past tenses presentation

Past Tense PPT | Regular Verbs

Download this Past Tense PPT and use it in class today. This PowerPoint presentation is for teaching past tense regular verbs in English. Included in the slides are the past tense rules and examples of past tense verbs. See below to download this past tense PPT and see the bottom of the page for related resources.

Past Tense PPT

Related resources:.

For more lesson materials for teaching the past tense, check out these related resources:

• Past Tense Verbs List
• Past Tense Lesson Plan
• Past Tense Worksheets
• Past Tense Irregular Verbs PPT
• Past Tense Game

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Course: Grammar   >   Unit 2

• Introduction to verb tense
• The present tense

The past tense

• The future tense

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ESL Past Tenses Revision - PowerPoint rule + exercises

Subject: English language learning

Age range: Age not applicable

Resource type: Visual aid/Display

Last updated

12 August 2021

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Need to revise Past Tenses with your ESL students? Do it with ease and fun using this PPT! Teach your students to use Past Simple, Past Continuous, Past Perfect, Past Perfect Continuous. No prep resource. Just point, click and teach!

The examples are full of humor and help students learn with fun. Cartoon characters will help them to understand the rule.

What is inside?

✓ Slides for explaining the rule ✓ Slides with exercises

★ There are 11 slides in total. The answer keys are included. All rules and explanations are in English. ★

This PPT is fully editable.

Who is this presentation for?

The presentation is designed for ESL|ELL|EFL teachers, who work with pre-intermediate or intermediate students (secondary or high school). This PPT also works well with adults.

How do such presentations work?

• Students look at the examples, read them, comment upon the form | the structure and work out the rule themselves. • The teacher clicks and the rule appears. Students compare their guesses with actual rule. • Then comes the time for practice. In exercises students have to fill in the missing words using the prompts \ make up dialogs using the pictures.

You may also like other PPTs:

Future Simple Conditionals (types 0&1) Conditionals (types 2&3) Adjectives: degrees of comparison Modal Verbs Passive Voice

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ESL Past, Present, Future Tenses - PPT rules + exercises - Bundle

Teach your ESL students to use all Present, Past and Future Tenses. It's a Bundle. No prep resource. Just point, click, teach! The presentations are full of humor and help the students learn with fun. After reading the examples, students work out the rule and then practice it doing the exercises. **The Bundle contains:** ✓ Past Tenses PPT (Past Simple, Past Continuous, Past Perfect, Past Perfect Continuous) ✓ Present Tenses PPT (Present Simple, Present Continuous, Present Perfect, Present Perfect Continuous) ✓ Future Tenses PPT (Future Simple, be going to, Future Perfect, Future Continuous) **What is inside?** ✓ Slides for explaining the rule ✓ Slides with exercises ★ There are 31 slides in total. The answer keys are included. All rules and explanations are in English. ★ ***Thes PPTs are fully editable.*** **Who is this presentation for?** The presentations are designed for ESL|ELL|EFL teachers, who work with pre-intermediate or intermediate students (secondary or high school). This PPT also works well with adults. **How do such presentations work?** • Students look at the examples, read them, comment upon the form | the structure and work out the rule themselves. • The teacher clicks and the rule appears. Students compare their guesses with actual rule. • Then comes the time for practice. In exercises students have to fill in the missing words using the prompts \ make up dialogs using the pictures. **You may also like other PPTs:** [Conditionals (types 0&1)](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/conditional-sentences-types-0-and-1-powerpoint-rule-exercises-12561657) [Conditionals (types 2&3)](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/conditional-sentences-types-2-and-3-powerpoint-rule-exercises-12561676) [Adjectives: degrees of comparison](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/esl-degrees-of-comparison-adjectives-powerpoint-rule-exercises-12561547) [Modal Verbs](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/esl-modal-verbs-powerpoint-rule-exercises-12563430) [Passive Voice](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/esl-active-and-passive-voice-powerpoint-rule-exercises-12563440) Check out my store [my store](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/Teaching_ESL) for more interactive ESL|EFL|ELL resources and beyond! Thanks for stopping by! Please consider leaving a review to let me know how I'm doing. Happy teaching!

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What Is The Past Tense?

• I jumped in the lake.
• I was happy.

Table of Contents

Video Lesson

The Four Past Tenses Explained

Simple past tense, examples of the simple past tense, past progressive tense, examples of the past progressive tense, past perfect tense, examples of the past perfect tense, past perfect progressive tense, examples of the past perfect progressive tense.

Interactive Verb Conjugation Tables

Are you a visual learner? Do you prefer video to text? Here is a list of all our grammar videos .

More about the Four Past Tenses

• I played when I was younger.
• I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free. (Italian sculptor Michelangelo)
• Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing. (Actor and comedian Robert Benchley)
• Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do . (French writer Voltaire)
• I wanted to buy a candle holder, but the store didn't have one. So I got a cake. (Comedian Mitch Hedberg)
• I have never played a hero before so I jumped at the chance. (Actor Adrian Edmondson)
• My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.

• I was playing for an hour.
• I was falling asleep when the phone rang.
• We were preparing a picnic, and then it started to rain.
• I feel like I sort of missed the eighties. At the time, we didn't know we were having fun, which is probably the way it always is. (Novelist Tama Janowitz)
• She was seeing a psychiatrist, two plumbers, and a bartender. (Comedian Rodney Dangerfield)
• I told my therapist I was having nightmares about nuclear explosions. He said don't worry it's not the end of the world. (Comedian Jay London)
• I have an idea that the phrase 'weaker sex' was coined by some woman to disarm the man she was preparing to overwhelm. (Poet Ogden Nash)
• I was having trouble making ends meet, and my beginnings weren't meeting either. (Author Allan Sherman)

• I had played already.
• I had crossed the line. I was free, but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land. (Political activist Harriet Tubman)
• I had seen birth and death but had thought they were different. (Poet T S Eliot)
• There are so many things that we wish we had done yesterday, so few that we feel like doing today. (Journalist Mignon McLaughlin)
• I phoned my dad to tell him I had stopped smoking. He called me a quitter.
• When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not.
• If we had had more time for discussion we should probably have made a great many more mistakes. (Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky)
• What a wonderful life I've had! I only wish I' d realized it sooner. (Author Sidonie Gabrielle Colette)
• I had always seen myself as a star; I wanted to be a galaxy. (Dancer Twyla Tharp)

• I had been playing since I was ten.
• I had been weeding my garden for weeks, but I just surrendered to the weeds in the end.
• The jury had been considering its verdict for several hours when the judge effectively ordered them to find Jones guilty.
• I was coming home from kindergarten. Well, they told me it was kindergarten. I found out later I had been working in a factory for ten years. (Comedian Ellen DeGeneres)
• I had been writing fiction since I was in eighth grade, because I loved it. (Author Thomas Perry)
• I thought that I was learning how to live, but I had been learning how to die. (Polymath Leonardo da Vinci)
• Even though I had been boxing for three years, I had no idea that I could beat somebody in the ring.
• Many people had been asking me to write an autobiography. I thought I'd better tell my story before other people told it for me. (Comedian Michael Palin)
• It was funny to read a script that was so similar to what had been going on in my life. (Actress Piper Perabo)
• I' d been shouting and shouting and no one wanted to hear me. (Singer Brenda Fassie)

Top 10 Regular Verbs

Top 10 Irregular Verbs

All 4 Past Tenses

All 4 Present Tenses

All 4 Future Tenses

This page was written by Craig Shrives .

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Past Tenses

Jan 03, 2020

1.26k likes | 1.83k Views

Past Simple. Past Continuous. Past Tenses. Past Perfect. Past Perfect Continuous. Done by N . I . Wiebe English teacher School № 83. Tyumen, 2016. Compare the sentences:. I play the piano every day. Present Simple. I played the piano yesterday. Past Simple.

Share Presentation

• past perfect
• past continuous
• past simple
• study english yesterday
• night week month year

PAST TENSES Pro la vremena

. Past simple ili obicno pro

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PAST TENSES

PAST TENSES. EMİNE CEYHAN ERCİYES UNIVERSITY 1090620040. SIMPLE PAST TENSE. 1) For certain past events with a certain time Time expressions: Last night/week, ….. ago, 1985, last friday, last june, recently (a short time ago), yesterday (the other day), this morning/season/year. E.g.

812 views • 27 slides

Present, Past, and Future Tenses

Present, Past, and Future Tenses. Tense means time. The tense of a verb tells when an action takes place. The bear walks to the honey tree. The bear walked to the honey tree. The bear will walk to the honey tree. . Present Tense (Time).

628 views • 10 slides

PAST TENSES:

PAST TENSES:. Past tenses. There are four past tenses in English : Past simple Past continuous Past perfect simple Past perfect continuous. Past simple : uses. I got up, switched off the radio, and sat down again. Why are we using the past simple here?. Past simple : uses.

771 views • 33 slides

THE TWO PAST TENSES

THE TWO PAST TENSES. PRETERITE V. IMPERFECT. EL IMPERFECTO. CHEATED. CONTINUOUS TIME HABITUAL EMOTIONS CHILDHOOD DESCRIPTION ENVIRONMENT AGE . She was watching the battle. The princess used to go on picnics every Sunday. As a child, the King played with toy soldiers.

242 views • 14 slides

Past tenses: imperfect &amp; perfect

Past tenses: imperfect &amp; perfect. Tense : indicates when the action (verb) occurs We know the present tense . Present tense verbs occur now, in the present, at this moment Examples : pavonem paro I prepare the peacock tu coquis you cook pavonem consumit he eats the peacock.

247 views • 5 slides

Present and past tenses

Present and past tenses. Tense is the form of a verb that shows the time the action occurred. Present and past tenses. Present tense names an action that is occurring now or occurs regularly. John wins an award. Also expresses general truths… Michelle is funny.

770 views • 23 slides

PAST TENSES. Minulé časy. TENSES GENERALLY. SIMPLE TENSE. CONTINUOUS TENSE. BE + … ing. DO. COMPARE. PAST SIMPLE. PAST CONTINUOUS. WAS + …ING WERE . DID. POUŽITÍ. I was having lunch when the bell rang. (Právě jsem obědval, ještě jsem neskončil, když zazvonil zvonek.)

331 views • 15 slides

Present and Past Perfect Tenses

Present and Past Perfect Tenses. To express the idea that someone has done something, use the present perfect tense . In English, this looks like “ I have studied” or “he has written.”. Use HABER. Present Perfect: formed like this: start with one of these forms of HABER :.

447 views • 15 slides

Overview of Past Tenses

Overview of Past Tenses. What past tenses do you know?. Past Simple. Past Continuous. Past Perfect. Past Perfect Continuous. Past actions which happened one after the other. Complete action or event which happened at a state past time

386 views • 5 slides

Present and Past Tenses

Present and Past Tenses. The Bears’ House. The Family. Making porridge. Where are they?. Tasting the porridge. Trying the chairs. Testing the beds. Coming home. Unhappy bears. More problems. There she is!. What now?.

278 views • 13 slides

KEY WORD TRANSFORMATION EXERCISE. PAST SIMPLE. PAST PERFECT &amp; PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS. PAST TENSES. PAST PERFECT &amp; PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS. PAST PERFECT &amp; PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS. PAST PERFECT &amp; PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS. PAST SIMPLE. PRESENT SIMPLE. FUTURE SIMPLE.

423 views • 2 slides

PAST TENSES Martina Terranova, prof.

PAST TENSES Martina Terranova, prof. PAST SIMPLE PAST CONTINUOUS PAST PERFECT SIMPLE. Identify tenses in the following examples When I reached the front… PAST SIMPLE …the police had stopped the traffic. PAST PERFECT SIMPLE …two teenagers were walking along the street. PAST CONTINUOUS

323 views • 12 slides

Past tenses

Past tenses. Základní škola Olomouc, Heyrovského 33. Mgr. Ludmila Faltýnková EU OPVK ICT2-4/AJ07. Určeno pouze pro výuku. Žádná část ani celek nesmí být použit pro komerční účely. Identifikátor materiálu: EU OPVK ICT2-4/AJ07. Past Tenses – Simple and Continuous.

243 views • 10 slides

Past, Present, and Future Tenses

Past, Present, and Future Tenses. Theme 5. Tense. The tense of the verb tells the time of action. Past Present Future. Past Tense. A past-tense verb tells about an action that has happened in the past. Add –ed to regular verbs to form the past tense. Example: search - searched.

5.91k views • 12 slides

Past Tenses. Simple Past &amp; Past Continuous. Learning Objectives:. Secondary One Normal Academic 1 period To choose between past continuous and simple past tense. To form past continuous tense correctly.

957 views • 10 slides

Past Tenses. Past Simple. A] Past Simple 1. Form : We add - ed to form the Past Simple of regular verbs ! I work ed we work ed you work ed you work ed he/ she / it work e d they work ed.

289 views • 10 slides

Past Tenses. Past Continuous. B ] Past Continuous 1. Form : We use the past form of be and the - ing form to form the Past Continuous ! I was work ing we were work ing you were work ing you were work ing he/ she / it was work ing they were work ing.

205 views • 5 slides

Past tenses. Past simple /past continuous /past perfect practising. Put the verbs into the right tense. 1 We _______ ( visit ) Tower of London after we _______ ( see ) Tower Bridge . 2 Jack _______ ( arrive ) late at work because he _______ ( miss ) the bus .

244 views • 8 slides

simple present and past tenses

simple present and past tenses. Present Tense. go. Affirmative. Interrogative. Short Answer. I go You go He, she, it goes We go They go. Do I go? Do you go? Does he, she, it go? Do we go? Do they go?. Yes I do Yes you do Yes he, she, it does Yes we do Yes they do.

1.22k views • 10 slides

Present, Past, and Future Tenses. Tense means time. The tense of a verb tells when an action takes place. The bear walks to the honey tree. The bear walked to the honey tree. The bear will walk to the honey tree. Present Tense (Time).

303 views • 10 slides

PAST TENSES. A grammar presentation by Tímea Szálas. Comparison of past tenses. The thief took the money and ran away . At the time of the incident not many people were shopping in the store. Police found that the thief had taken only 10 euros. Comparison of past tenses 2.

548 views • 6 slides

• English Grammar

Past simple

Level: beginner

With most verbs, the past tense is formed by adding –ed :

But there are a lot of irregular past tense forms in English. Here are the most common irregular verbs in English, with their past tense forms:

We use the past tense to talk about:

• something that happened once in the past :

I met my wife in 1983. We went to Spain for our holidays. They got home very late last night.

• something that happened several times in the past :

When I was a boy, I walked a mile to school every day. We swam a lot while we were on holiday. They always enjoyed visiting their friends.

• something that was true for some time in the past :

I lived abroad for ten years. He enjoyed being a student. She played a lot of tennis when she was younger.

• we often use expressions with ago with the past simple:

I met my wife a long time ago .

Past simple questions and negatives

We use did to make questions with the past simple:

Did she play tennis when she was younger? Did you live abroad? When did you meet your wife? Where did you go for your holidays?

But questions with who often don't use did :

Who discovered penicillin? Who wrote Don Quixote?

We use didn't ( did not ) to make negatives with the past simple:

They didn't go to Spain this year. We didn't get home until very late last night. I didn't see you yesterday.  

Level: intermediate

Past simple and hypotheses

We can also use the past simple to refer to the present or future in hypotheses (when we imagine something). See these pages:

• Verbs in time clauses and conditionals
• Wishes and hypotheses

About the use of the Past Simple, I wanted to relate a recent finding of mine on the Internet. I have read in an online newspaper the expression "It's time" followed by the subject and then the verb in present simple. At the best of my knowledge, I remember that the English grammar reports it's time+past simple or it's time + infinitive or it's time for+subject+infinitive. I was wondering whether it was a mistake or a particular context I didn't pay attention to. Thank you.

• Log in or register to post comments

Hi davidezizza,

Thanks for your question! Can you let us know the specific example that you found? That will be easier for us to discuss. 

LearnEnglish team

Hi Jonathan. Thanks for Your reply. Here is the link of the website in which You can read the headline news: "It's time Europe pays attention to Libya"

https://www.politico.eu/article/time-europe-pay-attention-libya/

Thank You Best regards

Hello davidezizza,

Thanks for sharing the context.

I've checked three different grammars and they all say exactly what you explain in your first comment, i.e. that an infinitive or the past simple is used after 'It's time'. Presumably this is because we mean that we think the action should already have happened, i.e. in this case that Europe is overdue in paying attention to Libya.

I'm afraid I can't explain why this particular journal used the present simple here. It could be that it's a more international version of English, where perhaps it is acceptable. If I were asked to edit the text, I would suggest using the past simple.

I hope this helps you.

Best wishes, Kirk LearnEnglish team

Hello Kirk,

thank you very much for your answer. Apart from the chance about a probable international version, your explanation totally removed my doubts about the heading and I'm grateful for this. Very kind of you. Best regards Davide

Could you please help? I received this message from my colleague:

I'd like to share my experience with id 0129934. She was placed under my supervision. However, I saw that her skills have a lot of room for improvement. We have discussed the situation with her and she chose to stick with the General course.

1. I was a bit puzzled when I read the first sentence. I've always thought that 'share my experience with somebody' means that you want to give some information to that person.

As I understand, the noun 'experience' is usually used with 'in', 'with' or 'of': - experience in dealing with such clients or experience in this industry; - experience with different systems; - experience of this kind of work.

When we use the verb 'share' before the noun 'experience' the options are: - share my experience with you - I want you to know something I know; - share with you my experience of something or share my experience of something with you - I want you to know something I know + some information about the experience; - share my experience of - a good option if it's clear from the context whom the sharing is going to happen with; - share your experience in the comment section down below - just an example with 'in'.

In my colleague's email I would probably use 'share my experience of working with id 0129934' or 'share my experience of mentoring id 0129934', since it's clear that she wants to share this story with me.

​Are my examples correct? Would one of the variants with 'experience of' work better in the first sentence of my colleague's email?

2. I think that the sequence of tenses is incorrect: We have discussed the situation with her and she chose to stick with the general course.

They discussed/had discussed (the outcome had some relevance in the past), and then she chose (based on their discussion).

I don't see how 'have discussed' might have any relevance in the present moment.

Possible variants: - We discussed, and she chose - sounds simpler and better than the rest - We had discussed, and she chose - We discussed, and she has chosen (her choice is still with her now; she is still taking that course)

Are these combinations possible? Which one would you use?

Hello Tony_M,

(1) The original sentence is OK but it is a little clumsy because of the verb 'share'.

As you say, multiple prepositions are possible after 'experience'. For people, experience with is quite common and would be fine if the verb were not 'share'. The reason is that we also say share with , so you have a choice of using two withs , which is unfortunate in terms of style, or using one with and leaving some ambiguity as to the meaning. This problem disappears if other verbs are used:

I'd like to tell you about my experience with 0129934 I'd like to say a few words about my experience with 0129934 I'd like detail my experience with 0129934 etc

Your suggestions are better in the sense that they don't have this problem, but since the following sentences from your colleague make the situation clear I don't think it's a major problem.

(2) I agree that there is an inconsistency here. Presumably the first verb is in the present perfect as the information is perceived as news to you, but if this is true then the second verb is surely also news to you and so both verbs should be in the present perfect. I don't see any reason to use the past perfect here but the past simple is fine:

We discussed... she chose... [a sequence in the past] We have discussed... she has chosen... [actions with present relevance - given the context this would seem to be optimal] We discussed... she has chosen [the discussion was in the past and then after some time she made a decision which is news to you/a present and current change]

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello Peter,

Thank you for your detailed and clear explanation. It was very helpful and understandable.

Why is Past Perfect overkill?

I hope you don't mind me stepping in here. I just noticed that it's been awhile since you asked your question and Peter hasn't been able to answer.

The past perfect would be overkill here because the earlier past time it would imply wouldn't make much sense in this situation. For example, I would understand it to suggest that the discussion happened earlier than the speaker's observation of id 0129934's skills. As I understand it (perhaps I've missed something?), the discussion happened precisely due to the insufficient skills.

Does that make sense?

Hope this helps.

Hello Kirk, 

Thank you. It does make sense.

Could we use the past perfect for the first event in this sequence (was placed)? Or is it not a good idea unless we have some signal words like 'before', 'after', or 'by the time'?

Just to make it clear, you're asking if the following works or not:

I'd like to share my experience with id 0129934. She had been placed under my supervision. However, I saw that her skills have a lot of room for improvement. We have discussed the situation with her and she chose to stick with the General course.

Perhaps in some very particular situation, it could work, but off the top of my head I can't think of one. The use of the present simple and present perfect later on are incongruous with a past perfect as far as I can tell.

To use a past perfect here, you'd have to shift the tenses in the following sentences towards the past. Even then, unless there's a particular reason to emphasize that her placement occurred before some other past point in time (which isn't mentioned in these sentences but perhaps was mentioned before), I wouldn't recommend it. This is because it would probably make the listener wonder what that other past time reference was; if there was no other past point in time that was relevant, it could be confusing.

You've understood me correctly. The explanation you've provided is excellent. It's shed a lot of light on the topic for me.

Thank you very much.

Dear teachers, In advanced thank you for helping us, I have an enquiry, in the question1, (What happened at school today?) Why didn't you use did in the question? And when should I use this form of question that is without did? Best regards Asala Mohammed

Hi Asala Mohammed,

This is a type of question called a subject question. These questions ask about the person or thing that did the action. They use the same word order as a normal sentence (Wh- question word + verb), without an auxiliary verb. For example:

• Who wrote that book?
• What caused the problem?
• Which player scored the goal?

In the questions above, the wh- word is the subject of the verb. This may be easier to see if you compare it with the answer, e.g. Charles Dickens wrote that book . ("Charles Dickens" = subject).  Who wrote that book?  ("Who" = subject).

These are different from other questions, where the wh- word is the object of the verb. These questions need "did" (or another auxiliary verb). For example:

• What did you think about the book? ("What" = object, "you" = subject)

I hope that helps.

Hello again, dear teachers and team!

Could you please help me with the following:

Which one (if any) is correct (I got the TV set yesterday and I still have it):

1. From yesterday, I have this TV set.

2. From yesterday, I have had this TV set.

It's hard to convey how grateful I am for your help and thank you for answering this comment beforehand!

Hello howtosay_,

The correct verb form here is 'have had'. You are describing a situation which began in the past and continues into the present, so the present perfect is appropriate.

'Yesterday' is a point in time rather than a period of time, so we would use 'since' rather than 'for'.

Hello, dear teachers and team!

So, I was late and rushed to catch the bus. Right after that, when I am on the bus, I have to say:

1. I was late, that's why I rushed to catch the bus. (As that very actions are finished)

2. I've been late, that's why I have rushed to catch the bus. (Now I am on the bus)

3. I was late, that's why I have rushed to catch the bus. (Because I have rushed to catch the bus, I am on it now).

I'm so much grateful for your help and thank you for answering my question beforehand!!!

The most natural thing to say here is 1 because the state of being late and the action of rushing are both finished now that you are on the bus. I imagine you being out of breath but probably happy to have caught it :-).

2 is incorrect because now that you are on the bus, you aren't late; if you used the present perfect, it would suggest you are still late. I suppose it's possible that you are still running late for your final destination, but if that's the case, you should say 'I'm late' or 'I'm running late' instead of 'I was late' since it is still true.

3 is unnatural because you've already finished the rushing to catch the bus. It could perhaps be used in some very particular situation (but I can't think of one). I'd recommend you regard it as incorrect too.

All the best, Kirk LearnEnglish team

Hello, Kirk!

Yes, that does make sense. That's very helpful, as usual.

And yes, I was happy to catch the bus. =)

Thank you so much for your help, which is very important to me!

Hello team! I have a question about using "when" with simple past. Can I use "when" with simple past in the two clauses: When I entered the room, my brother watched the movie. Do the two clauses happened at the same time or one clause happened before the other one?

Thank you in advance

Hello AbooodKh9,

Generally, 'when' in this kind of context indicates the moment that an action begins. For example:

She made a cup of coffee when I arrived - this means that the coffee making began only when I arrived.

When we want to show that an action was in progress at the time of another event, we use when or while with the past continuous:

She was making a cup of coffee when I arrived - this means that the coffee making began before I arrived and that she was in the middle of it.

Thus, I would say there are two possibilities for your example:

When I entered the room, my brother started to watch the movie - he began only once I was there. When I entered the room, my brother was watching the movie - he was in the middle of it at the time I arrived.

Hello Which sentence is correct? 1- After the plane had landed, we collected our luggage. 2- After the plane landed, we collected our luggage.

Hi KH_M_K,

They are both correct! Sentence 1 uses the past perfect, but people often simplify by just using the past simple. This happens especially if the order that the actions happened is already shown in some other way. Here, the word "after" shows this, as well as the order of mentioning the actions in the sentence (the first action is mentioned first, and the second action is mentioned second).

Hello everyone! I just want to ask a question about "when" Can I use any tense after when? I know that we can use it before(present simple and past simple) but I want to know If we can use it before the other tenses.

For example: 1) When I had arrived, I met my friend. OR When I had arrived, I had met my friend. 2) When I have studied English, I found many job opportunities. OR When I have studied English, I have found many job opportunities. And so on...

Thank you in advance.

Hello AboodKh9,

1) When I arrived is correct here. We could use the past perfect ( had arrived ) with 'once' or 'after', not 'when'.

2) I'm not sure what you mean here. When I studied (not have studied )... I found (not have found ) is correct in this context. You could use the present perfect to talk about repeated experiences, however, with the sense 'every time' or 'whenever'.

For example: I've visited Germany many times in my life and when (whenever/every time) I've been there, I've found the people to be very kind.

You can find a useful summary here:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/when

Thank you so much for your response. But here I am asking in general (not just about the examples I typed above) about using "when as a conjunction" before the 12 tenses in English. For example:

When + present perfect When + present perfect continuous When + past perfect When + past perfect continuous When + simple future ...etc

I will be grateful for you Excuse me if I didn't get it very well.

There is no general rule here - it really depends on the context and what the speaker wants to say. While some forms are unusual ( will after when is very unusual, for example), they are not impossible. All of these, for example, are correct:

When I've finished, I'll come and help you.

When I've been working on this, I've generally found a small team better than a large one.

She had been talking when he had been talking, and that's why hadn't understood each other.

Why here we cannot use when with past perfect?

Hi yyyyyyyy7,

Are you asking about this sentence?

When I have studied English, I found many job opportunities.

Have studied  is the present perfect (not the past perfect, which would be  had studied ). The sentence is showing two things happening together and at the same time, so they should be in the same tense as each other. The sentence above is not correct, but these two sentences are.

When I studied English, I found many job opportunities . (past simple) When I have studied English, I have found many job opportunities .

I hope that helps to understand it.

When I arrived is correct here. We could use the past perfect (had arrived) with 'once' or 'after', not 'when'.

Why we can not use when with past perfect? And we dont use past perfect here?

Actually, we can use the past perfect with "when", e.g. When I'd finished studying, I went to sleep .

Peter's comment above is saying that the past perfect cannot be used here, in that particular sentence. It should be the past simple because the apparent meaning of using "when" is that the first action ( arrived ) leads into the second action ( met my friend ). In comparison, using the past perfect would make the two actions seem more separated and less connected (like finished studying  and went to sleep  in my example above). If the two actions really are separate, then using "once" or "after" + past perfect instead of "when" would make that meaning clearer.

I have several questions be I would be very grateful if you answer. 1) does it mean that when we talk about things which are connected than we use past simple in both clauses? And does it mean that we use past perfect for things which are not connected as in your example? 2) where I can find materials to learn all these details according to tenses? I understood that using of tenses require to pay attention on these details.

Hi yyyyyyyy7,

“When” + past simple action 1 + past simple action 2 shows actions that are connected in the sense that action 1 leads smoothly into action 2. Action 2 follows very shortly after action 1. The focus of the sentence is on both actions.

• When I closed my eyes, I fell asleep.
• I picked up the phone when it rang.

“When” + past perfect action 1 + past simple action 2 emphasises the completeness of action 1 before action 2 happened. Although the two actions may also be connected in the sense of having a cause-effect relationship, using the past perfect for action 1 makes it seem further back in time from action 2 (the past simple action), and like a preliminary stage to action 2, with action 2 (the past simple action) being the main focus of the sentence. As noted above, “once” and “after” are synonyms for “when” here.

• When the cat had gone away, the mouse came out.
• I folded the clothes when they’d dried.

Of course, how connected actions are is subjective, so sometimes both structures are possible, depending on the speaker’s intended meaning.

• When the cat went away, the mouse came out . (one action follows soon after the other)
• When the cat had gone away, the mouse came out . (emphasises the completeness of the first action, before the second one happened)

I’m afraid I can’t really recommend particular learning materials to learn more about this grammar point, but I suggest having a look for advanced-level grammar books since this is quite a specific point and it may not be covered in general textbooks. Best of luck!

Hello, I have one more question. Your example above about phone remind me another example. Here you have used past simple: I picked up the phone when it rang. I have come across to another example: I couldn’t answer when my phone rang as I was in the shower. Why in both sentences are used past simple instead of past continuous?

The past continuous ( was ringing ) is also possible in both sentences. Using the past continuous emphasises the duration of the activity, i.e. the fact that the ringing went on for some time. You may say this if your aim is to describe what was happening at that particular moment that you picked up the phone.

Using the past simple presents the actions in a step-by-step way: one thing happened, then another thing. You may say this if you are telling a story, for example, as it's common to use the past simple to tell the main sequence of story events.

Do studying English and finding job opportunities mean that they are happening at the same time? Doesn’t mean that after he had studied English he found new job opportunities?

The original commenter's sentence has an unclear meaning. It may show actions happening at the same time, or one after the other. Both of these meanings make sense. Yes, it is also possible that the person studied English first, and then found new opportunities after that, as you say. But in that case, the earlier action should either be in the past simple or the past perfect. For greater clarity, I would also recommend using "Once" or "After" instead of "When", to show that the actions happen one after the other. However, the original sentence seemed to me to indicate two actions happening at the same time because of the use of the present perfect with "when", which has the meaning of "every time" or "whenever".

Hello! Could you please clarify the use of Past Simple in this sentence: 'The project was started maybe a year ago'. Is it acceptable to use Present Perfect here meaning that the project is still ongoing, or Past Simple is referred to just one completed past action -- started? Or it's better to rephrase the whole sentence -- 'It's been a year since the project has (been) started'? Is it acceptable or are there any exceptions for using 'ago' with Present Perfect? The main emphasis is that the project is not finished yet. Thank you in advance!

Hello Gulnara_BC,

The present perfect is not correct in either of these sentences. 'a year ago' suggests a past time that isn't closely connected with the present and so the past simple is the best choice here.

There may exist some situations where it's possible to use the present perfect with 'ago', but I can't think of one off the top of my head.

The past simple does not imply that the project is finished. The action of starting is an action that we generally think of as taking a relatively short time, and then of course the project can continue for an indefinite length.

All the best, Kirk The LearnEnglish Team

Hello Team. Is there any difference between "How long ago" and "When" to ask about past events? For example, in the following question, which one is correct? Why? - (How long ago - When) did you start studying English? Thank you.

Hello Ahmed Imam,

'how long ago' asks for a specific kind of answer, i.e. an expression with 'ago', whereas 'when' is a bit more general.

In practice, though, the person who answers is free to answer as they wish. In other words, they could just as easily say 'when I was ten years old' or 'last summer' or 'ten years ago' in response to 'how long ago' as 'when'.

Hello again Kirk. So, I understand that they are equally-correct in my question, right? Thank you

Yes, that's right: both of those formulations are correct.

Hi Jonathan, Thanks so much for your prompt reply. So, in informal speaking, we could ask questions such as: - How's the film yesterday? - Why's he angry last night? - What's he doing when you called him? - When's the next train arrive? - What's it mean? - How's he look?

[1] Is this kind of contraction also used by educated people in daily conversations?

[2] Could we use this kind of contraction ('s) of "was" and "does" in daily communication with our coworkers or boss?

Your remarks would be highly appreciated.

Best regards,

Hi melvinthio,

[1] Yes, if they are in informal situations. I don't think the education level is relevant here.

[2] Potentially, yes, but I can't really say more than that. It depends on the expectations about formality, clarity and interpersonal communication that people in your particular workplace have.

Hi Jonathan, Merriam Webster's online dictionary cites that the past tense "was" can also be contracted to ('s). E.g. : When's the last time you ate? [1] Can we use the contraction in general or it's only used in the fixed phrase of "When's the last time......?"

The dictionary also cites that ('s) is also the contraction of "does". E.g. : What's he want ? [2] Can we use this contraction in general with other question words (where, why, who, how) as well ?

You can find these contractions in other sentences too, not just these ones. However, it's important to know that these contractions are normally used (1) in informal speaking, and (2) in questions. Because of their use in informal speaking, some people may consider them incorrect. It's also good to be aware of the potential for confusion (e.g. "What's" might be initially understood as "What is" or "What has").

Hi In this following sentence "I took care that he should not hear me " Does here "he should not hear me " refer to past ?Can we use "should" in past tense?What about if we use "would not" instead of "should not" here ?

Yes, it does. (If referring to the future, "shall" can replace "should".) In this sentence, "would" and "should" have the same meaning but "should" is a bit more formal in style.

Hi To know about someone's food hobby we ask What's your favourite food? if someone ask me " What was your favourite food?" , is it different from "What is your favourite food?"

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Past tenses

We use several different tenses when we narrate a story in the past.

• To describe the main event s in sequence, i.e., one event after another.

We use the simple past

• To describe a general state in the past.
• When we need to make it clear that one past event happened before another one.

We use the past perfect

6:00The movie started(1st)

6:20We arrived(2nd)

• To describe something that happened (or a state that was true( before the main event or story).

We use the past continuous to describe an activity in progress in the past.

• The background to an event within the story.
• The background to the main story.
• Before the main event.

We use the past perfect continuous

• Up to a main event.

• When writing, it is important to be consistent in verb tense usage.
• There are three basic forms of verb tenses: past, present, and future. Simple and Perfect forms of these verbs are also used.
• The simple form of a verb demonstrates an action that has a specific time duration.
• The action has occurred, is going on now, or will happen in the future.
• The perfect form of a verb is used to show variations in time.
• These variations include ongoing events, a sequence of events, or events that have a continued effect on a situation.
• Perfect tenses include the past, present, or future form of “have” plus the past tense form of the verb.

Each example is followed with an explanation of what the sentence means.

• Simple Past tense:

I jogged to my car.

I jogged to my car and stopped when I got there. The action occurred and ended, and no other events occurred at the same time.

• Past Perfect tense:

I had jogged to my car only to realize I forgot my keys in the office.

I jogged to my car and stopped, but another event (realizing I forgot my keys) occurred directly after the first action.

• Simple Present tense:

I jog to my car.

I jog at a certain point in time and stop. No other actions take place at this time.

• Present Perfect tense:

I have jogged to my car.

I have jogged to my car in the past and the action continues to occur; other actions may take place at the same time.

• Future tense:

I will jog to my car.

I will jog to my car in the future. The action will begin and end during a specific time period.

• Future Perfect tense:

I will have jogged to my car.

At some point in the future I will jog to my car, and other actions may occur at the same time or after the action.

Changing the bold verb to the tense indicated in parentheses:

(Notice how the verbs in the sentence are consistent in tense.)

• She talk__________ (future tense) to her professor about when her paper is due.
• Because she lived alone in an apartment building, she locks____________ (simple past) her doors every night.
• I arrive at the end of the trail and realize I jogged _____________ (present perfect) five miles.
• He got home from the grocery store and realized he spent___________ (past perfect) too much money.
• We ate ________________ (simple present) breakfast with our family every morning.
• After completing this month, I worked _________________ (future perfect) twenty-five years for this hospital.

have jogged

will have worked

You will often use progressive and conditional verb tenses in writing.

• The progressive tense is used to discuss an action that is, has, or will be in the process of occurring.
• These can found in past, present, or future tense.
• Conditional tenses are used to describe an action that depends on another action taking place.
• The word “would” is used to form this phrase.
• You will often find “if” clauses in these sentences.
• Conditional tenses are not used to make predictions or state facts.

Progressive tense:

• She was eating ice cream when her parents came home from work.

Past Progressive : The action happened in the past, and continued to happen when another action occurred.

• Your constant encouragement is helping me while I go through this difficult time.

Present Progressive : The encouragement is going on at the same time as another action, and continues to occur.

• Our professor will be giving a test next week.

Future Progressive : The action has not occurred yet, but will occur in the future at a certain point in time.

Conditional tense:

• If I were in your shoes, I would study for the test before taking it.

Provided that one condition is true (I am in your shoes), another action will occur (I would study). The action test has not occurred yet, but is going to.

• If I had a better understanding of the consequences, I would have thought more before taking action.

This is similar to the above sentence (an action would occur based on a condition), but the action has already occurred and the writer is reflecting back on it.

 _______________ My doctor will be leaving for France at the end of the month.

_______________ When the teacher turned the other way, she was cheating on the test.

_______________ I tried to tell her that if I were she, I would take the extra work hours.

_______________ You are driving me crazy by tapping your foot on the floor.

 _______________ If she knew the shoes were cheaper at the other store, she would have waited until Saturday to pick them up.

_______________ As he walked into the room, she was cleaning his mess up.

Progressive

Conditional

Sometimes in writing, it is necessary to shift verb tenses. It is important to understand how to do this so you do not confuse your reader.

Keeping a few simple things in mind, you will be able to communicate accurately a timeline of events to your reader…

• Try to stay in the same tense throughout the sentence. This includes variations of the tenses, such as simple, perfect, or progressive.
• Make the order of events clear. Perfect tenses often come before simple tenses.
• You may move forward in time within the sentence if it is necessary to change tenses (past to present or future, present to future).
• Only move backward in time if it makes sense.
• I was walking the dog when she stopped to ask me for directions.

Past progressive and past tense are illustrated here.

A continuous action (walking the dog) is interrupted by an action that occurred once (she stopped to ask directions).

• He has been playing baseball for ten years, and is still playing today. 

Past perfect and present progressive are illustrated here.

An action that began in the past (playing baseball) continues to the present (still playing).

• Susan did her homework last week, and will do it this week as well.

Past tense and future tense are illustrated here.

An action occurred once in the past, and it is going to occur again (once) in the future).

• She is writing an article about what happened during the game.

Present progressive and past tense are illustrated here.

A continuous action is occurring in the present, and something in the past is related to this event (the game).

See how the sentences are corrected:

Incorrect: My arm is hurting when I went in to see the doctor.

Correct: My arm was hurting when I went in to see the doctor.

Incorrect: I love to play the piano as a young girl, and continue to play as an adult.

Correct: I loved to play the piano as a young girl, and continue to play as an adult.

Incorrect: I would not have taken the first exit if I know the second exit brought me closer to my destination.

Correct: I would not have taken the first exit if I knew the second exit brought me closer to my destination.

Incorrect: The professor was considering retirement until he find out he could not afford it.

Correct: The professor was considering retirement until he found out he could not afford it.

Incorrect: She became a mother when she will have been twenty-five years old.

Correct: She became a mother when she was twenty-five years old.

Incorrect: Her mother told her to clean her room, but she is walking out of the house.

Correct: Her mother told her to clean her room, but she was walking out of the house.

• 4 Past Tenses and When to Use Them

• Posted on 31/07/2019
• Categories: Blog
• Tags: Grammar , Past tense , Resources to learn English

Do you have difficulty with the past tenses in English? Do you know the difference between the past simple and past perfect? Knowing what they are and when to use them can be tricky , but don’t worry we are here to help you with all your past tense doubts!

We’ll show you when to use them and give you some fun ways to practise them at home!

So, let’s start by looking at the four main past tense forms in English and their most common uses.

1. Past Simple

The first past tense you’ll often learn in your English classes is the past simple.

For regular verbs we add -ed to the infinitive form of the verb. E.g.

Irregular verbs however, take a different form. There are hundreds of irregular verbs and you just have to learn them off by heart ! Here are some of the most common:

The main use of the past simple is for finished actions in the past. For example:

• I was born in San Francisco.
• I cleaned my room.
• I forgot my key.

We can use it with a finished time phrase like in the sentences below:

• Yesterday I went to the supermarket.
• Last night we watched the football.
• The phone rang five minutes ago .

Other common time expressions you can use are:

last month, last week, last summer, in 1997, when I was a child, a long time ago, on Monday, in February etc.

We also use the past simple for the main action when telling a story.

E.g. I woke up on my wedding day, I jumped out of bed and immediately called my brother. He didn’t pick up and so I began to worry.

Let’s see how much you’ve learned!

Activity One

We are going to test your knowledge of regular and irregular verbs! Watch this cartoon of Mr Bean making spaghetti. Then have a go at conjugating the verbs below into the past simple. Finally put the sequence in order they appear in the video!

________ (brush) his teeth

________ (try) to cook spaghetti in the pot

________ (put) the spaghetti in the bath

________ (kill) the bird

________ (take) the spaghetti out of the cupboard.

*Check your answers at the end of this post.

2. Past Continuous

Another common past tense is the past continuous.

We form it using was/were + verb + ing .

A common use of the past continuous is to show that a longer action was interrupted (usually by a shorter action in the past simple). We often use the time expression when . For example:

• I was swimming in the sea when I saw a shark.
• Henry was sitting at home when the phone rang.
• She was playing golf when it began to rain.

When two continuous actions are happening at the same time we use the time expression while.

• I was talking to Sarah while she was driving .
• We were playing while dad was cooking dinner.

We can also use it to show a continuous action happening at a specific time in the past.

• Yesterday morning I was practising the piano.
• At 6 o’clock I was eating dinner.
• What were you doing at 8pm last night?

Finally, it can be used to add some description to a story.

E.g. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the birds were singing . We were walking around our favourite park.

Note we don’t usually use continuous tenses with stative verbs .

Now let’s practise!

Activity Two

Look at these pictures and complete the sentences with your own ideas!

At 8 o’clock last night I was…

It was a Wednesday afternoon…

*Check your answers at the end of this post

3. Past Perfect

Now we can move on to a slightly more difficult tense – the past perfect.

We make the past perfect by using had + past participle .

We use it when one action happens before another past action. For example:

A. The film had started when we arrived . (the film started before we arrived)

B. The film started when we arrived (we arrived at the same time the film started)

We use time expressions such as before , by the time and when .

Be careful lots of students overuse the past perfect! Remember you only use it for actions that happened before the main action.

Activity Three

Learn more about the past perfect with this grammar game show from BBC Learning English.

How many answers did you get correct?

4. Past Perfect Continuous

The past perfect continuous is very similar to the past perfect.

We form the past perfect continuous with had + been + verb + ing .

We use it to show that an action which started in the past continued up to another point in the past. For example:

• She had been living in Italy for three years when she lost her job.
• I had been waiting for ten minutes before the bus came.
• By the time Steve arrived I had been working for nearly eight hours!

With the past perfect we use time expressions such as for five hours, for 2 weeks, for a long time, by the time.

We can also use it to talk about the cause of something in the past. E.g.

• Susan was sweating because she had been running .
• Henry was late because he had been studying .

Activity Four

Practise when to use past perfect vs. past perfect continuous with this quiz!

Choose the correct answer in each question:

1. The children were tired because they had played all morning / had been playing all morning.

2. The customers were angry because the waiter had forgotten / had been forgetting their order.

3. He had married / had been marrying her two years before we met.

4. I had never stayed / had never been staying in London until 2012.

5. We had tried / had been trying the door for several hours before Anna found her key.

Activity Five

Finally, put all your new knowledge to the test! Look at this photo and answer the questions below using the different past tenses. Leave us a comment below with your ideas!

1. Where was this photo taken?

2. Why was the man looking at the people in the background when the photo was taken?

3. What had happened just before the photo was taken?

4. Where had the man been going before the photo was taken?

Did you enjoy this blog? Had you studied all these rules before reading it? Leave us a comment and let us know!

You may also like to read our article about common grammar mistakes in English .

Activity One:

E) He took the spaghetti out of the cupboard.

B) He tried to cook spaghetti in the pot.

C) He put the spaghetti in the bath.

A) He brushed his teeth.

D) He killed the bird.

Activity Two (example sentences):

At 8 o’clock last night I was watching TV.

At 8 o’clock last night I was reading a book.

At 8 o’clock last night I was cooking my dinner.

It was a Wednesday afternoon, it was raining heavily, I was sitting on the bus trying not to fall asleep.

Activity Four:

had been playing.

had forgotten.

had married.

had never stayed.

had been trying.

Activity Five (example sentences):

The photo was taken in a hotel.

The man was looking at the people in the background because he thought he recognised one of the women.

Just before the photo was taken the man had gone to the kitchen to get a drink of water.

The man had been walking back to his room before the photo was taken.

Glossary for Language Learners

Find the following words in the article and then write down any new ones you didn’t know.

Tricky (adj): : difficult.

Off by heart (exp): from memory.

To conjugate (v): to add different endings to a verb in order to produce all its different forms.

To move on (pv): to transition to something new.

Overuse (v): to use something too much.

Game show (n): a television programme where contestants win prizes.

Speculate (v): to guess possible answers to a question when you do not have enough information to be certain.

adj = adjective

pv = phrasal verb

exp = expression

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Important Information –

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FAQ Cambridge courses and Exam

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