Tenses

Simple Present Tense

Form

Sentences

*I / You / We/ They*	go	*to school every day.*
*He / She / It*	*goes*	*to school every day.*

	With he/ she / it we add -s or -es to most verbs.
	walk --- walks get --- gets go--- goes

Sentences with 'not'

*I / You / We/ They*	*do not go*	*to school every Sunday.*
*He / She / It*	*does not go*	*to school every Sunday.*

Questions

Do	*I / you/ we/ they*	*go to school every day?*
*Does*	*he/ she/ it*	*go to school every day?*

Function

We use the Simple Present tense

For habits

e.g. He drinks milk for breakfast.

I sleep early at night.

For repeated actions

e.g. I (always/ sometimes/ usually/ often) watch TV at night.

He plays football every Sunday.

For general truths

e.g. The sun rises in the east.

It is cold in winter.

Practice

　Primary 2

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

　Primary 3

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Present Continuous Tense

Grammar notes

Practice

Form

Sentences

I	am	*going to school now.*
*You / We/ They*	*are*
*He / She / It*	is

Sentences with 'not'

I	*am not*	*going to school now.*
*You / We/ They*	*are not*
*He / She / It*	*is not*

Questions

Am	I	*going to school now?*
*Are*	*you/ we/ they*
Is	*he/ she/ it*

Function

We use the present continuous tense

For things that are happening now

e.g. He is riding a bicycle now.

Mary is doing homework at this moment

To describe an action that is going on during this period of time

e.g. Look! A car is coming.

Practice

　Primary 2

Exercise 1

Present Perfect Tense

Grammar notes

Practice

Form

Have/ has + past participle (e.g. gone)

Sentences

*I / You / We / They*	*have gone*	*to school already.*
*He / She / It*	*has gone*	*to school already.*

Sentences with "not'

*I / You / We / They*	*haven't gone*	*to school yet.*
*He / She / It*	*hasn't gone*	*to school yet.*

Questions

*Have*	*I / you / we / they*	*gone to school yet?*
*Has*	*he / she / it*	*gone to school yet?*

Function

We use the Present perfect tense

To talk about something that happened in the past, but we do not know exactly when it happened

e.g. I have been to there before.

To describe an action that started in the past and continues in the present

e.g. I have studied in this school for five years.

John hasn't seen Mary since Tuesday.

To describe an action that has completed in the recent past

e.g. He has just finished his work.

To describe a repeated action in an unspecified period between the past and now

e.g. Mary has visited Hong Kong for several times.

We often use Present Perfect Tense with the following words :-

'ever' 'since' 'for' 'already' 'just' 'almost' 'never' 'yet'

Practice

　Primary 5

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Simple Past Tense

Grammar notes

Practice

Form

	The Simple Past tense of 'be' is 'was' and 'were'
	Regular verbs : base + ed ( worked; cleaned; listened etc.)
	Irregular verbs : (go---went; eat--- ate; drink--- drank)

Sentences

I/ You/ We/ They/ He/ She/ It

went

to school yesterday.

Sentences with 'not'

I/ You/ We/ They/ He/ She/ It

did not go

to school yesterday.

Questions

Did

I/ You/ We/ They/ He/ She/ It

go to school yesterday?

Function

We use the Past Simple to talk about a completed event in the past.

e.g. He finished his homework yesterday.

It is always associated with certain past time expressions like:-

'yesterday'; 'last week'; 'when I was young'; 'ago'; 'this morning'; 'once upon a time'

e.g. My father left Hong Kong last week.

Once there was a poor farmer called Ah Ming.

Did Peter play basketball this morning?

Practice

　Primary 3

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Past Continuous Tense

Grammar notes

Practice

Form

*I/ He / She / It*	*was*	*waiting at 7 o'clock last night.*
*You / We/ They*	*were*	*waiting at 7 o'clock last night.*

Sentences with 'not'

*I/ He / She / It*	*was not*	*waitng at 7 o'clock last night.*
*You / We/ They*	*were not*	*waitng at 7 o'clock last night.*

Questions

*Was*	*I/ he/ she/ it*	*waiting at 7 o'clock last night?*
*Were*	*you/ we/ they*	*waiting at 7 o'clock last night?*

Function

We use the Past Continuous Tense for an action that was in progress at a particular time in the past.

e.g. I was watching TV at nine o'clock yesterday morning.

What were you doing at eight o'clock last night?

When I came in, she was watching TV.

We can use 'when/ while' before the past continuous.

e.g. I saw her while I was waiting at the bus-stop.

Practice

　Primary 6

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Simple Future Tense

Grammar notes

Practice

Form

shall/ will + verb e.g. will go / shall go

Sentences

I / He/ She/ We/ You/ We/ They

will go

to the park tomorrow.

Sentences with 'not'

I / He/ She/ We/ You/ We/ They

won't go

to the park tomorrow.

Questions

Will

I / he/ she/ we/ you/ we/ they

go to the park tomorrow?

Function

The future tense is used:-

To talk about future facts

e.g. My father will be fifty years old next month.

e.g. Mr Lee will go to Japan tomorrow night.

To express willingness

e.g. If the weather is fine tomorrow, we will go for a picnic.

It is always associated with certain time expressions like:-

'tomorrow'; 'next month/ week'; 'later'; 'soon'

We use Shall I..? when we want to do things for other people.

e.g. Shall I turn off the fan?

We use Shall we..? to make suggestion.

e.g. Shall we go for a picnic tomorrow?

Practice

　Primary 4

Exercise 1

Tense Sequence

Practice

　Primary 4

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

　Primary 5

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Primary 6

Exercise 1

Exercise 2