MASTER using the most popular ENGLISH TENSES

- Hey guys, welcome to my channel.

Today I'm gonna teach you which tense to use

when you see certain words in the sentence.

We'll call them marker words.

So sometimes you see them and you're like,

oh, when people use this word,

they would typically use this particular tense.

And I'm gonna teach you those words.

So if you're interested, continue watching.

Before I start, quick disclaimer.

English evolves all the time.

Yes, there are grammar rules,

and for some tenses, especially like present perfect,

if a test taker creates a sentence for you,

puts one of those marker words in that sentence,

there is like 99% chance

he wants you to use present perfect

because he wants to know

whether you've learned those words by heart.

But when you talk to a native speaker,

when you're in this relaxed environment,

people use these words with other tenses as well.

So there is no like 100% guarantee

if you see one of the words that I've mentioned

that you use like that particular tense.

But if it's a test, I would say its, like

90% plus guarantee that you should use

this particular tense.

But I would always look at the context, okay?

So you see the word and then you look at the context

it will explain to you, when we use certain tenses.

So always, always, always pay attention to the context.

Let's start with the simplest tense ever, present simple.

Present simple is a tense that is used for regular actions,

something that happens to you everyday, every night,

every month,

so something that you do regularly.

And also for some things that are pre-scheduled like

the airplane arrives at 5 p.m.

The marker words for this tense,

usually, every day, every week,

so whenever you see every, that's probably present simple.

Often, seldom, or the synonym for it is rarely.

And rarely is more American, it's for actions

that don't happen too often.

Always, never, sometimes,

as a rule, hardly ever.

Hardly ever is like, very, very rarely.

Hardly ever do I get 12 hours of sleep per night.

Today, on Sunday, from time to time.

I go to swimming pool from time to time.

The next tense, that is also simple,

past simple, and this is the tense that we use to describe

actions in the past and it doesn't really matter

what kind of result we have right now

'cause that's present perfect, for past simple,

think of it as telling a story.

Telling a story about something that happened to you,

last year, in 1994.

So you're just describing, the series of actions

or just one action, or something that you were doing,

back then.

So just think of it this way, you're describing

something that happened to you,

something you did, a year ago, two years ago, etc.

Yesterday, the day before yesterday,

last week, month, year, etc.

Whenever you see last, that's probably past simple.

Ago is also a great marker word,

so whenever you see ago, again 90% plus,

it's gonna be past simple.

A week ago, a month ago, a year ago.

The other day, which means on one

of the days that have passed.

In 1994, or any year in the past.

Once, once upon a time there lived an elephant in Africa.

When, and you would insert something in the past.

At three o'clock yesterday or

three o'clock the day before yesterday.

That day.

By the ways guys if you want these words, but written down,

something that you can print out,

something that you can have in front of you, on your desk.

We have created a memo for you,

where we have all of those marker words,

you also have a test, which is divided by certain levels

of English so you can check where you're at right now

with your tenses.

There's also a table that describes how to

build different tenses.

And there's also a table with irregular verbs,

remember we're talking about past simple right now,

when we're talking in the past,

a verb goes into the second form and there are regular verbs

like I walked in the park.

I published this video.

But there are also irregular verbs like,

I put my phone on the table, yesterday or whatever.

I drove five miles an hour.

Irregular verbs are formed in a different way,

it's not just putting ED in the end, it is something else,

and we have created a table for you

with these verbs, and also how to learn them easily.

There's a small fee to download this table it's

1$ fee just to support our designers and us.

So it's me and Venya created this table.

And also my team, the link is below,

you gonna have it all in front of you,

you're gonna have all the words so you can

just print them out, hang them in front of you,

and always have them in front of your eyes,

so whenever you have questions you can

just refer to that memo.

Oh and by the way in this video,

we're not gonna talk about all the 12 tenses.

We're gonna talk about present simple, past simple,

future simple, present progressive, and present perfect.

But, in the table we have more tenses,

we have seven tenses in total

in terms of these marker words.

Future simple, future simple, talks about future actions.

Something for you to remember, future simple,

is when you're not 100% sure about something.

For example, you have an appointment with your friend,

and he says,

I will come in an hour.

So that means he is 90% sure that he will come in an hour.

Maybe he won't come,

'cause you can't control other people.

But, if you have an airplane

that leaves at 5 p.m,

you see I'm already using present simple.

So when it's something that you're 100% sure of,

it's present simple, it's like for timetables,

opening, schedules and stuff, the store opens at 9 a.m.,

the store closes at 9 p.m.

That's all present simple.

But, when we're talking about actions we're not sure about,

like 90% sure, well, we are sure, 90% sure,

when you're still kind of guessing, that's future simple.

And the marker words are

tomorrow, the day after tomorrow.

Next week, month, year, etc.

In an hour, in a second, in a minute, etc.

In the 22nd century.

Soon, later, some day.

And some day of course meaning some day in the future.

In a day, in a week, in five years,

so whenever you see in, plus and according to the context,

you're not 100% sure, that's future simple.

In the future, one of these days.

Present progressive,

in British English you would call it

present continuous, it also depends on the text book

that you are using, but it's pretty much the same,

Americans will say present progressive,

or present continuous.

The tense that is used to describe something that

is happening right now.

So the word, the first maker word, obvious,

Now, right now, at the moment, today.

To other marker words are look, listen.

Like for example if you're trying to pay

somebodies attention, somebody like look!

They are fighting, we need to stop them.

We are paying somebodies attention

to an action that is happening right now.

Still, they are still fighting.

At this very moment, currently, these days, this week,

this month, this year, constantly.

I'm constantly hearing sirens, when I'm recording videos,

in this apartment because I'm very close to the center and

something is constantly going on.

You see how I'm using this constantly and stuff.

And the last but not the least,

we're gonna talk about present perfect.

And I know you mix it with past simple very often.

So present perfect focuses,

it's a present tense, okay?

It's not a past tense because it's present perfect.

And it focuses on the result,

you have right now.

(distant siren sounds) Come on guys.

Present perfect is a present tense.

It focuses on the result that you have right now.

It does not focus on the details of a past action,

because for that, we have past simple.

For results right now, we have present perfect.

So, for example,

I have eaten, this means, that you are not hungry,

if you're, kind of translating, explaining.

If you say I ate pizza yesterday for lunch,

that means you're telling a story about what happened

yesterday, you're not really focusing on something

that you have right now.

This is a way for you to determine which tense to use,

and marker words of course, like for this tense,

marker words that you've probably learned at school

ever and ever since you were really young.

Whenever you see them on the test, oh my god,

I think that's like 95, 97% chance,

that the test takers want to test you,

whether you've learnt those marker words or not.

Ever, never, just, already,

yet, recently, lately.

Lately means you've started doing something

recently again, I've started walking every night lately.

Before, always, so far, at last, it's the first time.

It's the first time since we've known each other,

something happened.

All my life, all morning.

That was it from me guys for today.

If you want more tenses, more marker words,

if you want to test yourself, if you want to know

how the tenses are formed.

If you want to have a list of irregular verbs,

the link is below, there is a memo by me,

and my accredited teacher, friend,

slash friend, Venya from Los Angeles.

Thank you so much for watching this video,

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and I'll see you very soon in the next videos.