How to Understand Tenses

I.              LANGUAGE USAGE 

A.    TENSES 

TENSES	POLA	KET. WAKTU
Present Tense (Menyatakan kebiasaan hingga sekarang masih dilakukan)	V= (+) S+V¹ (-s/es utk S he,she,it)       (-)  S+Do/Does not + V¹             Do utk S= I,you,they,we             Does utk S= he,she,it            She goes to school everyday            She does not go to school everyday N= (+) S+ to be (am/is/are) + adj/n/adv            She is beautiful	Every… Usually Always, etc
Present Continuous (Menyatakan aktivitas yang sedang berlangsung pada waktu bicara)	V= (+) S+ to be (am/is/are)+V-ing       She is not going to school everyday	Now At present At this moment To day
Present Perfect (Menyatakan perbuatan/tindakan yang terjadi pada waktu yang tidak tertentu di masa lampau dan pada saat berbicara perbuatan/tindakan tsb telah selesai/baru aja selesai dilakukan)	V= (+) S + have/has + V3             Have utk S= I,you,they,we             Has utk S= he,she,it        Father has gone to work for 12 hours N= (+) S + have/has+Been + adj/n/adv        Father has been at his office since 12        hours ago.	Lately Recently For Since already yet lately just
Past Tense (Menyatakan kegiatan yang dilakukan pada waktu lampau)	V= (+) S + V2       (-) S + did not + V¹            Did utk semua Subjek N= (+) S + Be (was/were) + adj/n/adv             Was utk S= I,he,she,it             Were utk S= you,they,we	Yesterday Last… …ago
Past Perfect Tense (Menyatakan aktivitas yang telah selesai dilakukan ketika aktivitas lain terjadi pada waktu lampau)	V= (+) S + had + V3             Had utk semua Sabjek (S)  N= (+) S + had been + adj/n/adv	Before/when + S + V2
Past Perfect Continuous (Menyatakan aktivitas yang telah berlangsung selama periode waktu tertentu ketika aktivitas lain terjadi diwaktu lampau, aktivitas tsb masih berlangsung)	V= (+) S + had been + V-ing	For + periode waktu + when/ before + S + V2
Future tense (Menyatakan aktivitas yang akan dilakukan di waktu yang akan datang)	V= (+) S + will/shall + V¹             Will utk semua Sabjek (S)             Shall utk S = I,we N= (+) S + will/shall +be + adj/n/adv	Tomorrow Next…
Future Continuous (Menyatakan aktivitas yang akan sedang berlangsung di waktu yang akan datang)	V= (+) S + will/shall + be + V-ing	At this time tomorrow At ten tomorrow
Future Perfect (Menyatakan aktivitas yang akan telah selesai dilakukan ketika aktivitas lain terjadi diwaktu yang akan datang)	V= (+) S + will/shall + have + V3  N= (+) S + will/shall +have +been +adj/n/	By + ket.waktu
Future Perfect Continuous (Menyatakan aktivitas yang akan telah sedang berlangsung selama waktu tertentu ketika aktivitas lain terjadi di waktu yang akan datang)	V= (+) S + will/shall +have+been + V-ing	By + ket.waktu
Past Future Tense (Menyatakan perbuatan/keadaan yang akan datang dilakukan/terjadi diwaktu lampau. Perbuatan tsb sudah direncanakan tapi tidak terlaksana)	V= (+) S + would/should + V¹   N= (+) S + would/should + be + adj/n/adv	Yesterday Last… Just now If + simple past
Past Future Perfect Tense (menyatakan suatu pengandaian pada masa lampau, sesuatu seharusnya akan telah terjadi pada saat suatu syarat terpenuhi)	V= (+) S + would/should + have +V3  N= (+) S + would/should + have been + adj/n/adv	If + past perfect
Past Perfect Continuous (Menyatakan perbuatan yang seharusnya sudah sedang berlangsung di suatu waktu di masa lampau tetapi kenyataanya gagal berlangsung)	V= (+) S + would/should + have been + V-ing	By + ket.waktu

Kita bisa mengenali setiap tensis dengan mengetahui ciri-ciri khusus yang dimiliki setiap tensis: 

Simple Present	V¹/do,does/am,is,are
Simple past	V2/did/was,were
Perfect	have/has/had + V3/been
Future/modal (present) Future/modal (past)	will/shall/may/can/must + V¹/be would/sould/might/could/had to + V¹/be
Continuous	Tobe + v-ing

TO BE

Present Past Perfect Future/modal

Am, is, are Was, were Been be

Contoh soal

1. Fred : Juda, the telephone rang twelve times. What were you doing?

    Juda:  I____ Javanese dancing, “Srimpi”.

    a. practiced                      d. have been practicing

    b. was practicing             e. will be practicing

    c. have practiced

      Jawaban : B (Past Continuous Tense)

2. Dian : The Public Health Center ____ there for more than twenty years.   

The doctors and paramedics work hard to improve the people’s health especially children.

    Iwan : Yes, they are successful. The infant/death rate has decreased remarkably.

    a. works                          d. has been working

    b. worked                        e. will have worked

    c. is working

      Jawaban : D (Present Perfect Continuous = peristiwa yang terjadi/dimulai pada waktu lampau dan sekarang masih berlangsung. Ada tanda waktu for yang bisa dijadikan ciri)

3.   Devi : So you have finished washing the dished. When did you do it?

Sri    :  I did while you ____ the yard.

a. clean                           d. were cleaning

b. cleaned                       e. have been cleaning

c. had cleaned

Jawaban : D (Past Continuous tense = menyatakan suatu kegiatan yang sedang berlangsung ketika kegiatan lain terjadi di waktu lampau. Kata while bisa dijadikan ciri)

4.      Retno : Why don’t you reply my letter?

Hadi   : Oh sorry. I forget to tell you that I ___ in Bali since last year.

a. am living                      d. will have lived

b. was living                     e. have been living

c. have to live

Jawaban : E (Present Perfect Continuous. Tanda waktu since dapat dijadikan ciri)

5.      Vina : When did you get the letter?

Fani  : Yesterday. My family ____ when the postman arrived.

a. have lunch                      d. will have had lunch

b. will have lunch               e. have been having lunch

c. were having lunch

Jawaban : C (Past Continuous tense biasa juga dipakai untuk menyatakan kegiatan yang sedang dilakukan ketika kegiatan lain terjadi pada waktu lampau.

When + simple past dapat dijadikan ciri)

Soal-Soal Latihan

1. If we don”t hurry, the meeting ___ by the time we get there.

a. would have started                    d. will start

b. will have started                        e. starts

c. will be started

2. The librarian suddenly heard a noise.

Librarian : What was the noise?

Student    : I dropped some books while I ____ them to the table.

a. carry                                          d. am carrying

b. carried                                       e. have carried

c. was carrying

3. Ann has been looking for a job for six month.

This sentence means that Ann ___.

a. has got a new job  d. has stopped looking for a job

b. has worked for six months e. started to work 6 months a go

c. is still looking for a job

4. When airport are located in the center of cities, they ___ noise pollution and disturb people’s life.

a. caused    d. were causing

b. causes    e. have caused

c. will cause

5. Agam : Where will we go next holiday?

Joko   : What about Bali?

Agam : That’s OK, but I ____ there many times.

a. am    d. will be

b. was    e. will have been

c. have been

6. My father is still in Bali. He ____ there for three weeks.

   a. is               d. has been

   b. was           e. have been

   c. had been 

7. Anto : I’m sorry Ary. I forget to bring your book.

   Ary   : What did he say Lina?

   Lina  : Anto said that he ___ to bring your book.

   a. has forgotten   d. forgets

   b. had forgotten   e. forgot

   c. would forget

8. Teacher : I”ve heard that Benny is ill. Is it right?

Student  : Yes, sir. He ____ ill for a week.

   a. was    d. would be

   b. has been    e. will have been

   c. had been

9. Teacher : You will be ready for a test next week. Learn all these.

Student  : All right, sir. I ____ them by then.

   a. learn    d. will be learning

   b. have learned   e. will have learned

   c. am learning

10. Reni goes to her university every morning. She studies business. You can’t meet her at her house at 10.00 tomorrow. She ___ the lectures.

   a. will be attending              d. has attended

   b. has been attending           e. attended

   c. would be attended