The use of simple present tense in English – English Grammar tenses

EFL/ESL Grammar: English tenses

How to use the simple present tense in English

What is simple present?

The simple present is a tense that can be used to talk about facts, unchanging situations, regular activities and habits.

The grammatical structure of the simple present tense:

The use of simple present:

1. To talk about facts and unchanging situations

Examples:

• The sun is
• I work in Spain.
• Africa is a huge continent.
• These are my kids.

2. To talk about regular activities and habits

Examples:

• I always go jogging in the morning.
• I sometimes read short stories.
• I often watch TV with my family.
• I rarely meet my friends outside.

Note: When we talk about habits and regular activities, we use adverbs of frequency (always, often, sometimes, every day, every time, sometimes, rarely, never…).

3. To give instructions:

Examples:

• You go straight and turn left.
• You work together to complete this exercise.

The Verb “to be” in the simple present:  (I’m a student).

The forms of the simple present tense:

Other verbs in the simple present: Ex: (I play football every day). 

Note:

• To ask a question in the simple present tense, we need the auxiliary (do), check the table above.
• To form the negative, we need the auxiliary (do) and (not), check the table above.
• In the third singular (he, she and it), we add (s), such as he/she plays.

Examples:

• I go to school every day.
• Do you speak English?
• Does she know about that book?
• He doesn’t like watching TV
• I don’t do my homework alone.
• Turkey is a beautiful country.
• Do they play football on Sundays?

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