Simple Present

Simple Present Review

Your first task consists on understand and practice the simple present tense. Before starting, you must remember this:

VERB“BE”

SUBJECT PRONOUN TO BE *PRESENT TENSE NEGATIVE NEGATIVE CONTRACTION

Third person SHE IS IS NOT ISN´T

HE IS IS NOT ISN´T

IT IS IS NOT ISN´T

I AM AM NOT ´M NOT

YOU *singular and plural ARE ARE NOT AREN´T

WE ARE ARE NOT AREN´T

THEY ARE ARE NOT AREN´T

VERB“CAN”

SUBJECT PRONOUN TO BE *PRESENT TENSE NEGATIVE NEGATIVE CONTRACTION

Third person SHE CAN CANNOT CAN´T

HE CAN CANNOT CAN´T

IT CAN CANNOT CAN´T

I CAN CANNOT CAN´T

YOU *singular and plural CAN CANNOT CAN´T

WE CAN CANNOT CAN´T

THEY CAN CANNOT CAN´T

VERB“DO”

SUBJECT PRONOUN TO DO *PRESENT TENSE

Third person SHE DOES

HE DOES

IT DOES

I DO

YOU *singular and plural DO

WE DO

THEY DO

VERB“HAVE”

SUBJECT PRONOUN TO DO *PRESENT TENSE

Third person SHE HAS

HE HAS

IT HAS

I HAVE

YOU *singular and plural HAVE

WE HAVE

THEY HAVE

David is my best friend. He is my best friend.

My students are very smart. They are very smart.

Mary is my girlfriend. She is my girlfriend.

I am from Quito. Pablo is from Quito.

I do my homework every day. Pablo does his homework every day.

Mary does the dishes after having lunch. She does the dishes after having lunch

I have a nice class. Pablo has a nice class.

They have a lot of homework. Charlie Brown has a lot of homework

Uses of simple present:

• Something that is true in the present:

I’m nineteen years old. I am nineteen years old.

He lives in London. Pedro lives in London.

I’m a student. Pablo is a student.

• Something that happens again and again in the present:

I play football every weekend. Chris plays football every weekend.

We use words like sometimes, often, always, and never (adverbs of frequency) with the present tense:

I sometimes go to the cinema.

She never playsfootball.

• Something that is always true:

The adult human body contains 206 bones.

Light travels at almost 300,000 kilometers per second.

• Something that is fixed in the future.

The school term starts next week.

The train leaves at 1945 this evening.

We fly to Paris next week.

Affirmative sentences:

SUBJECT + VERB + COMPLEMENT

Weplay football once a week.

Sheplays basketball every weekend.

Youwatch TV every morning.

Pedrowatches TV at night.

Notice that we add S or ES to the verb when we use third person (he, she, and it)

How can we add S or ES to the verb?

We have these rules:

1. If the verb ends in S, SS, SH, CH or X

Do: add es

My mother washes the dishes. (wash)

2. If the verb ends in “O”.

Do: add es

Charlie Brown goes to school every morning. (go)

3. If the verb ends in Y and has a consonant before the letter Y.

Do: drop (erase) the Y and add ies

Snoopy studies in Mejia High School. (study)

IMPORTANT.- you just have to add s to the rest of the verbs.

She writes a letter to her sister. (write)

Snoopy walks on the street. (walk)

Bart plays videogames all the time. (play)

Negative sentence:

SUJECT +DO+NOT + VERB + COMPLEMENT

DOES

SUJECT +DOESN’T + VERB + COMPLEMENT

Wedo not play football once a week.

Wedon’tplay football once a week.

Shedoes not play basketball every weekend.

Shedoesn’tplay basketball every weekend.

Youdo notwatch TV every morning.

Youdon’twatch TV every morning.

Pedrodoes notwatch TV at night.

Pedrodoesn’twatch TV at night.

Notice that we use the verb DO as an auxiliary to form negative sentences, and this verb changes according to the subject in the sentence. Another thing to take into account is that the main verb stays in the simple form. This means you don’t have to add S or ES.

Questions:

DO + SUBJECT + VERB + COMPLEMENT +?

DOES

Do you go to the movies every Thursday? Yes, I do.

No, I don’t.

Does Charlie Brown go to the library every day? Yes, he does.

No, he doesn’t.

Do my students study hard for the final exam? Yes, they do.

No, they don’t.

Does my student do his homework? Yes, he does.

No, he doesn’t

WH + DO + SUBJECT + VERB + COMPLEMENT +?

DOES

What do you do? I am a teacher.

What does she do? Mary is a singer.

Why do my students cry? My students cry because they are sad.

Why does she cry? She cries because she is sad.

Where do they always go? They always go to Ambato.

Where does Charlie always go? Charlie always goes to Ambato.

Questions using the verb to be.

BE + SUBJECT + COMPLEMENT+ ?

Are you OK? Yes, I am.

No, I am not.

Is she OK? Yes, she is.

No, she isn’t

Are my students ok? Yes, they are. Yes, my students are.

No, they aren’t. No, my students aren’t.

Is she your sister? Yes, she is.

No, she isn’t.

WHY + BE + SUBJECT + COMPLEMENT+ ?

Whyis she crazy? She is crazy because she suffers a lot.

Whyare you crazy? I am crazy because I suffer a lot.

Why are we crazy? We are crazy because we suffer a lot.

EXERCICES

Read an interview with Jamie Clark, a famous writer, and fill in theblanks using the correct form of the fallowing verbs.

like return

have (2) get up

work visit

live watch

go (2) take

W: So, Jamie, we all know you are a very famous writer. Tell us a little

about your routine.

...