В английском существует три основных простых времени:
настоящее (the Present Simple)
прошедшее (the Past Simple)
будущее (the Future Simple)
а также несколько уточняющих временных форм: продолженное время (the Continious Tense), совершенное время (the Perfect Tense) и комбинация этих временных форм: the Perfect Continious Tense.
Чтобы правильно понимать английскую речь, важно также усвоить и еще одну "норму" - так называемое правило согласования времен:
Simple (факты, повторяющиеся действия)
Continious (действие, происходящее в данный момент или "вокруг" данного момента)
Perfect (действие завершенное к настоящему моменту, но существенно связанное с настоящим)
Perfect Continious
(действие, начавшееся в какой-либо момент и продолжающееся до другого данного момента (часто включая его)
Present
I work
She (he) works
We work
I am working
He is working
We are working
I have worked
He has worked
We have worked
I have been working
He has been working
We have been working
Past
I worked
She worked
We worked
(действие началось и закончилось в прошлом)
I was working
She was working
We were working
I had worked
He had worked
We had worked
I had been working
He had been working
We had been working
Future
I will work
She will work
We will work
I will be working
She will be working
We will be working
I will have worked
He will have worked
We will have worked
I will have been working
He will have been working
We will have been working