Using the Present Simple Tense
Hello Teachifyers!
In today’s blog post we are going to be taking a look at the present simple and when to use it.
In general we use the present simple to:
- Express habits, general truths, repeated actions or unchanging situations, emotions and wishes. Eg On Mondays I go swimming.
- Give instructions. Eg Take the 2nd turning on the right.
- Express fixed arrangements, present or future. Eg The train leaves at 8:00am so we should arrive at 7:30am.
Express future time, after some conjunctions: after, when, before, as soon as, until etc. Eg When we finish class I’m going to have lunch.
For the present simple, we use the infinitive of the verb, for example: I live in Seville. However when we are speaking in the 3rd person (he/she/it) we need to add an ‘s’ to the end of the verb, she lives in Seville.
When we want to state a negative in the present simple we need to use do not (don’t) and does not (doesn’t.) Eg,
- I don’t like football.
- He doesn’t live in Madrid any more.
Present Simple Questions
To make questions using the present simple we need to use Does for the third person and Do for the other types. Eg:
- Do you play the guitar?
- Does Sarah play Tennis?
We also use Do/Does with where/what/when questions eg:
- Where do you work?
- What does he want?
- When do you want to eat?
I hope you found this post helpful, if you have any questions please leave a comment below!
