Past tenses

 1. Present Perfect

Use: Past (recent) action with relevance in the present Form: Subject + have/has + past participle Example: She has finished her homework.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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?

5. 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.

6. Past Perfect

Use: Action completed before another past event Form: Subject + had + past participle Example: He had left by the time I arrived.

7. 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.


Simple Past

Focus: When something happened Use it for:

  • Actions completed at a specific time in the past
  • Time expressions like yesterday, last week, in 2020, two days ago

Example: I visited London in 2022. → The action is over/finished, and the time is clearly in the past.

 

Present Perfect

Focus: Connection to now Use it for:

  • Experiences without saying exactly when
  • Actions with present consequences
  • Time expressions like ever, never, just, already, yet, recently, since, for

Example: I have visited London several times. → We don’t know when exactly, but the experience is still relevant or meaningful now.

 

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)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ARTICLES

  "The" and "A/An" There are two types of articles: 1. Definite Article: "The" Use "the" when referring to a specific noun that both the speaker and listener know. It can be used with singular and plural nouns. Example: The sun is bright today. (There is only one sun, so it is specific.) I saw the cat in the garden. (The listener knows which cat is being referred to.) 2. Indefinite Articles: "A" and "An" Use "a" or "an" when referring to a general noun, not a specific one. They are used only with singular nouns. "A" is used before words that start with a consonant sound . Example: a dog, a book, etc.. "An" is used before words that start with a vowel sound. Example: an apple, an elephant, etc.. Peculiarities to bear in mind Let's talk about THE When to Use "The" and When Not to Use It ✅ When to Use "The" Use "the" when referring to specific thing...
Read more

Much/Many/A lot (of)-A little/A few

  Much (used with uncountable nouns) Positive: There is much love in this family. She gained much experience during the internship. Negative: He doesn’t have much energy today. We didn’t spend much money on the vacation. Question: How much water do we need for the soup? Is there much noise coming from outside?   Many (used with countable nouns) Positive: Many tourists visit Rome every summer. She has many hobbies to keep her busy. Negative: I haven’t read many books this year. They don’t have many options left. Questions: 11.     How many apples did you buy at the market? 12.    Are there many students in your English class? Here are examples using instead  a lot in different types of sentences. This phrase works with both countable and uncountable nouns Positive sentences She has a lot of friends in New York. (countable)...
Read more