Present Simple Tense - Formation, Use, Examples & Video

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How to form the present simple tense

How To Form The Present Simple:

To form the present simple use a subject and a compliment. For the third person singular of the affirmative add 's' to the compliment. For negatives use the auxiliary verb do + not for all persons except the third person singular, which uses does not. For questions invert the positions of the subject and the auxiliary verb. The following table shows how it is done:

Affirmative	Negative	Interrogative
I live	I do not live	Do I live?
You live	You do not live	Do you live?
He lives	He does not live	Does he live?
She lives	She does not live	Does she live?
It lives	It does not live	Does it live?
We live	We do not live	Do we live?
You live	You do not live	Do you live?
They live	They do not live	Do they live?

When to use it

Habits and routines — things you do regularly. I check my email every morning.
General truths and facts that are always true. Water boils at 100°C.
Timetables and schedules, even for the future. The train leaves at six.
Feelings and states with stative verbs. I like coffee. She knows the answer.

Signal words & time expressions: always, usually, often, sometimes, rarely, never, every day, on Mondays, twice a week, in the morning

Watch the video lesson

Video transcript

Hi, how to form the present simple: It's easy, take a subject, I for example. Then put your verb in the infinitive without to or the compliment. So, for example the verb to live: Present simple positive: I live. Second person: you live. Third person: he/she/it lives. In the third person you must add the letter 's'. People always forget this 's'. I don't know why but it's easy to forget. First person plural: we live. We live, you live, they live. To make negatives put do not after the subject. So, I do not live or contracted I don't live. You do not live, you don't live. He/she/it doesn't live. No 's' on the live, that 's' is in the does or in the doesn't/does not. We do not live, you do not live, they do not live. To make questions invert the position of the subject and the does or the do. So to make a question: Do you live? or where do you live? Where do I live? Where does he,she or it live? Where do we live? Where do you live? Where do they live? So that's the way to form the present simple. In the next video you will see when to use the present simple. So, see you in a minute.

Common mistakes to avoid

Not quite…	Better
He ~~work~~ in a bank.	He works in a bank. — add -s for he / she / it.
~~I am knowing~~ the answer.	I know the answer. — stative verbs (know, like, want) don't take the continuous.

Frequently asked questions

When do I add ‘-s’ or ‘-es’?

Only in the third person singular (he, she, it) of the affirmative: she plays, he watches, it goes. Every other person uses the base form.

Present simple or present continuous?

Use the present simple for what is generally true or happens regularly, and the present continuous for what is happening right now: I work in Leeds (always) vs I'm working from home today (just now).

Continue the course

This lesson is part of our free English Verb Tenses course — work through it in order or jump to what you need next.

All Verb Tenses Present Continuous Tense →

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