- die “progressive“ oder „continuous“Form gibt es in allen Zeiten
- man kann Verlaufsformen als eine Art „Unterzeitform“ von anderen Zeiten ansehen
- bei der „continuous“ Form geht es um eine fortlaufende Tätigkeit, und zwar eine, die in diesem Augenblick passiert
- Man bildet Verlaufsformen durch eine Kombination des Verbs „to be“ in der passenden Zeit sowie dem Partizip 1 (Verb plus Endung „-ing“)
- die „continuous“ Form wird vor allem dann eingesetzt, wenn man eine fortlaufende Tätigkeit schildern will, die wiederum von einer anderen unterbochen wird
- Geschehnisse oder Tätigkeiten in der „continuous“ Form dauern oft nicht lange an – es geht also nicht um die Länge des beanspuchten Zeitraums der Handlung, sie ist in Bezug auf die Verlaufsform nicht ausschlaggebend.
Beispiele – englische Verlaufsformen
| Zeitform | to watch | Modalverben | Verneinung |
| simple present | You watch | You can watch | You do not watchYou cannot watch |
| present continuous | You are watching | You can be watching | You are not watchingYou cannot be watching |
| simple past | You watched | You could watch | You did not watchYou could not watch |
| past continuous | you were watching | you could be watching | You were not watchingYou could not be watching |
| present perfect | You have watched | You can have watched | You have not watchedYou could not have watched |
| present perfect continuous | You have been watching | You can have been watching | you have not been watchingYou could not have been watching |
| past perfect | You had watched | You could had watched | You had not watched |
| past perfect continuous | You had been watching | You could had been watching | You had not been watching |