THE USES AND FORMATION OF THE ENGLISH VERB TENSES
| Type of Tense | Type of Action Expressed |
| Simple | – actions occurring at regular intervals |
| – general truths, or situations existing for a period of time | |
| – non-continuous actions | |
| Continuous | – continuous, ongoing actions |
| Perfect | – non-continuous actions completed before a certain time |
| Perfect Continuous | – continuous, ongoing actions completed before a certain time |
| Tense | Auxiliary | Verb Form |
| Simple Present | do/does * | bare infinitive ** |
| Present Continuous | am/is/are | present participle |
| Present Perfect | have/has | past participle |
| Present Perfect Continuous | have/has been | present participle |
| Simple Past | did * | bare infinitive *** |
| Past Continuous | was/were | present participle |
| Past Perfect | had | past participle |
| Past Perfect Continuous | had been | present participle |
| Simple Future | will (shall) **** | bare infinitive |
| Future Continuous | will (shall) be | present participle |
| Future Perfect | will (shall) have | past participle |
| Future Perfect Continuous | will (shall) have been | present participle |
| Tense | Auxiliary | Verb Form |
| Simple Present | do * | bare infinitive |
| Present Continuous | be | present participle |
| Present Perfect | have | past participle |
| Present Perfect Continuous | have been | present participle |
| Simple Past | did * | bare infinitive *** |
| Past Continuous | were | present participle |
| Past Perfect | had | past participle |
| Past Perfect Continuous | had been | present participle |
| Tense | Auxiliary | Verb Form |
| Simple Present | am/is/are | past participle |
| Present Continuous | am/is/are being | past participle |
| Present Perfect | have/has been | past participle |
| Present Perfect Continuous | have/has been being | past participle |
| Simple Past | was/were | past participle |
| Past Continuous | was/were being | past participle |
| Past Perfect | had been | past participle |
| Past Perfect Continuous | had been being | past participle |
| Simple Future | will (shall) **** be | past participle |
| Future Continuous | will (shall) be being | past participle |
| Future Perfect | will (shall) have been | past participle |
| Future Perfect Continuous | will (shall) have been being | past participle |
| Tense | Auxiliary | Verb Form |
| Simple Present | be | past participle |
| Present Continuous | be being | past participle |
| Present Perfect | have been | past participle |
| Present Perfect Continuous | have been being | past participle |
| Simple Past | were | past participle |
| Past Continuous | were being | past participle |
| Past Perfect | had been | past participle |
| Past Perfect Continuous | had been being | past participle |
* In the Simple Present and Simple Past tenses of the Active Voice, the auxiliaries are used only for emphasis, and for the formation of questions and negative statements. Auxiliaries are never used with the Simple Present or Simple Past of the verb to be.
** When used without the auxiliary, the third person singular of the Simple Present, in the Indicative Mood of the Active Voice, has the ending s.
*** When used without the auxiliary, the Simple Past form of the verb is used. For regular verbs, and for many irregular verbs, the Simple Past has the same form as the past participle.
**** The other modal auxiliaries could, may, might, must, should and would form conjugations in the same way as will and shall.