What Is the Simple Present Tense?
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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.
- The train arrives at 5 o'clock.
- The plane lands in 5 minutes.
(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?")
The simple present tense is quite easy to form, but it is difficult to use. In fact, it's complicated.
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)
(NB: These activities do not have to be happening right now.)
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
- The train arrives at 5 o'clock.
- It is low tide at 0234.
(Yes, we know! It's supposed to be the present tense!)
(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.
(This is sometimes called the fictional present or the historic present.)
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.
base form
or
base form
+
"s"
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.
In speech and writing (especially informal writing), "do not" is often shortened to "don't," and "does not" is often shortened to "doesn't." If you want to add some emphasis, use one of the long versions (i.e., "do not" or "does not"), and emphasize the word "not."
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"
+
[subject]
+
base form of verb
- Do you like chocolate?
- Does Angela run the youth club?
You can use the following word order for a question-word question:
[question word]
+
"do" or "does"
+
[subject]
+
base form of verb
- Why does Tony talk so quickly?
- When do the farmers plant the corn?
You can use the following word order for a choice question:
"do" or "does"
+
[subject]
+
base form of verb
+
choice A
+
or
+
choice B
- Does Mark sing or dance?
- Do they want hamburger or sausages?
The Spelling Rules
For regular verbs, just add s:
- talk > talks
- improve > improves
For verbs that end in s, ss, sh, ch, x and o, add es:
- guess > guesses
- mash > mashes
- fix > fixes
- go > goes
For verbs ending [consonant]-y, change the y to i and add es:
- fly > flies
- study > studies
Infographic for the Simple Present Tense
Interactive Verb Conjugation Tables
The tables below show all 12 tenses so you can see the simple present tense among the other tenses. (You can change the verb by clicking one of the green buttons.)
Top 10 Regular Verbs
Top 10 Irregular Verbs
All 4 Past Tenses
Person | Simple Past | Past Progressive Tense | Past Perfect Tense | Past Perfect Progressive Tense |
---|---|---|---|---|
|
The simple past tense is for a completed activity that happened in the past. |
The past progressive tense is for an ongoing activity in the past. Often, it is used to set the scene for another action. |
The past perfect tense is for emphasizing that an action was completed before another took place. |
The past perfect progressive tense is for showing that an ongoing action in the past has ended. |
All 4 Present Tenses
Person | Simple Present | Present Progressive Tense | Present Perfect Tense | Present Perfect Progressive Tense |
---|---|---|---|---|
|
The simple present tense is mostly for a fact or a habit. |
The present progressive tense is for an ongoing action in the present. |
The present perfect tense is for an action that began in the past. (Often, the action continues into the present.) |
The present perfect progressive tense is for a continuous activity that began in the past and continues into the present (or finished very recently). |
All 4 Future Tenses
Person | Simple Future | Future Progressive Tense | Future Perfect Tense | Future Perfect Progressive Tense |
---|---|---|---|---|
|
The simple future tense is for an action that will occur in the future. |
The future progressive tense is for an ongoing action that will occur in the future. |
The future perfect tense is for an action that will have been completed at some point in the future. |
The future perfect progressive tense is for an ongoing action that will be completed at some specified time in the future. |
The Other Present Tenses
The simple present tense is one of four present tenses. They are:
The 4 Present Tenses | Example |
---|---|
simple present tense | I go |
present progressive tense | I am going |
presentperfect tense | I have gone |
present perfect progressive tense | I have been going |
This page was written by Craig Shrives.
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Take a test on the simple present tenseTensesSimple past tensePast progressive tensePast perfect tensePast perfect progressive tensePresent progressive tensePresent perfect tensePresent perfect progressive tenseSimple future tenseFuture progressive tenseFuture perfect tenseFuture perfect progressive tenseGlossary of grammatical terms
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