Back to Basics: Speak by knowing the dreaded verb tenses

Hello! How is your English study going? I hope you are making steady progress.

Some students have asked me how they can learn to speak without worrying about learning grammar again. You need to know how to use what you have learnt in your grammar lessons and then actually use the language! However, sometimes you need to do some good old-fashioned revision to recall different verb tenses.

Here are some verb tenses just to remind you (Don’t worry about the names of the verb tenses. Just focus on the meaning of each sentence.):

TO SPEAK (a habit or repeated action)
Present: She speaks well.
Past: She spoke well.
Present Perfect: She has spoken well.
Past Perfect: She had spoken well.
Future: She will speak well.
Future Perfect: She will have spoken well.

TO BE SPEAKING (a continuous action)
Present: Who is speaking?
Past: Who was speaking?
Present Perfect: Who has been speaking?
Past Perfect: Who had been speaking?
Future: Who will be speaking?
Future Perfect: Who will have been speaking?

DO YOU SPEAK? (a question with a form of to do)
Present: Do you speak Japanese?
Past: Did you speak Japanese?
Present Perfect: Have you spoken Japanese?
Past Perfect: Had you spoken Japanese?
Future: Will you speak Japanese?
Future Perfect: Will you have spoken Japanese?

SHE DOESN’T SPEAK (negation of the verb with a form of to do)
Present: She doesn’t speak Japanese.
Past: She didn’t speak Japanese.
Present Perfect: She hasn’t spoken Japanese.
Past Perfect: She hadn’t spoken Japanese.
Future: She won’t speak Japanese.
Future Perfect: She won’t have spoken Japanese.

Now try to create a dialogue using the example sentences! Good luck. You can do it!