Introduction to Simple Present Tense

The simple present tense is used:

• To express habits, general truths, repeated actions or unchanging situations, emotions and wishes:
  I smoke (habit); I work in London (unchanging situation); London is a large city (general truth)
• To give instructions or directions:
  You walk for two hundred meters, then you turn left.
• To express fixed arrangements, present or future:
  Your exam starts at 09.00
• To express future time, after some conjunctions: after, when, before, as soon as, until:
  He'll give it to you when you come next Saturday.

Be careful! The simple present is not used to express actions happening now.

Examples:

• For habits
  He drinks tea at breakfast.
  She only eats fish.
  They watch television regularly.

• For repeated actions or events
  We catch the bus every morning.
  It rains every afternoon in the hot season.
  They drive to Monaco every summer.

• For general truths
  Water freezes at zero degrees.
  The Earth revolves around the Sun.
  Her mother is Peruvian.

• For instructions or directions
  Open the packet and pour the contents into hot water.
  You take the No.6 bus to Watney and then the No.10 to Bedford.

• For fixed arrangements
  His mother arrives tomorrow.
  Our holiday starts on the 26th March

• With future constructions
  She'll see you before she leaves.
  We'll give it to her when she arrives.

Forming the Simple Present Tense

FORM

[VERB] + s/es in third person

Examples:

• You speak English.
• Do you speak English?
• You do not speak English.

USE 1 Repeated Actions

Use the Simple Present to express the idea that an action is repeated or usual. The action can be a habit, a hobby, a daily event, a scheduled event or something that often happens. It can also be something a person often forgets or usually does not do.

Examples:

• I play tennis.
• She does not play tennis.
• Does he play tennis?
• The train leaves every morning at 8 AM.
• The train does not leave at 9 AM.
• When does the train usually leave?
• She always forgets her purse.
• He never forgets his wallet.
• Every twelve months, the Earth circles the Sun.
• Does the Sun circle the Earth?

USE 2 Facts or Generalizations

The Simple Present can also indicate the speaker believes that a fact was true before, is true now, and will be true in the future. It is not important if the speaker is correct about the fact. It is also used to make generalizations about people or things.

Examples:

• Cats like milk.
• Birds do not like milk.
• Do pigs like milk?
• California is in America.
• California is not in the United Kingdom.
• Windows are made of glass.
• Windows are not made of wood.
• New York is a small city. It is not important that this fact is untrue.

USE 3 Scheduled Events in the Near Future

Speakers occasionally use Simple Present to talk about scheduled events in the near future. This is most commonly done when talking about public transportation, but it can be used with other scheduled events as well.

Examples:

• The train leaves tonight at 6 PM.
• The bus does not arrive at 11 AM, it arrives at 11 PM.
• When do we board the plane?
• The party starts at 8 o'clock.
• When does class begin tomorrow?

USE 4 Now (Non-Continuous Verbs)

Speakers sometimes use the Simple Present to express the idea that an action is happening or is not happening now. This can only be done with Non-Continuous Verbs and certain Mixed Verbs.

Examples:

• I am here now.
• She is not here now.
• He needs help right now.
• He does not need help now.
• He has his passport in his hand.
• Do you have your passport with you?

ADVERB PLACEMENT

The examples below show the placement for grammar adverbs such as: always, only, never, ever, still, just, etc.

Examples:

• You only speak English.
• Do you only speak English?

ACTIVE / PASSIVE

Examples:

• Once a week, Tom cleans the car. Active
• Once a week, the car is cleaned by Tom. Passive

Active / Passive Verb Forms

Sentences can be active or passive. Therefore, tenses also have "active forms" and "passive forms." You must learn to recognize the difference to successfully speak English.

Active Form

In active sentences, the thing doing the action is the subject of the sentence and the thing receiving the action is the object. Most sentences are active.
[Thing doing action] + [verb] + [thing receiving action]

Examples:

Passive Form

In passive sentences, the thing receiving the action is the subject of the sentence and the thing doing the action is optionally included near the end of the sentence. You can use the passive form if you think that the thing receiving the action is more important or should be emphasized. You can also use the passive form if you do not know who is doing the action or if you do not want to mention who is doing the action.
[Thing receiving action] + [be] + [past participle of verb] + [by] + [thing doing action]

Examples: