The Present Simple Tense

 The Present Simple tense is the most basic tense in English and uses the base form of the verb (except for the verb be). The only change from the base is the addition of s for third person singular.

How do we make the Present Simple tense?

There are two basic structures for the Present Simple:

1. Positive sentences

subject	+	main verb
		Present Simple

2. Negative and question sentences

subject	+	auxiliary do	+	main verb
		conjugated in Present Simple
		do, does		base

Look at these examples with the main verb like:

	subject	auxiliary verb		main verb
+	I, you, we, they			like	coffee.
	He, she, it			likes	coffee.
-	I, you, we, they	do	not	like	coffee.
	He, she, it	does	not	like	coffee.
?	Do	I, you, we, they		like	coffee?
	Does	he, she, it		like	coffee?

Present Simple with main verb be

The structure of the Present Simple with the main verb be is:

subject	+	main verb be
		conjugated in Present Simple
		am, are, is

Look at these examples with the main verb be:

	subject	main verb be
+	I	am		French.
	You, we, they	are		French.
	He, she, it	is		French.
-	I	am	not	old.
	You, we, they	are	not	old.
	He, she, it	is	not	old.
?	Am	I		late?
	Are	you, we, they		late?
	Is	he, she, it		late?

How do we use the Present Simple tense?

We use the Present Simple to talk about:

• general time (action verbs)
• situations now (stative verbs)
• general time and situations now (verb be)

Present Simple for general time

We use the Present Simple tense when:

• the action is general
• the action happens all the time, or habitually, in the past, present and future
• the action is not only happening now
• the statement is always true

Practice

• Positive Sentence
  
• Negative Sentence
  
• Yes/ No Question
  
• WH Question