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Present Continuous A: He is speaking. action taking place in the moment of speaking at the moment, just, just now,
N: He is not speaking. action taking place only for a limited period of Listen!, Look!, now, right now
Q: Is he speaking? time
action arranged for the future
Simple Past A: He spoke. action in the past taking place once, never or yesterday, 2 minutes ago, in 1990,
N: He did not speak. several times the other day, last Friday. when
Q: Did he speak? actions taking place one after another if sentence type II (If I talked, …)
action taking place in the middle of another
action
Past Continuous A: He was speaking. action going on at a certain time in the past while, as, as long as, at 3 o’clock
N: He was not speaking. actions taking place at the same time (any time)
Q: Was he speaking? action in the past that is interrupted by another
action
Present Perfect Simple A: He has spoken. putting emphasis on the result already, ever, just, never, yet, so
N: He has not spoken. action that stopped recently far, till now, up to now
Q: Has he spoken? finished action that is still going on or has an
influence on the present
Present Perfect Continuous A: He has been speaking. putting emphasis on the duration (not the all day, for 4 years, since 1993, how
N: He has not been speaking. result) long?, the whole week
Q: Has he been speaking? action that recently stopped or is still going on
finished action that influenced the present
Past Perfect Simple A: He had spoken. action taking place before another action in already, just, never, not yet, once,
N: He had not spoken. the past until that day, after
Q: Had he spoken? if sentence type III (If I had
talked, …)
Past Perfect Continuous A: He had been speaking. action taking place before another action in for, since, the whole day, all day
N: He had not been speaking. the past
Q: Had he been speaking? sometimes interchangeable with past perfect
simple
putting emphasis on the duration of an action
Future Perfect Simple A: He will have spoken. action that will be finished at a certain time in by Monday, by the time you…., in
N: He will not have spoken. the future a week
Q: Will he have spoken?
Future Perfect Continuous A: He will have been speaking. action taking place before a certain time in the for …, the last couple of hours, all
N: He will not have been speaking. future day long
Q: Will he have been speaking? putting emphasis on the course of an action
Conditional Simple A: He would speak. action that might take place if sentences type II
N: He would not speak. (If I were you, I would go home.)
Q: Would he speak?
Conditional Continuous A: He would be speaking. action that might take place
N: He would not be speaking. putting emphasis on the duration of the action
Q: Would he be speaking?
Conditional Perfect Simple A: He would have spoken. action that might have taken place in the past if sentences type III
N: He would not have spoken. (If I had seen that, I would have
Q: Would he have spoken? helped.)