Simple Present Tense
The simple present tense is an English verb tense used to describe facts and habits, to describe scheduled events in the future, and to tell stories. Here are two easy examples of each usage:
(1) Simple present tense to describe facts and habits.
- Alan walks the dog every morning.
- He plays chess.
(2) Simple present tense to describe scheduled events in the future.
(3) Simple present tense to tell stories (particularly jokes).
- Sarah crosses the road and asks the policeman for directions. (This use of the simple present tense is quite rare.)
- A horse walks into a bar, and the barman says , "why the long face?" (Compare to: A horse walked into a bar, and the barman said, "why the long face?")
Table of Contents
- More Examples of the Simple Present Tense
- Video Lesson
- Forming the Simple Present Tense
- The Spelling Rules
- Interactive Verb Conjugation Tables
- The Other Present Tenses
- Test Time!
More Examples of the Simple Present Tense
The simple present tense is used:
(1) To describe facts and habits:
- I like chocolate. (Fact)
- Angela runs a youth club full of glue-sniffers. (Fact)
- I ride horses in the summer. (Fact and habit)
- It always snows here in January. (Fact and habit)
- Dawn plays chess in the evenings. (Fact and habit)
This type of sentence, especially if it's describing a habit, will usually include a time expression like "always," "every year," "never," "often," "on Mondays," "rarely," "sometimes," or "usually."
(2) To describe scheduled events in the future
(3) To tell stories (particularly jokes) to make your listener or reader feel more engaged with the story.
- There are two parrots sitting on a perch. One turns to the other and asks , "Can you smell fish?"
- We heard the helicopter overhead. Suddenly, the radio bursts into life.
Video Lesson
Here is a short, 1-minute video on the simple present tense. video lesson
Are you a visual learner? Do you prefer video to text? Here is a list of all our grammar videos.
Forming the Simple Present Tense
The simple present tense is quite easy to form.
Let's look at the verb to run (whose base form is run). In the simple present tense, run looks like this:
| Person | Example |
|---|
| First person singular | I run |
| Second person singular | You run |
| Third person singular | He/She/It runs |
| First person plural | We run |
| Second person plural | You run |
| Third person plural | They run |
In other words, it only changes in the third person singular (he / she / it). It adds either s, es or ies.
The Negative Version
To create a negative sentence, use "do not" + [base form of the verb]. (Use "does not" with third person singular (he / she / it).)
"do not" or "does not"
[base form of the verb]
- I do not like chocolate.
- Angela does not run a youth club full of glue-sniffers.
- I do not ride horses in the summer.
- It does not always snow here in January.
- Dawn does not play chess in the evenings.
The Question Version
If you need to ask a question, you can use the following word order for a yes/no question:
"do" or "does"
base form of verb
- Do you like chocolate?
- Does Angela run the youth club?
