THE SEQUENCE OF TENSES Concordanţa timpurilor

THE SEQUENCE OF TENSESConcordanţa timpurilor THEORY, ILLUSTRATION AND PRACTICE Prof.

SITUATION 1: WHEN WE HAVE TO RELATE THE OTHER VERBS TO THE FUTURE TENSE • If you have a future tense in the main sentence and you have to mention something that happened previously to the moment of speaking, you may use in the secondary sentence:

SITUATION 1: WHEN WE HAVE TO RELATE THE OTHER VERBS TO THE FUTURE TENSE 1. The Simple Past (if you also mention the specific moment in time when the action took place) ex.: John will know what youdid yesterday. 2. The Past Continuous (if the action was in progress at a certain moment in the past) ex. : John will know what you were doing yesterday evening. 3. The Present Perfect ( if the moment of the action is not clearly specified , you only know that the action happened before) ex.: John will know what you have done before. 4. The Present Perfect Continuous if the action began in the past and went on up to the moment of speaking ex.: John will know what you have been doing until now / for the last twenty minutes.

SITUATION 1 : WHEN WE HAVE TO RELATE THE OTHER TENSES TO THE FUTURE TENSE • If you have a future tense in the main sentence and you have to talk about something that is going on in the present, you may use in the secondary sentence:

SITUATION 1 : WHEN WE HAVE TO RELATE THE OTHER TENSES TO THE FUTURE TENSE The Simple Present– to talk about general , usual or repeated actions ex.: John will know what you usuallydofor a living. The Continuous Present- to say that something is in progress right now ex.: John will know what you are doing now.

SITUATION 1: WHEN WE HAVE TO RELATE THE OTHER VERBS TO THE FUTURE • If you have a future tense in the main sentence and you want to mention something which is going on simultaneously to the moment of speaking, you may use in the secondary sentence:

SITUATION 1: WHEN WE HAVE TO RELATE THE OTHER VERBS TO THE FUTURE The Simple Future ex: John will know what you will do tomorrow. The Continuous Future( if you want to mention that the action will be in progress in the future) ex: John will know what you will be doing tomorrow afternoon. ATTENTION! If the secondary sentence is a Time Clause or a Conditional Clause, you must not use the Future! Instead of the future, you must use the Simple Present! ex.: John will knowwhen Mary arrives from London.( John va sti cand va sosi Mary din Londra.)-Time Clause John will know the answer if you tell it to him.( John va sti raspunsul daca i-l vei spune.)-Conditional Clause

SITUATION 2: WHEN WE HAVE TO RELATE THE OTHER TENSES TO THE PRESENT • If you have a present tense in the main sentence and you want to mention something that happened previously to the moment of speaking, you may use in the secondary sentence:

SITUATION 2: WHEN WE HAVE TO RELATE THE OTHER TENSES TO THE PRESENT The Simple Past (if you also mention the specific moment in time when the action took place) ex.: John knows what youdidyesterday. The Past Continuous (if the action was in progress at a certain moment in the past) ex. : John knows what you were doing yesterday evening. The Present Perfect ( if the moment of the action is not clearly specified , you only know that the action happened before the present moment) ex.: John knows what you have done before. The Present Perfect Continuous if the action began in the past and went on up to the moment of speaking ex.: John knows what you have been doing until now / for the last twenty minutes.

SITUATION 2 : WHEN WE HAVE TO RELATE THE OTHER TENSES TO THE PRESENT • If you have a present tense in the main sentence and you want to mention something that is going on in the present, you may use : The Simple Present– to mention general, usual or repeated actions ex.: John knows what you do for a living. The Continuous Present– to say that something is going on right now ex.: John knows what you are doing now.

SITUATION 2 : WHEN WE HAVE TO RELATE THE OTHER TENSES TO THE PRESENT • If the verb in the main sentence is in the present and you have to mention something that will happen in the future, you may use in the secondary sentence: The Future Simple ex. :John knows what youwill dotomorrow. The Future Continuous– for actions that will be in progress in the future ex. : John knows what you will be doing tomorrow. ATTENTION! If the secondary sentence is a Time Clause or a Conditional Clause, you must not use the Future Tenses! Instead of the Future, you must use the Simple Present! ex. :John knows what time you arrivetomorrow (John stie la ce ora vei sosi tu maine.) John knows your name only if you tell it to him later. ( John iti stie numele numai daca i-l vei spune mai tarziu.)

SITUATION 3 :WHEN WE HAVE TO RELATE THE OTHER TENSES TO A PAST ACTION • If you have a past tense in the main sentence and you have to mention something that happened before that past moment , you may use in the secondary sentence:

SITUATION 3 :WHEN WE HAVE TO RELATE THE OTHER TENSES TO A PAST ACTION The Past Perfect Simple ex. : John told us yesterday what you had done two days ago.( John ne-a spus ieri ce ai facut tu in urma cu doua zile.) The Past Perfect Continuous- if the action began previously and continued up to the past action in the main sentence ex.: John told us yesterday what you had been doing until then.( John ne-a spus ieri ce facusesi tu pana atunci.)

SITUATION 3 : WHEN YOU HAVE TO RELATE THE OTHER TENSES TO A PAST ACTION • If you have a past tense in the main sentence and you have to mention something that happened simultaneously, you may use in the secondary sentence:

SITUATION 3 : WHEN YOU HAVE TO RELATE THE OTHER TENSES TO A PAST ACTION The Simple Past ex.: John told us yesterday what you did. (yesterday) John ne-a spus ieri ce ai facut . ( ieri) The Continuous Past– to say that something was in progress in that precise past moment ex. : John told us yesterday what you were doing. John ne-a spus ieri ce faceai tu.

SITUATION 3 : WHEN YOU HAVE TO RELATE THE OTHER TENSES TO A PAST ACTION • If you have a past tense in the main sentence and you want to mention something that will happen in the future, you may use : The Future in the Past Simple( WOULD + vb1) Ex. : John told us yesterday what you would do the next week. John ne-a spus ieri ce vei face tu saptamana viitoare. The Future in the Past Continuous( WOULD+BE+VB-ing)– for actions that will be in progress in the future Ex.: John told us yesterday what you would be doing the next week. John ne-a spus ieri ce vei face tu saptamana viitoare.

You may use this information when you have to use the reported / indirect speech.You just have to report the other tenses in accordance to the relating verb (which will be the verb in the main sentence). Ex.: Direct speech “I got a 10 yesterday!” Jane told her mother. Indirect Speech : Jane told her mother that she had got a 10 the day before. Remember this :

And now, some practice!

Are you ready? Steady? Go!

EXERCISECHOOSE THE CORRECT ANSWER: 1.The pupils are doing what their teacher … them to do yesterday. asks asked has asked 2. My friends will tell me where they … tomorrow. will go go would go 3. Mother found out yesterday what I … a week ago. have done had done did 4. The teacher will discover what we … previously. did have done do 5. Michael is informing us on when he … tomorrow. will arrive arrives arrive 6. Jane said that she … all the right answers the next week. will know knew would know

THE SEQUENCE OF TENSES Concordanţa timpurilor