GRAMMAR - VERB TENSES

Tenses	Affirmative/Negative/Question	Uses	Signal Words
Present Simple	RULES: “s” in third person and do or does A: He speaks. N: He does not speak. Q: Does he speak?	§  action in the present taking place once, never or several times §  facts §  actions taking place one after another §  action set by a timetable or schedule	always, every …, never, normally, often, seldom, sometimes, usually if sentences type I (If I talk, …)
Present continuous	RULES: verb “to be” and ing A: He is speaking. N: He is not speaking. Q: Is he speaking?	§  action taking place in the moment of speaking §  action taking place only for a limited period of time §  action arranged for the future	at the moment, just, just now, Listen!, Look!, now, right now
Past Simple	RULES: ed or second column and did. A: He spoke. N: He did not speak. Q: Did he speak?	§  action in the past taking place once, never or several times §  actions taking place one after another §  action taking place in the middle of another action	yesterday, 2 minutes ago, in 1990, the other day, last Friday if sentence type II (If I talked, …)
Past Continuous	RULES: Verb “to be” in past and ing. A: He was speaking. N: He was not speaking. Q: Was he speaking?	§  action going on at a certain time in the past §  actions taking place at the same time §  action in the past that is interrupted by another action	when, while, as long as
Present Perfect	RULES:  have/has and ed or third column A: He has spoken. N: He has not spoken. Q: Has he spoken?	§  putting emphasis on the result §  action that is still going on §  action that stopped recently §  finished action that has an influence on the present §  action that has taken place once, never or several times before the moment of speaking	already, ever, just, never, not yet, so far, till now, up to now
Future Simple	RULES: Will and infinitive A: He will speak. N: He will not speak.  Q: Will he speak?	§  action in the future that cannot be influenced §  spontaneous decision §  assumption with regard to the future	in a year, next …, tomorrow If-Satz Typ I (If you ask her, she will helpyou.) assumption: I think, probably, perhaps
Future Simple (going to)	RULES: Going to and infinitive A: He is going to speak. N: He is not going to speak. Q: Is he going to speak?	§  decision made for the future §  conclusion with regard to the future	in one year, next week, tomorrow