Present Simple Tense

Present Simple Tense

Present Simple Tense (Part 1)-Verb To be

The Verb to be: Am, Is, and Are. Study the forms and the uses of the verb ''To Be'' in the following explanation:

Affirmative
Long Forms	Short Forms
I am	I'm
We are	We're
You are	You're
He is	He's
She is	She's
it is	it's
They are	They're
Negative
I am not	I'm not
We are not	We aren't
You are not	You aren't
He is not	He isn't
She is not	She isn't
It is not	It isn't
They are not	They aren't

We use the verb to be to talk about:

• »People, animal, places, etc
• »Describe people, things, etc
• »To say how old people are
• »To say how we feel
• »To say what our job is

Example:

• »I am Alex. (Describe who I am)
• »This cat is very noisy. (Describe the cat)
• »She's seven years old. (Saying how old she is)
• »I am very tired. (Saying how I feel)
• »He is a dentist. (saying who his job is)

Note: Some of my students asked me when we use the short form or long form. This is very easy. We don't care about short form or long form when we say a sentence or write it down, but usaully we use short form in informal writing and in speaking English. We do not use short form in formal writing, otherwise people reading your letter will consider you rude.

Present Simple Tense (Part 2)-Simple Verbs

Sentence construction in present simple tense :
We form the present simple by :

1. AFFIRMATIVE FORM

Subject + Basic form of the verb + object/compliment.

Example:

• »We ride our horse to the farm.
• »You love dogs.
• »They go to school every day.

1. NEGATIVE FORM

In negative form of the present simple with simple verb we do not locate the simple verb in the beginning of the sentence, but we use auxiliary verb "do/does" + "not" to form negative form.

Subject + do/does + not +bare infinitive verb + object/compliment.

Example:

• »I do not want to see him again.
• »We do not study English.
• »We do not walk home today.

1. INTERROGATIVE FORM

Do/Does + Subject +bare infinitive verb + object/compliment?

Example:

• »Do you love your cat?
• The answer : Yes, I do/ No I don't
• »Do we need to go by bus?
• The answer : Yes, we do/ No we don't
• »Does he want to meet me?
• The answer : Yes, he does/ No he doesn't

»Note :

1. In affirmative, we add "-s" to the verbs used with "He, She, it".

• »He walks in the rain.
• »She loves you.
• »It runs so fast.

2. We add "-es" to verbs ending in "-s, -ss, -sh, ch, o, x".

• »He brushes his teeth every day.
• »She goes to hospital to see his daughter
• »It does a bad thing.

3. Verbs Ending in "-y", before "-y" is a consonant, we change "-y" to "-ies"

• »He flies to London.
• »The baby (he) cries.

»Do or Does:

We use Do with "I, We, You, They". And we use Does with "He, She, It".
Example :

• »He doesn't fly to London. (Not : he don't...)
• »Does she like you? (Not : Do she...?)

»Bare Infinitive Verb:

Bare infinitive verbs are basic forms of the verbs without "to".

Present Simple Tense (Part 3)-Using

We use THE PRESENT SIMPLE to talk about the activities :

»habits

• I usually shop on monday.
• She drives fast.
• She always drinks coffee in the morning.

»Facts

• I live in England.
• I like ice-cream.
• It rain alot here.