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Simple Present Tense

I sing

How do we make the Simple Present Tense?

subject + auxiliary verb + main verb
do base

There are three important exceptions:

1. For positive sentences, we do not normally use the auxiliary.

2. For the 3rd person singular (he, she, it), we add s to the main verb or es to the
auxiliary.
3. For the verb to be, we do not use an auxiliary, even for questions and
negatives.

Look at these examples with the main verb like:

subject auxiliary verb main verb

+ I, you, we, they like coffee.

He, she, it likes coffee.

- I, you, we, they do not like coffee.

He, she, it does not like coffee.

? Do I, you, we, they like coffee?

Does he, she, it like coffee?

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Look at these examples with the main verb be. Notice that there is no auxiliary:

subject main verb

+ I am French.

You, we, they are French.

He, she, it is French.

- I am not old.

You, we, they are not old.

He, she, it is not old.

? Am I late?

Are you, we, they late?

Is he, she, it late?

How do we use the Simple Present Tense?

We use the simple present tense when:

 the action is general

 the action happens all the time, or habitually, in the past, present and future
 the action is not only happening now
 the statement is always true

John drives a taxi.

past present future

It is John's job to drive a taxi. He does it every day. Past, present and future.

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Look at these examples:

 I live in New York.

 The Moon goes round the Earth.
 John drives a taxi.
 He does not drive a bus.
 We do not work at night.
 Do you play football?

Note that with the verb to be, we can also use the simple present tense for situations
that are not general. We can use the simple present tense to talk about now. Look at
these examples of the verb "to be" in the simple present tense - some of them are
general, some of them are now:

Am I right?
Tara is not at home.
You are happy.

past present future

The situation is now.

I am not fat.
Why are you so beautiful?
Ram is tall.

past present future

The situation is general. Past, present and future.

This page shows the use of the simple present

tense to talk about general events. But note

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that there are some other uses for the simple

present tense, for example in conditional or if
sentences, or to talk about the future. You
will learn about those later.

English

Let's talk about tenses.

By CARL ROGERS

How do we use the simple present tense?

We use the simple present tense when:

The action is general ‫פעולה כללית‬
The action happens all the time, or habitually, in the past, present and future ‫פעולה‬
‫שבשגרה‬
The action is not only happening now ‫פעולה שלא מתרחשת רק עכשיו‬
The statement is always true ‫ ההצהרה תמיד נכונה‬/‫המשפט‬

Exercise 1 - complete the sentence with the correct word.

1. I _am_ here. (am/is/are)

2. She _is_ happy. (am/is/are)

3. We _play_ basketball in the afternoons. (play/plays)

4. The girl always _sings_ in the shower. (sing/sings)

5. The baker _bakes_ bread every morning. (bakes/bake)

6. Our company _gives_ presents to its employees. (give/gives)

7. My daughter _jumps_ rope with her friend, after school. (jump/jumps)

8. His girlfriend _dances_ in a club most evenings. (dances/dance)

9. All the boys _live_ in that building. (live/lives)

10. The doors _open_ everyday at 09.00am. (open/opens)

11. He _watches_ TV a lot. (watch/watches)

12. He _likes_ ice cream with his pie. (like/likes)

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13. Daniella always _eats_ popcorn at the movie theatre.(eat/eats)

14. My wife and I _jog__ (jog/jogs) every day.

.Let's talk about tenses

By CARL ROGERS

How do we use the simple present tense – (third person) – he / she / it = s, es, ies

:Examples
.Verbs ending with – s, ss, sh, ch, x and o; we add es = He watches T.V. every night
.Verbs ending with y or I; we add ies = The baby cries when it is hungry
All other verbs we add s = She loves chocolate

.Now complete the following sentences by adding to the verb in () - s, es, ies

He _eats_ breakfast every morning. (eat) )1

It _costs_ a lot of money. (cost) )2
She _washes_ her hair every night. (wash) )3
She _sings_ in a choir. (sing) )4
It doesn't work, it _stops_ every time I touch it. (stop) )5
He _waves_ goodbye to his father every morning. (wave) )6
He _waits_ for the bus at 18.00 pm every night. (wait) )7
It always _rains_ on my birthday. (rain) )8
She is a hairdresser. She _cuts_ peoples hair. (cut) )9
He _walks_ to the supermarket every Saturday. (walk) )10
It _looks_ weird to me, are sure the dog is alive? (look) )11
Anat never _goes_ to school, she doesn't like it. (go) )12
Moshe _listens_ to music a lot. (listen) )13
Avi _plays_ football on Sundays. (play) )14
The food is here, it _smells_ great! (smell) )15
The baby _cries_ when she is hungry. (cry) )16
Avi _mixes_ his drinks and always feels weird afterwards. (mix) )17
My family _watches_ the news together. (watch) )18
School _meets_ three times a year to discuss the pupils. (meet) )19
Ronaldo _kicks_ the ball the hardest. (kick) )20

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15. I _live_ (live/lives) in a beautiful part of the country.

16. He _has_ (have/has) coffee with cream.

17. We _see_ (see/sees) you are doing very well.

18. Maybe if they _leave_ (leave/leaves), it will be less crowded.

19. Every time she _sits_(sit/sits) down, her friends _gets_ (get/gets) up.

20. I don’t _like_ (like/likes) war.

Answers: 1) watches 2) likes 3) eats 4) jog 5) live 6) has 7) see 8) leave 9) sits 10) like
11) am 12) is 13) play 14) sings 15) bakes 16) gives 17) jumps 18) dances 9) live 20)
open

Employees ‫לואיז‬ ֹ ‫מפ‬

ּ ‫א‬
ֶ
Crowded ‫אוֶדד‬
ּ ‫קר‬
ָ

‫עובדים‬
‫צפוף‬

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Use the verb in brackets to fill the gaps.

Positive sentences.
1 I _live_ in Godella.(to live)
2 Daisy_loves_ chocolate.(to love)
3 Andy _drives_ too fast.(to drive)
4 We _have_ lunch at two.(to have)
5 You _look_ great.(to look)
Negative sentences.
6 They _don’t say_ much.(to say)
7 Charlie _don’t play_ golf.(to play)
8 I _don’t like_ hamburgers.(to like)
9 Sammy and I_don’t watch_ much TV.(to
watch)
10 It _doesn’t rain_ very often in Valencia.(to rain)
Questions.
11 _Do_ you play tennis?
12 _Can_ Carol drive?
13 _Do_ they do the shopping
together?
14 _Do_ dogs eat fish?
15 What_does_ it do?

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