Unit 1: Simple Verbal Tenses

Simple Verbal Tenses

There are three tenses, divided into present, past and future. These simple tenses refer to specific actions we perform. Here we will show you their most common uses and examples. 

 

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Present Simple: Grammatical Rules

 

The present simple is used to talk about events, routines or daily actions, hobbies that you currently have. It is written taking the base form of the verb for the pronouns I, you, we and they; and an -s is added for the third person singular it, she and he.

• Examples.- 

  -I play tennis. (Yo juego al tenis)  

  Explanation: Mentioning a sport that I play on a daily basis and that I am not necessarily playing at the moment.

  -They travel to Madrid. (Ellos viajan a Madrid)

Every day: If the sentence before you or the sentence you want to say and write includes a time expression that expresses a regularity or a habit, the present simple must be used.

• I do the laundry every day. – Cada día hago la colada.

Present Perfect: Grammatical Rules 

The present perfect has three structures: affirmative, negative and interrogative, which are ordered in the way you can see in the tables below, and in which you can also find different sentences with their Spanish translation.

• The present perfect is used to describe an experience. We do not use it for specific actions.

• The present perfect is used for a change in time.

• It is used for successes or achievements.

• We use the present perfect for actions that have not yet happened. The use of the present perfect in these cases indicates that we are still waiting for the action, so we often use the adverbs "yet" and "still".

• The present perfect is used to talk about actions at different times in the past. The use of the present perfect in these cases indicates that more actions are possible in the future.

• In general, we use the present perfect continuous for situations that have started in the past but are still in the present. But as we have seen, there are some verbs that we cannot use in the continuous tenses. In these cases, we use the present perfect.

 

 

Present continuous

We use it to talk about activities that are happening at the present moment, at this very moment.

• I’m working right now. – Estoy trabajando ahora mismo.

  The clue is given by the "right now", which frames the situation at the present point.  

  I’m flying to London on Saturday. – Vuelo a Londres el sábado. 

  In the case of plans that are certain and imminent, we also use the present continuous.
  

Now that we have gone over the theory, so that you don't make mistakes and use the verb tense that corresponds to each situation, we are going to give you some quick and easy tips. Some take into account the formation of the verb and others its use.

 

• Does it end in -ING?

   The present continuous is formed with the verb TO BE as auxiliary and the gerund form of the corresponding verb. That is, if you detect that in the sentence there is a verb ending in -ING, it will be a continuous form. And if the verb TO BE is conjugated in the present tense, it is the present continuous.
  

• John is writing a postcard right now. – John está escribiendo una postal.
  

 

 

Simple Past: Grammatical Rules.

The basic formula for statements in the past simple is: 

Subject + verb in the past + complement. 

This is the simplest form, since all you have to do is conjugate the verb in the past tense.

However, we must be clear that there are two types of verbs in English: regular and irregular. 

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• Regular verbs are the easiest to conjugate since you only have to add -ed, -d (verbs with "e" ending) or -ied (verbs with "y" ending) to the end of the infinitive verb.

“I visited my family last summer” (Yo visité a mi familia el verano pasado).

“He changed his job” (Él cambió su trabajo).

“I studied architecture in the University of Mexico City” (Yo estudié arquitectura en la Universidad de la Ciudad de México).

•    Irregular verbs, in most cases, completely change their form, so it is necessary to take into account their conjugations. Below is a short list of the most commonly used irregular verbs.

  -“She went to the cinema yesterday” (Ella fue al cine ayer).

  When we want to talk about an action that happened in the past and ended in the past and we indicate the time in which the action happened ("anoche" and "ayer"). Look at the following examples:

1. • Last night I played soccer/ Anoche jugué soccer. 

   • I wrote a letter yesterday/ Yo escribí una carta ayer.
     

 

Past Participle: Grammatical Rules

The past participle is a verb form used in the following verb tenses: present perfect, past perfect, future perfect and passive voice.

The first thing we must do to understand this subject is to compare it with Spanish. In Spanish in most verbs we add the ending ADO and IDO to form the participle, examples: corrido, saltado, reído.

There are also irregular verbs such as romper (broken), escribir (written), among others.

The past participle of regular verbs is formed by simply adding ED (called) or D (decided) to the end of the verb.
It is important to keep in mind that these verbs have the same form as the simple past; therefore, we must pay attention to the context of the sentence to be clear about the verb form.
Notice that in the following examples the verb form is the same (called), but the meaning is different: 

• We called Alex yesterday. (Llamamos a Alex ayer) Past Simple.
  

•  We have called Alex 5 times. (Hemos llamado a Alex 5 veces) Past Participle.
  

The past participle of irregular verbs changes depending on the verb; it is necessary to learn the past participle forms of irregular verbs by heart: go to the list of irregular verbs in participle. Examples:

• I had broken the window.
  

•  She has eaten octopus
  

 

Past Perfect: Grammatical Rules

In this verb tense we need to use the auxiliary "had" and the past participle of verbs in affirmative, negative and interrogative sentences. It is important to clarify that the auxiliary "had" is used with all personal pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, they).

 

Affirmative Sentences:

Subject+auxiliar verb "had"+past participle+complement.

• I had visited my friend twice.

  S + Had + P.P  + Compl. 

• She had written her first novel.

Negative Sentences:

Sujeto+auxiliar verb "had not or hadn't"+ past participle+complement. 

You hadn't heard the noise. 

S + had not or hadn't + P.P + Compl.

We hadn't bought the bed.

Questions and short answers.

Auxiliar "had or hadn't"+ subject+past participle+complement?

A: Had you turned the lights off? 

B: Yes, I had/ No, I hadn't.

 

A: Hade they made dinner?

B: Yes, they had/No, they hadn't.

Future (Will/Be Going To): Grammatical Rules.

Will is a modal verb used in English to talk about the future. In this lesson we are going to talk about the uses of Will. There are 3 main uses of WILL: the first one has to do with decisions, the second one with predictions and the third one with promises.

 

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1. Desicions:

   To understand this use of WILL we must first make a distinction between a "plan" and a "decision at the time of speaking":
   
   A plan is something I previously thought about and decided to do. So, this morning I thought about and decided what I am going to do on my birthday which is in a month.  My plan is "I am going to travel to Europe". This plan I thought about this morning and it is going to be fulfilled in a month and in English you should use future with "Be going to" like this: "I am going to travel to Europe".

   On the other hand a "decision at the moment of speaking" is an action that I will perform as a consequence of a current state. So, my current state is "I am thirsty" and my decision is that "I will drink water". This decision (to drink water) was made NOT YESTERDAY, NOT THIS MORNING, but at this PRECISE MOMENT so I must use WILL like this: I am thirsty, I will drink water.

   Examples:

   I am hungry, I will make lunch.

   I am cold, I will put on jacket. 

   Important to understand: (The above does NOT mean that the difference is: WILL is used for near future and BE GOING TO for long term future; this assumption is incorrect. The difference lies in the distinction between "plan" and "decision at the time spoken").

1.  Predictions.

   A prediction is an idea we have of something that will happen in the future. We use WILL to make predictions based on what we think. For example, if I think or believe that life will be easier in the future I use WILL:
   I think / I believe life will be easier in the future.
   We can use the expressions I think or I believe to accompany sentences.  Other examples:  

   I believe she will be a great mother / Creo que ella será una buena mamá.

   He thinks he will win the race / Él piensa que va a ganar la carrera / He thinks he will win the race.