Verbal tenses can be quite challenging for beginners, that’s why we have created this article, to try and help you understand the differences in usage and in form.
Simple present
The simple present is used for:
For repeated actions or habits.
For facts.
For things that are always / generally true.
Form
| Pronouns | verb | Complement |
| I
You We They |
play | football |
| eat | pizza | |
| live | in Colombia |
3rd person form rules
To create sentences in the 3rd person singular (he/she/it) we must change the verbs by following these rules:
The spelling for the verb in the third person differs depending on the ending of that verb:
NOTE: For verbs that end in a vowel + Y, we just add -S.
| Pronouns | verb | Complement |
| He
she it |
plays | football |
| studies | English | |
| watches | television |
Asking questions
The simple present has 2 ways of asking questions:
When using the verb to be, the form of the question is:
Am/are/is+ pronoun+complement+?
Ex: Are you a doctor?
When using other verbs to describe actions, we must use auxiliaries, as shown in part I of this series (click here to see that article).
| Auxiliaries | Pronoun | Verb | Complement |
|
Do |
I
you we they |
like |
pizza? |
|
Does |
he
she it |
study* |
French? |
| (*) When asking questions, the verb remains in “infinitive” form, which means no change is applied to it. | |||
Answering questions
(+) Yes, I do OR Yes, I like pizza.
(-) No, I don’t OR No, I don’t like pizza.
(+) Yes, she does. OR Yes, she studies* French.
(-) No, she doesn’t. OR No, she doesn’t study* French.
(*) Notice that when the auxiliary DOES is present, the verb stays in the infinitive form, but when it isn’t present, the verb must change.
We hope you enjoyed this article, please share it with friends and colleagues!
