TABLE OF ENGLISH VERB TENSES

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Verb tenses are used to express time in any language. But be careful, many English tenses do not have direct translation in Spanish.

TENSE	USE	EXAMPLES	SIGNAL WORDS
Simple Present	• Regular actions in the present • General facts • Timetables or schedules	He visits his father on Sundays Cats like milk The train leaves at 10:20	always, usually, often, sometimes, never, seldom, every ..., on ...
Present Continuous	• Actions happening now, at this very moment • Actions that are going on around the time of speaking • Actions or events in the near future that have already been planned	They are doing their homework My son is studying to become a doctor Is he visiting his parents next weekend?	now, at the moment, at present,
Simple Past	• A completed action that took place at a time in the past • Several actions in the past, one after another.	I didn't play tennis yesterday He got up, had a shower and got dressed	yesterday, last ... , before, ago, when ...
Past Continuous	• Actions in progress at a specific time in the past • Two incomplete actions happening at the same time • An interrupted action in the past	Yesterday at this time, I was flying to Rome What were you doing while Susan was talking? I was listening to my Ipod when she phoned	when, while

PAST CONTINUOUS/PROGRESSIVE

El Past Continuous/Progressive es un tiempo verbal que describe acciones que estaban siendo realizadas en un momento del pasado al que se hace referencia y que luego continuaron, por ejemplo:

Yesterday he was studying English. Ayer él estaba estudiando inglés.
(Comenzó a estudiar antes de ese momento y continuó estudiando posteriormente)

John was playing tennis at 10 am. John estaba jugando a tenis a las 10 am
(Comenzó a jugar tenis antes de las 10 a.m. y continuó haciéndolo después)

El Pasado Continuo se construye con el pasado del verbo TO BE  y el verbo principal con la terminación ING. Observa que la forma negativa se construye colocando la partícula NOT después del WAS/WERE. Puede usarse también la forma contraída WASN'T o WEREN'T.

La conjunción WHILE (mientras que) se usa mucho para introducir una frase con un verbo en Past Continuous.

También se puede utilizar este tiempo verbal para relatar dos acciones simultáneas en el pasado.

                                               I was singing while he was playing the piano. 

                                              Yo estaba cantando mientras él tocaba el piano.

Si queremos destacar que una acción interrumpió a otra que estaba sucediendo en el pasado, combinamos el Past Simple y el Past Continuous. En este caso el Past Simple lo usaremos para la acción que interrumpe a la otra.

They were singing when I broke the window.
Ellos estaban cantando cuando yo rompí la ventana.