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English conjugation sheets

The 8 combinations of tense and aspect, explained with examples

The introduction as a PDF

The 2 tenses, the 4 aspects and the 8 combinations, ready to print. Free.

French version (PDF, 281 KB)

Download the PDF267 KB
Core principle: English verb conjugation can be described as the combination of a tense and an aspect.

1The 2 tenses

The 2 grammatical tenses (tenses) ≠ physical time (time).

  • The present: ∅ / s
  • The preterite: -ED

2The 4 aspects

  • The simple aspect: ∅
  • The imperfective aspect: BE-ING
  • The perfective aspect: HAVE-EN
  • The double aspect: HAVE-EN + BE-ING

3The 8 conjugations — tense-aspect combinations

Present (∅ / s)

  • The present simple (∅ + ∅/s)
  • The present BE-ING (BE-ING + ∅/s)
  • The present perfect simple (HAVE-EN + ∅/s)
  • The present perfect BE-ING (HAVE-EN + BE-ING + ∅/s)

Preterite (-ED)

  • The preterite simple (∅ + -ED)
  • The preterite BE-ING (BE-ING + -ED)
  • The past perfect simple (HAVE-EN + -ED)
  • The past perfect BE-ING (HAVE-EN + BE-ING + -ED)

4A few notes on these markers

  • ∅ / s — present marker: the bare verb stem (unchanged), or the -s ending in the 3rd person singular.
  • -ED — past marker.
  • HAVE-EN — auxiliary have + past participle.
  • BE-ING — auxiliary be + verb in -ing (here it really is the -ing ending).
Convention: -ED = preterite and -EN = past participle. This notational distinction tells the two apart; these are not the actual endings.

The 7 conjugation sheets

Present (∅/s)

Present simple∅ + ∅/sProperty of a subject (characteristic, habit), general truths, future event, succession of events, one-off action.Present BE-INGBE-ING + ∅/sUnaccomplished action, temporary or exceptional situation, frame for a one-off action, explanation, planned future, modal uses with not and always.Present perfect simpleHAVE-EN + ∅/sResult of an accomplished action, assessment, experience gained by the subject, explanation, hot news.Present perfect BE-INGHAVE-EN + BE-ING + ∅/sUnaccomplished action, temporary or exceptional situation, perceptible traces in the present of a past action.

Preterite (-ED)

Preterite simple∅ + -EDTemporal value, modal value (unreal), both at once, politeness value.Preterite BE-INGBE-ING + -EDTemporal value, modal value (unreal), politeness value.Past perfect simple or BE-INGHAVE-EN (+ BE-ING) + -EDPresent perfect values shifted to the past, anteriority, discourse strategy, reported speech, past unreal, tentative use.

Need the forms of a specific verb? Open the English verb conjugator →