Simple Present tense in English grammar + Examples

In this article, we want to learn a very important grammar in English which is The Simple Present Tense. What is Simple Present and when do we use that?

The simple present (also called present simple) is the base form of the verb which is used without any endings to talk about the present time.

Simple Present Forms

The simple present is exactly the infinitive of the verb but we add “s” or “es” to the third-person singular nouns or pronouns.

I	look
You	look
He/She/It	looks
We	look
They	look

Study this example situation:

The spelling of the third person singular:

Most of the verbs: add __s to the base form of the verbs.

• Work 》works
• Listen 》listens
• Stay 》stays
• Eat 》eats

Verbs ending in consonant+y: drop the “y”, add “i” and then “es”.

• Cry 》cries
• Hurry 》hurries
• Reply 》replies

Vowel+y:

• Enjoy 》enjoys

Verbs ending in _z, _s, _ch, _sh, or _x: add “_es” to the base form of the verbs.

• Miss 》misses
• Watch 》watches
• Push 》pushes
• Fix 》fixes

Exceptions:

• Have 》has
• Go 》goes
• Do 》does
• Be》is

Simple Present (to be): Positive

I am	I’m
You are	You’re
He/She/It is	He’s/She’s/It’s
We are	We’re
They are	They’re

Simple Present (to be): Negative, add “not” after “to be” verb

I am not.	I‘m not.
You are not.	You‘re not OR You aren’t.
He/She/It is not.	He’s/She’s/It‘s not OR He/She/It isn’t.
We are not.	We‘re not OR We aren’t.
They are not.	They‘re not OR They aren’t.

Question Form

For making a Yes/No question, the structure is like this:

And for the third person singular:

Positive Sentence	Question
I work.	Do you work? Yes, I do/No, I don’t.
You work.	Do you work? Yes, I do/No, I don’t.
He/She/It works.	Does he/she/it work? Yes, He does/No, He doesn’t
We work.	Do we work? Yes, We do/No, We don’t.
They work.	Do they work? Yes, They do/No, They don’t.

Note: by using “Does” in the question forms for the third person singular, we do not add “_s” to the base form of the verb.

Note: if the main verb is “to be”, the structure is like this:

I‘m thirsty.	Am I thirsty? Yes, I am./No, I’m not.
You‘re thirsty.	Are you thirsty? Yes, I am./No, I’m not.
He/She/It‘s thirsty.	Is he/she/it thirsty? Yes, He is./No, He isn’t.
We‘re thirsty.	Are we thirsty? Yes, We are./No, We aren’t.
They‘re thirsty.	Are they thirsty? Yes, They are./No, They aren’t.

Note: Are you hungry? Yes, I am. (Not: yes, I’m.)

For making an information question (wh question) the structure is like this:

	To be	Do/Does
I	Where am I?	Where do I go?
You	Where are you?	Where do you go?
He/She/It	Where is he?	Where does he go?
We	Where are we?	Where do we go?
They	Where are they?	Where do they go?

Negative Form

For making the sentence negative, we add “do not” which the contracted form is “don’t” and “does not” or “doesn’t” (for the third person singular) to the base form of the verb.

Positive Sentence	Negative Sentence
I work.	I don’t work.
You work.	You don’t work.
He/She/It works.	He/She/It doesn’t work.
We work.	We don’t work.
They work.	They don’t work.

Note: by using “does not” or “doesn’t” for the third person singular we do not add “_s” to the base form of the verb.

Usages

We use the simple present to talk about present situations. We also use it to say that something happens regularly all the time or that something is true in general.

Forms:

Affirmative	Question	Negative	Contraction
I go.	Do I go?	I do not go.	I don’t go.
You go.	Do you go?	You do not go.	You don’t go.
He/She/It goes.	Does he/she/it go?	He/She/It does not go.	He/She/It doesn’t go.
We go.	Do we go?	We do not go.	We don’t go.
They go.	Do they go?	They do not go.	They don’t go.

Intermediate Points:

What is the simple present tense? The simple present is one of the important basic grammar which is used to talk about things that happen regularly.

Adverbs of Frequency

We can use the adverbs of frequency with the simple present.

Around now: simple present not used.

When we want to talk about continuing actions or the actions that are ongoing now or around the present time, we mostly use the present continuous not the simple present.

Hobbies

Another usage of the simple present is to talk about our hobbies, the activities that we do in our free time.

When we want to talk about what we like and what we do not like we can use the simple present tense.

Beliefs

For talking about our beliefs and thoughts we use the simple present tense.

Feelings

For talking about our feelings (about something or someone) we can use the simple present.

Future

If we want to talk about the future we can use both present tenses. ( simple present and present continuous)

I agree/I advise etc.

We sometimes do things by saying something, in this case, we use the present simple.

We also use: I apologize …/I insist …/I refuse …/I promise …/ etc.

Non-progressive Verbs

For actions that are ongoing around the present time we can use the simple present with the verbs that do not have a progressive form.

Timetabled

For talking about timetabled future events we can use the simple present.

Subordinate Clauses

Instead of “will” we can use the simple present in subordinate clauses.

Suggestions

We can use the simple with this question: why don’t you …?

Series of events: instructions, stories etc

When we talk about a series of completed actions we use the simple present.

Ongoing actions around the present time:

We do not use the simple present to talk about actions that are ongoing around the present.

Like, believe, etc

Some verbs that do not have progressive forms are used to talk about the ongoing actions around the present.

Advanced Points

Now let’s talk about some advanced points about Simple Present tense in English.

What is the simple present? The simple present is one of the most common tenses in English grammar which is used to talk about facts, general truth, hobbies, and things that happen regularly, repeatedly, or all the time.

Permanent Situations

Things that happen repeatedly

Repeated actions around the present

We normally do not use the simple present to talk about repeated actions that are happening around the present time. The present continuous is used instead.

Note: The present continuous is not used for repeated actions that are not connected to the time that we’re speaking.

I hear etc.

With some introductory expressions like I hear/I see/I understand etc. we can use the simple present with perfect or past meaning.

Note: quotations are often introduced with “says”.

There goes … etc

Note the structure here comes … and there goes …

I hurt/I’m hurting

Verbs that refer to physical feelings like (feel, hurt, ache, etc) are often used with both present tenses (simple or continuous) without much difference in meaning.

Zero conditionals

Zero conditional is used to talk about facts that are generally true as same as the simple present. So we can use the simple present in zero conditionals.

First Conditional

We use the first conditional to talk about future events that are about to happen if something else happens. In the first conditional we use the simple present in if-clauses.

Future events in the present

We use the structure “to be + to infinitive” to talk about a future event which is in the simple present tense. Or it is also used to give orders.

Instructions

We can use the simple present to give and ask for instructions.

State, action

Some verbs have different meanings according to thwir usage. (When they’re used to talk about states or when they’re used to talk about actions.) If they’re used as their state meaning we use the simple present and if they’re used as their action meaning we use the present continuous.

Note: The verb “consider” if it means “think carefully about something” is only used with the present continuous, not the simple present.

Describing the actions

We use the simple present with some verbs that perform the action they describe.

Note: We do not use the simple present to say how long a present action or situation has been going on, we use a perfect tense instead.

In this article, we learned the simple present tense, a basic tense in English grammar that is very useful in daily speaking. If you have any questions about this topic, leave a comment for us.

You can also check out the English Grammar page to read other grammatical articles.