Complete English Tense Notes – Present, Past & Future | Wordify English
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Present Tense

4 types — habits, now, experience, and duration

✔ Subject + V1 (He/She/It → V1+s/es)
✘ Subject + do/does not + V1
? Do/Does + Subject + V1?

When to use

  • Daily habits & routines ("She drinks coffee every morning.")
  • Universal truths & facts ("The Earth revolves around the Sun.")
  • Fixed schedules ("The bus leaves at 8 AM.")
  • Instructions, feelings & states (love, know, want)

Signal words

alwaysusuallyoftensometimesneverevery dayon Mondaysgenerally
He/She/It: She teaches English at school.
Negative: He does not eat meat.
Question: Do you play cricket?
💡He/She/It → add -s (runs), verbs ending -ch/-sh/-x/-o → add -es (teaches), consonant+y → change to -ies (studies).
📖 Read full Present Tense guide →
✔ Subject + am/is/are + V-ing
✘ Subject + am/is/are + not + V-ing
? Am/Is/Are + Subject + V-ing?

When to use

  • Action at this exact moment ("She is listening to music.")
  • Temporary situations ("It is raining.")
  • Future arrangements ("We are flying to Mumbai next week.")
  • Annoying habits with "always" ("He is always interrupting!")

Signal words

nowright nowat the momentcurrentlystilllook!listen!
Positive: They are reading this article.
Negative: He is not sleeping — he's working.
Question: Are you coming to the party?
⚠️Stative verbs never use -ing: know, love, hate, believe, want, need, understand, seem, belong. ❌ "I am knowing" → ✅ "I know".
📖 Read full Present Tense guide →
✔ Subject + has/have + V3 (past participle)
✘ Subject + has/have + not + V3
? Has/Have + Subject + V3?

When to use

  • Life experience (no specific time) ("I have visited Paris.")
  • Recent action with present result ("She has broken her leg.")
  • Unfinished time periods ("I have eaten twice today.")
  • With just/already/yet/ever/never

Signal words

justalreadyyeteverneverrecentlyso farup to now
Positive: She has finished her homework.
Negative: I have not seen that film yet.
Question: Have you ever tried sushi?
💡Do not use Present Perfect with specific past time words like "yesterday", "in 2020", "last week" → use Simple Past instead.
📖 Read full Present Tense guide →
✔ Subject + has/have + been + V-ing
✘ Subject + has/have + not + been + V-ing
? Has/Have + Subject + been + V-ing?

When to use

  • Action started in past, still continuing ("I have been studying for 3 hours.")
  • Showing duration with for/since
  • Visible result of recent activity ("She looks tired — she has been running.")

Signal words

forsincehow longall daylatelyrecently
Positive: He has been working here since 2018.
Negative: She has not been sleeping well lately.
Question: How long have you been waiting?
💡for = duration ("for 2 hours") · since = starting point ("since Monday"). Both are commonly paired with this tense.
📖 Read full Present Tense guide →
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Past Tense

4 types — completed, ongoing, before-past, and duration

✔ Subject + V2 (past form)
✘ Subject + did not + V1
? Did + Subject + V1?

When to use

  • Completed action at a specific time ("I visited Delhi in 2022.")
  • Series of past events ("He woke up, brushed, and left.")
  • Past habits ("We played cricket every evening.")
  • Historical facts ("Gandhi was born in 1869.")

Signal words

yesterdaylast nightlast yearagoin 2005just nowoncethen
Positive: She played chess last night.
Negative: They didn't go to Paris.
Question: Did you study all night?
⚠️In negative & question forms use V1 (base verb), NOT V2. ❌ "Did she went?" → ✅ "Did she go?"
📖 Read full Past Tense guide →
✔ Subject + was/were + V-ing
✘ Subject + was/were + not + V-ing
? Was/Were + Subject + V-ing?

When to use

  • Action in progress at a specific past time ("At 8 PM, she was cooking.")
  • Interrupted action ("I was watching TV when the lights went out.")
  • Two simultaneous actions ("She was reading while he was cooking.")
  • Setting a narrative scene

Signal words

whilewhenat 8 o'clockall morningasmeanwhile
Positive: He was reading at 10 PM.
Interrupted: I was sleeping when she called.
Parallel: She was singing while he was cooking.
💡was → I / He / She / It · were → You / We / They. This is the #1 mistake learners make.
📖 Read full Past Tense guide →
✔ Subject + had + V3 (past participle)
✘ Subject + had + not + V3
? Had + Subject + V3?

When to use

  • Action completed before another past action ("By the time I arrived, she had left.")
  • Reported speech with past tense verbs
  • Third conditional ("If he had studied, he would have passed.")

Signal words

beforeafterby the timealreadyneverjustwhen
Positive: They had finished before I arrived.
Negative: She had not eaten before the meeting.
Question: Had you ever seen snow before that day?
💡Think of Past Perfect as the "earlier past." Use it for the action that happened first among two past events.
📖 Read full Past Tense guide →
✔ Subject + had + been + V-ing
✘ Subject + had + not + been + V-ing
? Had + Subject + been + V-ing?

When to use

  • Show how long an action was happening before a past event ("She had been working for 3 hours when he arrived.")
  • Reason for a past state or result ("He was tired because he had been running.")

Signal words

forsincehow longbeforewhenby the time
Positive: They had been playing for two hours.
Cause: She was exhausted because she had been studying all night.
⚠️This tense is rare in everyday speech but common in formal writing and storytelling. It emphasises duration, not completion.
📖 Read full Past Tense guide →
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Future Tense

4 types — will, continuous, perfect, and perfect continuous

✔ Subject + will + V1
✘ Subject + will not (won't) + V1
? Will + Subject + V1?

When to use

  • Predictions ("I think it will rain tomorrow.")
  • Spontaneous decisions ("The phone is ringing — I'll get it!")
  • Promises & offers ("I will always love you.")
  • Facts about the future ("The sun will rise tomorrow.")
  • Threats & warnings ("If you do that, I will tell the teacher.")

Signal words

tomorrownext weeksoonin the futurelatersomedayone day
Positive: She will finish the project on time.
Negative: They won't attend the meeting.
Spontaneous: "I'm hungry." — "I'll make you a sandwich."
💡Will vs Going to: Use will for unplanned decisions & predictions without evidence. Use going to for plans already made & predictions with evidence ("Look at those clouds — it's going to rain!").
📖 Read full Future Tense guide →
✔ Subject + will be + V-ing
✘ Subject + will not be + V-ing
? Will + Subject + be + V-ing?

When to use

  • Action in progress at a specific future time ("At 9 PM, he will be sleeping.")
  • Polite enquiry about someone's plans ("Will you be using the car tomorrow?")
  • Parallel future actions ("She will be studying while I will be cooking.")

Signal words

at this time tomorrowin 2 hoursstillwhen you arrive
Positive: This time tomorrow, I will be flying to London.
Polite: Will you be attending the meeting?
💡Future Continuous can sound more polite than Simple Future for asking about plans, because it implies you're not pressuring the person.
📖 Read full Future Tense guide →
✔ Subject + will have + V3
✘ Subject + will not have + V3
? Will + Subject + have + V3?

When to use

  • Action that will be complete before a specified future time ("By noon, they will have finished.")
  • Achievements by a future point ("By 2030, scientists will have discovered a cure.")

Signal words

byby the timebeforeuntilby then
Positive: By Monday, I will have submitted the report.
Negative: She will not have arrived by 6 PM.
💡The keyword is "by" — if you see "by + future time," Future Perfect is almost always the answer.
📖 Read full Future Tense guide →
✔ Subject + will have been + V-ing
✘ Subject + will not have been + V-ing
? Will + Subject + have been + V-ing?

When to use

  • Show how long an action will have been going on by a future time ("By July, I will have been working here for 5 years.")
  • Emphasis on duration, not just completion

Signal words

forbysincehow longby the time
Positive: By 9 PM, he will have been cooking for 3 hours.
Duration: By 2030, she will have been teaching for 20 years.
⚠️This is the rarest tense in everyday English. It's used mainly in formal writing to stress how long something will have been happening.
📖 Read full Future Tense guide →
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Quick Reference

All 12 tenses at a glance

Tense Formula Example Key use
Present
Simple		S + V1 (+s/es)She drinks tea.Habits, facts
Present
Continuous		S + is/am/are + V-ingShe is drinking tea.Right now
Present
Perfect		S + has/have + V3She has drunk tea.Experience, result
Present
Perfect Cont.		S + has/have + been + V-ingShe has been drinking.Duration (since/for)
Past
Simple		S + V2She drank tea.Completed action
Past
Continuous		S + was/were + V-ingShe was drinking.Ongoing past action
Past
Perfect		S + had + V3She had drunk tea.Before another past event
Past
Perfect Cont.		S + had + been + V-ingShe had been drinking.Duration before past event
Future
Simple		S + will + V1She will drink tea.Prediction, promise
Future
Continuous		S + will be + V-ingShe will be drinking.Ongoing at future time
Future
Perfect		S + will have + V3She will have drunk.Complete by future point
Future
Perfect Cont.		S + will have been + V-ingShe will have been drinking.Duration up to future point

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