english tenses – summary - Pagesperso

ENGLISH TENSES – SUMMARY
Simple present
 vérité générale  Kangaroos don’t live in Africa.
 habitude  She has breakfast at 8 o’clock every day.
Present continuous
 action en train de se réaliser  Look ! They are waiting for the bus.
 action future proche  What are you doing this afternoon ?
Simple past
 action passée, terminée, datée  He bought a new car last year. / They didn’t work yesterday.
 modal = irréel du passé  I wish you were good at English.
Past continuous
 action passée qui était en train d’avoir lieu  He was phoning when I arrived.
Future simple
 action future souvent datée  They will come tomorrow.
Future continuous
 action en cours dans le futur  At this time tomorrow, I will be working.
Present perfect simple
 avec for et since dans le sens de depuis  She has known him for 20 years. / since 1988.
 action avec conséquence, résultat dans le présent  He is upset, he has lost his wallet.
 après un superlatif  She is the nicest girl I have ever met.
 action faite pour la 1re fois  It’s the first time I have seen this film.
 avec once, twice, three times …  We have visited this place six times.
 avec not … yet  I haven’t done it yet.
 avec already quand ce n’est pas daté  I have already bought some bread.
 avec just  He has just left.
 dans une subordonnée de temps après when, as soon as, after lorsque l’on traduit un futur antérieur français
 I’ll go out when I have finished my homework.
Present perfect continuous
 dès que cela est possible; il rend l’action + vivante, + dynamique  He has been working here for 10 years.
Past perfect simple
 action passée antérieure à une autre action passée  When she arrived, he had left the house.
 après it was the first time  It was the first time you had done that.
Past perfect continuous
 avec for / since quand on traduit le passé  We had been talking for 10 minutes when he interrupted us.
Future perfect
 après by the time / by the end of  By the end of the afternoon, he will have eaten the whole cake.
 dans un contexte futur, lorsqu’on traduit un futur antérieur  When you come next time, he will have forgotten
your name.
Conditional simple
 avec if  I would come if I knew your address.
Conditional perfect
 avec if  I would have come if I had known your address.