how much/how many times an action happened up to now
 already, ever, just, never, not yet, so far, till now, up to now
Present Perfect Progressive
(Present Perfect Continuous)		 He has been speaking.
He hasn’t been speaking.
Has he been speaking?
  • how long an action has been in progress up to now
  • recently completed actions with an emphasis on the duration
 all day, for 4 years, since 1993, how long?, the whole week
Past Perfect Simple
(Pluperfect)		 He had spoken.
He hadn’t spoken.
Had he spoken?
  • actions that occurred prior to another point in the past
  • sometimes interchangeable with past perfect progressive
 already, just, never, not yet, once, until that day
Past Perfect Progressive
(Past Perfect Continuous)		 He had been speaking.
He hadn’t been speaking.
Had he been speaking?
  • action before a certain point in the past
  • sometimes interchangeable with past perfect simple
  • emphasises the action or length of the action
 for, since, the whole day, all day
Future with will He will speak.
He won’t speak.
Will he speak?
  • spontaneous decisions
  • promises
  • predictions
 in a year, next …, tomorrow,
first conditional sentences (If you ask her, she will help you.),
supposition: I think, probably, perhaps
Future with going to He is going to speak.
He isn’t going to speak.
Is he going to speak?
  • intentions for the future
  • logical conclusions regarding the future
 in one year, next week, tomorrow
Future Progressive
(Future Continuous)		 He will be speaking.
He won’t be speaking.
Will he be speaking?
  • actions that will already be in progress at a certain point in the future
 in one year, next week, tomorrow
Future Perfect Simple He will have spoken.
He won’t have spoken.
Will he have spoken?
  • actions that will have been completed by a future time
 by Monday, in a week
Future Perfect Progressive
(Future Perfect Continuous)		 He will have been speaking.
He won’t have been speaking.
Will he have been speaking?
  • actions that will already have been completed by a future time
 for …, the last couple of hours, all day long