Present simple

The present tense is the base form of the verb: I work in Madrid.
But the third person (she/he/it) adds an -s: She works in London.

Use

We use the present tense to talk about:

• something that is true in the present:

I’m seventeen years old.
He lives in Madrid.
I’m a doctor..

• something that happens again and again in the present:

I play tennis every weekend.

• something that is always true:

The adult human body contains 206 bones.
Light travels at almost 300,000 kilometres per second.

•   something that is fixed in the future.

The school term starts next week.
The train leaves at 21:45 this evening.
We fly to London next week.

 Questions and negatives

Look at these questions:

Do you play the violin?
Where do you live?
Does Jack play cricket?
Where does she come from?
Do Rita and Angela live in Manchester?
Where do they work?

• With the present tense, we use do and does to make questions. We use does for the third person (she/he/it) and we use do for the others.

We use do and does with question words like where, what and why: But look at these questions with who:

Who lives in Manchester?
Who plays chess at the weekend?
Who works at Glasgow City Hospital?

Look at these sentences:

I like tennis, but I don’t like rugby. (don’t = do not)
I don’t live in Paris now.
I don’t play the guitar, but I play the drums.
They don’t work at the weekend.
John doesn’t live in Hong Kong. (doesn’t = does not)
Tommy doesn’t drive to work. He goes by bus.

• With the present tense we use do and does to make negatives. We use does not (doesn’t) for the third person (she/he/it) and we use do not (don’t) for the others.

EXERCISES

Present simple 1
Present simple 2
Present simple 3
Present simple 4

VIDEO

 

 

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