Past tenses in English

The different ways of expressing past time in English.

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How many past tenses are there in English?

The currently popular view in linguistics argues that there is only one past tense in English, the "past". This morphosyntaxic approach to tenses can be very confusing for students, whether they are native speakers or learners of English; besides it not the only way of defining tenses since linguistics is an art, not an exact science. There is no "right" way of defining tenses, and other definitions may be just as valid.
For this reason, Linguapress uses the word "tense" in the semantic sense (in terms of meaning), accepting that there are three past tenses in English (footnote) – one simple tense and two compound tenses. There is also a hybrid tense, the future perfect. . See How many tenses does English have?

English uses three principal forms of the past, the Simple Past (or preterite), the Present Perfect (or compound past), and the Past perfect, sometimes called the Pluperfect. There is also a special tense called the future perfect.
The three past tenses of English all have simple and progressive forms, as illustrated below. These tenses can be used in the active, as in the examples on this page, or the passive.

Forms of past tenses : sample verb make

1. Simple active forms
	I	you	he she it one	we	you	they
Simple past	made
Present perfect	have made		has made	have made
Past perfect	had made
Future perfect	will have made

2. Progressive active forms
	I	you	he she it one	we	you	they
Simple past	was making	were making
Present perfect	have been making		has been making	have been making
Past perfect	had been making
Future perfect	will have been making

For passive forms, see Forms of the passive

Look at English grammar with Linguapress. Simple rules, clear examples.

1. The simple past.

This is used to relate past events in a historic context. Often, you will know that it must be used, because the sentence also contains an adverb (or adverb phrase) of time, such as yesterday, a date or time as in example 1, or an implied but unstated moment, as in example 3.

Examples:
1) Queen Victoria died in 1901.
2) The Titanic sank when it hit an iceberg.
3) I told you not to drink too much
4) Next, they went and cooked dinner.

1.1. Simple past - progressive or continuous forms:

Here are some examples with a progressive or continuous form too: both of the events in each sentence are "historic", but one took place while another longer-lasting situation was true:

Examples:
5) John Lennon died while he was living in New York.
6) The students shouted as the President was speaking.

1.2. Used to and would - the past of finished situation or finished habit

To express a finished habit, or terminated situation or action, there are two additional possible structures, one with used to, the other with would. To express a terminated situation, only the structure with used to can be used. Terminated situation can also be expressed using the simple past often reinforced by an adverb of duration or of time.

Examples:
   1) I used to go to Brighton when I was a child. But I don't any longer.
   2) He would call her every day when she was younger, but he doesn't now
3) This street used to be very quiet; but nowadays it's full of traffic.
   4) This street was once very quiet, but nowadays it's full of traffic.

For more on this, see: Problem words - Used to.

2. The Present Perfect (or compound past)

In British English, the present perfect (which Samuel Johnson called, perhaps more appropriately, the compound preterite) is used to situate past events, or the consequences of past events, in relation to the present situation (that's why it is called the "present" perfect). Americans do not always use the present perfect in this situation.

Examples:
1. I have ordered a new refrigerator, darling!
(i.e., the speaker means "A new refrigerator is coming and will be here soon").
2. I've eaten too much!
(i.e. the speaker implies: "At this moment now, I do not feel very well; I have a funny feeling in my stomach!)
3. Manchester United have won the Cup
(i.e. Manchester United are now, at this moment , football champions).

You do not usually find adverbs of time used with verbs in the present perfect, but there are some exceptions:

1. already:
2. adverbs of frequency:
3. adverbs or adverb phrases of duration related to the present:

1. Come on, we've already started eating !
2. I've often seen people driving too fast down that road.
3. I've lived in London for ten years.
(Contrast with: I lived in London for ten years (but I don't live there now) - a historic statement)
4. I've lived in London since 1985.
5. I've been living in London since 1985. (Both of these forms are acceptable)
6. Up to now, I've always refused to eat fish.

2.1. Present-perfect progressive or present-perfect continuous:

These progressive forms are used when we want to imply that an event / events in the past have been continuing until the present point in time, or have taken place over a period of time in the past

I've been waiting for you since three o'clock.
The doctor has been seeing patients for most of the afternoon.

(► Cross reference: since and for)

3. The past perfect or pluperfect.

The past perfect tense, or pluperfect, as in He had seen, is normally only used in English when one past event (either a specific action, or a contuous condition) has to be situated in a more distant past than another past event. In some situations, the progressive or continuous form is necessary.

Examples:
I had just put the phone down, when the doorbell rang.
The man had been drinking before the accident happened.
He had worked in the company for five years before he got promotion.

There are some other uses too, but they are less common. Note, for example, the use of the past perfect (and inversion) after hardly :

Hardly had I put the phone down, than the phone rang.

4. The future perfect

The future perfect, as in They will have finished , is used to situate a moment or situation thatwill be in the past by the time (a) another event occurs, or (b) a point in time is reached, or (c) another situation is true.

Examples:
a) I will have finished reading the book before I go to bed.
b1) I think that the boss will have interviewed all the new candidates by 6 p.m.
b2) By next Monday, I will have been living here for a month.
c) If you get all the answers right, you will have done better than anyone else.

Comparative grammar: Using past tenses in French:

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Footnote.
For an overview of this linguistic argument, see The Present perfect : present tense or past tense ?

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