Present tenses - Simple Present Tense, Tenses

Waseem Jamali says: Next/Pre

Present tenses
The present tense is the tense (form of a verb) that is often used to express:

* Action at the present time
* A state of being
* A habitual action
* An occurrence in the near future
* An action that occurred in the past and continues up to the present

There are two common types of present tenses found in most Indo-European languages: the present indicative (in the indicative mood) and the present subjunctive (subjunctive mood).


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Waseem Jamali says: Next/Pre

A2 Grade
Posts: 4353

English present indicative tense

In English, the present tense is subdivided into the following forms:

* Present simple: "I go to school every day."
* Present progressive: "You are being rude." (at this moment)
* Present perfect: "I have had two computers."
* Present perfect progressive: "She has been living in London for a year."


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Waseem Jamali says: Next/Pre

A2 Grade
Posts: 4353

Simple Present Tense
I sing
How do we make the Simple Present Tense?
subject + auxiliary verb + main verb
do base

There are three important exceptions:

1. For positive sentences, we do not normally use the auxiliary.
2. For the 3rd person singular (he, she, it), we add s to the main verb or es to the auxiliary.
3. For the verb to be, we do not use an auxiliary, even for questions and negatives.

Look at these examples with the main verb like:


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Waseem Jamali says: Next/Pre

A2 Grade
Posts: 4353


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Waseem Jamali says: Next/Pre

A2 Grade
Posts: 4353

We use the simple present 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


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Waseem Jamali says: Next/Pre

A2 Grade
Posts: 4353


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Waseem Jamali says: Next/Pre

A2 Grade
Posts: 4353


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Waseem Jamali says: Next/Pre

A2 Grade
Posts: 4353


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Waseem Jamali says: Next/Pre

A2 Grade
Posts: 4353

This page shows the use of the simple present tense to talk about general events. But note that there are some other uses for the simple present tense, for example in conditional or if sentences, or to talk about the future. You will learn about those later.


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