Past tenses

In English there are four past tenses:

• Past simple:  I worked / you studied / we did (irregular form)
• Past continuous:  I was working / You were studying / He was doing
• Past perfect:  I had worked / you had studied / He had done 
• Past perfect continuous: I had been working / you had been studying / We had been doing

The present perfect tense (I have worked) is not, strictly speaking, a past tense. It is a tense that relates the past and the present. We use it to express either actions that began in the past and continue up to the prensent (1), or finished actions that have some present importance (2). Examples:

1. I've lived in San Pedro since 1990. (I came to San Pedro in 1990 and I still live here).
2. I can't play football because I've broken my leg. (I broke my leg some time ago, but I use the present perfect because the result of this action has importance in the present).

With the following presentation you will learn the different uses of the past tenses.

Past tenses

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Now you can check how much you have learnt with the following exercise.