Usage of English tenses

This tense refers to actions taking place at the moment of speaking.

It is used for expressing present habitual actions.

It is used to refer to current trends or on-going situations.

It expresses repeated actions in the past. It can be accompanied by a frequency expression, e.g. usually.

With this tense we talk about one action that was completed in the past.

It describes two actions that were happening simultaneously in the past.

We use this tense to put emphasis on an action itself and not on a time when this action was completed.

We use this tense to talk about past experiences when you don't say when something happened.

The characteristic expressions of this tense are: already, just and yet.