To make negative statements in the Present Perfect, use:
have/has + not + past participle
| Singular | Plural |
| I have not (haven’t) visited
You haven’t visited He/she/it hasn’t visited |
We haven’t visited
You haven’t visited They haven’t visited |
Jim hasn’t phoned me yet. I’ve been waiting since morning.
I’m not ready to go. I haven’t had a shower yet.
They haven’t danced together for 2 years.
We use the Present Perfect to talk about actions or events in the past that still have an effect on the present moment.
The taxi has arrived (and it is here).
I have broken that cup (it is broken now).
Where is Ann? She’s gone to the mall (she is still there).
To make the Present Perfect, use:
have/has + the past participle form of the verb
(See the section on past participle for more information).
| Singular | Plural |
| I have visited
You have visited He/she/it has visited |
We have visited
You have visited They have visited |
| Note: in everyday speech and informal writing we usually use the short form of have/has. |
I have no cash, I’ve spent it on DVDs.
My team’s just won and I’m very happy.
The past participle forms of regular verbs end in “-ed”:
work → I’ve worked
play → he’s played
finish → they’ve finished
But many common verbs have irregular past participle forms, like in the examples below:
| do → done
eat → eaten read → read see → seen |
make → made
find → found speak → spoken come → come |
For a full list of irregular verbs, see the corresponding section.
We often use the Present Perfect to talk about a recent event or action. Use the adverbs “just” and “already” to emphasise that the event or action is recent and happened before now:
The train from New-Delhi has just arrived.
I’ve just finished watching the game.
They’ve already finished their trip.
We also use the Present Perfect when we think about the past and present together. We use it for past actions or events that are linked to the present (started in the past and are still happening now):
I’ve lived in this house for 20 years (I started to live in this house 20 years ago and still live here now).
Jack’s lost his hat (he lost his hat recently and still can’t find it now).
She’s been a famous singer since 2010 (and she still is).
To make questions in the Past Continuous, use:
Was/Were + subject + the “-ing” form of the verb
| Singular | Plural |
| Was I singing?
Were you singing? Was he/she/it singing? |
Were we singing?
Were you singing? Were they singing? |
Was it snowing yesterday at 5 o’clock?
Were you still skating in the park when Jemma called you?
Were the boys working in the garden when their uncle came round for a coffee?
| Note: in short positive answers to the Past Continuous questions we use only full forms of was/were. In short negative answers we can also use short forms of was/were. |
Were you reading a book?
Yes, I was (No, I wasn’t).
Was he playing football at that moment?
Yes, he was (No, he wasn’t).
Were they staying at their parents?
Yes, they were (No, they weren’t).
To make negative statements in the Past Continuous, use:
was/were + not + the “-ing” form of the verb:
| Singular | Plural |
| I was not talking
You were not talking He/she/it was not talking |
We were not talking
You were not talking They were not talking |
Peter wasn’t doing his homework when his father came in.
Rebecca was angry with her children because they weren’t sleeping when she arrived.
We use the Past Continuous to talk about actions or events that were in progress at a particular time in the past:
Jane was reading a book when I came in.
This time last week I was hiking in the Alps.
They were playing football all weekend.
To make the Past Continuous, use:
was/were + the “-ing” form of the verb
| Singular | Plural |
| I was walking
You were walking He/she/it was walking |
We were walking
You were walking They were walking |
The Past Continuous is often used to describe what was going on when a particular event happened or to give the reason for a past event. That event is usually put in the Past Simple:
We were eating lunch when somebody knocked on the door.
The last time I saw him, he was washing his car.
She didn’t go out because she was working late.
I forgot about my meal because I was talking on the phone.
We often use the Past Continuous to describe the background of a story. For example, we can talk about the weather or what people were doing before the story (event, action) started:
It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. Children were playing in the street. Suddenly a heavy grey cloud appeared in the sky.
To ask questions using Past Simple, we use Did + subject + verb:
| Singular | Plural |
| Did I go?
Did you go? Did he/she/it go? |
Did we go?
Did you go? Did they go? |
Note: we must use did / didn’t with the verb do as well.
|
To ask questions using the verb ‘be’, we use was or were + subject + adjective:
| Singular | Plural |
| Was I late?
Were you late? Was he/she/it late? |
Were we late?
Were you late? Were they late? |
To ask questions using question words (when, why, how, where, what), we use question word + did + subject + verb:
We use Past Simple negative to talk about what we did not do in the past.
To make Past Simple negative sentences, we use did not (didn’t) + verb:
| Singular | Plural |
| I did not (didn’t) go
You did not (didn’t) go He/she/It did not (didn’t) go |
We didn’t go
You didn’t go They didn’t go |
In Past Simple negative, the verb ‘be’ has two forms — was not (wasn’t) or were not (weren’t):
| Singular | Plural |
| I was not (wasn’t) happy
You were not (weren’t) happy He/she/it was not (wasn’t) happy |
We weren’t happy
You weren’t happy They weren’t happy |
Past Simple is a past tense. We use Past Simple to say what we did in the past. We use it for finished actions:
1. In Past Simple, the verb ‘be’ has two forms — was and were:
| Singular | Plural |
| I was
You were He/She/It was |
We were
You were They were |
2. In Past Simple, we add -ed’ to regular verbs:
Spelling rules: ‘-ed’
a) For regular verbs ending in ‘-e’, add ‘-d’:
b) For regular verbs ending in one consonant + ‘-y’, change the ‘-y’ to “-ied”:
c) For regular verbs that end in one vowel + one consonant, double the consonant and add ‘-ed’:
Note: We do not double the consonants ‘y’ or ‘w’:
We do not double the consonant when the last syllable is not stressed:
|
3. Some verbs in English are irregular. They have different past forms:
| break → broke | have → had |
| go → went | take → took |
| leave → left | know → knew |
| make → made | send → sent |
| write → wrote | run → ran |
| Note: For the full list of irregular verbs, see the Pre-intermediate course, Verbs: irregular. |
How do you choose between Present Simple and Present Continuous?
Present Simple
We use Present Simple to talk about facts, hobbies and regular activities:
We use the Present Simple to talk or ask about things that are always true:
We use the Present Simple to express likes, dislikes and opinions:
We also use the Present Simple to talk or ask about habits:
We often use the Present Simple with adverbs of frequency (always, sometimes, never, etc.), or when we say a time, day or period (at 9.00, on Wednesdays, in spring, etc.):
Present Continuous
We use the Present Continuous to talk about things happening now, or unfinished activities:
We use expressions like ‘at the moment’, ‘now’, and ‘today/this week/month/year’:
Note: Want, like, love, need, understand and believe are not used in Present Continuous:
NOT:
NOT: |
To ask questions in Present Continuous, we use ‘am/is/are’ + subject + ‘-ing’ form of the verb:
| Singular | Plural |
| Am I working?
Are you working? Is he/she/it working? |
Are we working?
Are you working? Are they working? |
| Note: We don’t say ‘Yes, I’m’ to answer positive questions, we say ‘Yes, I am.’
We can say ‘No, I’m not’ or ‘No, I am not’ to answer negative questions: |
To ask questions with the question words Where, What, When, Who, How, and Why, we put the question word before ‘am/is/are’: