This timeline tenses chart provides a handy reference sheet to English tenses and their relationship to one another and the past, present and future. Conjugated verbs are highlighted in bold. Tenses which are rarely used in everyday conversation are marked by an asterik (*).
| | |TIMELINE | | |
|SIMPLE ACTIVE |SIMPLE PASSIVE | |PROGRESSIVE / CONTINUOUS |PROGRESSIVE / CONTINUOUS PASSIVE |
| | | |ACTIVE | |
| | |PAST TIME | | |
| | |^ | | |
| | || | | |
| | || | | |
| | || | | |
| | || | | |
|She had already eaten|The painting had been | |I had been waiting for four |The house had been being painted |
|when I arrived. |sold twice before it |^ |hours when he finally arrived.|for over a month before they began |
| |was destroyed. || | |to decorate the interior. * |
| | |PAST PERFECT | |