English Tense-Aspect-Mood

Useful examples of the different tense/aspect/moods that are used in English.

potential      I can eat
hypothetical   I could eat
conditional    I would eat
deliberative   I should eat
optative       I might eat
obligatory     I must eat
obligatory     I have to eat
obligatory     I had better eat
dubitive       I will probably eat
future simple  I will eat
future simple  I am going to eat
predictive     I bet I eat
future prog    I will be eating, then
future perf    I will have eaten
fut perf prog  I will have been eating
promissive     I promise I will eat
not yey        I have not yet eaten
indicitave     I eat
past habitual  I used to eat
presumptive    Even if I eat, I will still be hungry
comparitive    I eat more than you
comparitive    I eat faster than you
permissive     May I eat?
jussive        Please, may I eat?
hortative      Let's eat
imperitive     Eat!
progressive    I am eating
prog cont      I am still eating
prohibitive    Don't eat!
recent past    I just ate
past prog      I was eating
past simpl     I ate
pres perf      I have eaten
pres perf cont I have been eating
speculative    I could have eaten
past perf      I had eaten
past perf cont I had been eating
deductive      I must have eaten to much

About Roger Keays

Roger Keays is an artist, an engineer, and a student of life. He has no fixed address and has left footprints on 40-something different countries around the world. Roger is addicted to surfing. His other interests are music, psychology, languages, the proper use of semicolons, and finding good food.