English present simple tense

English
1 answer

Hi! Sure, I can help you 😀

Present simple tense usage

We use this present simple in following situations:

• to describe a habit I smoke 20 cigarettes a day.
• to inform about repetitive activities She goes to drama class on Wednesdays
• to describe the real conditions or the unchanging situation London is the capital of the UK
• to inform about feelings, emotions and states of mind I know him very well (more information about Stative verbs below)

Unlike present simple, Present Continuous tense describes the activity that is taking place at the moment of speaking I'm cooking dinner for my family.

Compare these two sentences:

I go to work by bus, this is a recurring activity, in which case we will use present simple.

I'm going to work by bus, the person informs about what is going on at the moment (perhaps when talking on the phone) therefore present continuous is used.

Stative verbs

There is a group of verbs (so-called Stative Verbs), which in the present tense almost exclusively appear in the time of present simple. They do not describe activities, but the state of mind, emotions and feelings. There are exceptions, but it is a good rule to use them only in present simple (in regard to present situation, we can use Stative verb in past simple and other tenses). Here are some Stative verbs::

Attitudes and emotions: like, hate, dislike, fear, want, need, prefer, doubt, doubt, care, mind, promise, deny, concern

Knowledge and beliefs: believe, know, think, hope, doubt, imagine, mean, understand, realize, suppose, guess, remember, forget, agree, disagree

Being, having, relationships: be, have, own, possess, owe, belong, depend on, include, contain, consist of

Present simple tense sentences

Positive sentences in present simple tense are easy. In most cases, we use the basic form of the verb. For example:

Only for the third person singular we add to the verb s or es if the verb ends with a vowel.

Questions

Similarly, in almost every case, we create a question by adding Do at the beginning of positive sentence and closing it with the question mark. Examples:

Only in the case of the third person singular, we use the word Does at the beginning of the sentence. Notice, that the verb goes back to the basic form:

Negative sentences

Very similarly, to create negative sentence in almost every case we add don't (do not) before the basic form of the verb. Examples:

However, in the case of the third person singular, we add doesn't (does not) before the verb. Examples:

Your answer

person_add Register to answer