Simple Present
The simple present tense is used to express habits, general truths, repeated actions or unchanging situations, emotions, and wishes.
The present tense is the base form of the verb:
I work in London.
But with the third person singular (she, he, it), we add an -s
She works in London.
Look at these questions:
- Do you play the piano?
- Where do you live?
- Does Jack play football?
- Where does he come from?
- Do Rita and Angela live in Manchester?
- Where do they work?
We use do and does to make questions with the present simple. We use does for the third person singular (she, he, it) and do for the others.
We use do and does with question words like where, what, and when:
- Where do Angela and Rita live?
- What does Angela do?
- When does Rita usually get up?
Depending on the person, the simple present tense is formed by using the root form or by adding s or es to the end.
But questions with who often don't use do or does:
- Who lives in London?
- Who plays football at the weekend?
- Who works at Liverpool City Hospital?
Look at These sentences:
- I like tennis but I don't like football. (don't = do not)
- I don't live in London now.
- John doesn't live in Manchester. (doesn't = does not)
- Angela doesn't drive to work. She goes by bus.
We use do and does to make negatives with the present simple. We use doesn't for the third person singular (she/he/it) and don't the others.
We use the present simple to talk about:
● Something that is true in the present:
- I'm nineteen years old.
- I'm a student.
- He lives in London.
● Something that happens regularly in the present:
- I play football every weekend.
● Something that is always true:
- The human body contains 206 bones.
- Light travels at almost 300,000 kilometers per second.
We often use adverbs of frequency like sometimes, always and never with the present simple:
- I sometimes go to the cinema.
- She never plays football.
We also use the present simple to talk about:
● Something that is fixed in the future:
- The school term starts next week.
- The train leaves at 19.45 this evening.
- We fly to Paris next week.
● Something in the future after time words like when, after and before and after if and unless:
- I'll talk to John when I see him.
- You must finish your work before you go home.
- If it rains we'll get wet. He won't come unless you ask him.
We sometimes use the present simple to talk about the past when we are:
● Telling a story:
- I was walking down the street the other day when suddenly this man comes up to me and tells me he has lost his wallet and asks me to lend him some money. Well, he looks a bit dangerous so I'm not sure what to do, and while we are standing there …
● Summarising a book, film, or play:
- Harry Potter goes to Hogwarts School. He has two close friends, Hermione and …
- Shakespeare's Hamlet is the Prince of Denmark. One night he sees his father's ghost. The ghost tells him, he has been murdered …