Main past tenses
Present Perfect
Use: Past (recent) action with relevance in the
present Form: Subject + have/has + past participle Example:
She has finished her homework.
Present Perfect Continuous
Use: Past (recent) action with relevance in the
present of which I want to stress the duration or just finished Form: Subject
+ have/has been + verb-ing Example: They have been working all
day.
Simple Past
Use: Completed action in the past – I can find a temporal
complement in my phrase Form: Subject + past verb Example:
She visited Rome last summer.
Used to
We use used to + base verb to show something happened
regularly in the past.
I used to ride my bike to school. → (I did this regularly in
the past, but not anymore.)
She used to live in London. → (She lived there
before, but she doesn't now.)
They used to be friends. → (They were friends
once, but not anymore.)
Structure:
Positive: I used to eat cereal for breakfast. Negative: I
didn’t use to like vegetables. Question: Did you use to play an instrument?
Past Continuous
Use: Action in progress at a specific past time –
antagonist of the present continuous Form: Subject + was/were +
verb-ing Example: They were watching a movie when the phone rang.
Past Perfect
Use: Action completed before another past event Form:
Subject + had + past participle Example: He had left by the
time I arrived.
Past Perfect Continuous
Use: Action completed before another past event of
which I want to stress the duration Form: Subject + had been +
verb-ing Example: I had been studying for hours before the exam
started.
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Simple
Past Focus:
When something happened Use it for:
Example:
I visited London in 2022. → The action is over/finished, and the time
is clearly in the past.
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Present
Perfect Focus:
Connection to now Use it for:
Example:
I have visited London several times. → We don’t know when exactly, but
the experience is still relevant or meaningful now.
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A Quick Contrast:
- He broke
his leg last summer. → Simple Past (finished event with time mentioned
now he is healthy again)
- He has
broken his leg. → Present Perfect (the leg is still in a
cast—effect seen now)
Present perfect with “how long” (used to ask “Da quanto”)
- How
long have you studied English? → (**Remember the conversion - studi)
With “for” (used to express duration)
- She
has lived in Bologna for ten years. → (Vive a Bologna da 10 anni)
With “since” (used to express the starting point)
- I
have worked at this school since 2018. → (Lavoro in questa scuola dal 2018)