Present Simple (Present Tenses)

EXAMPLE

• I live in New York.
• We play football every day.
• The meeting starts at 3 p.m.

The Present Simple is the most basic and common tense in the English language. It is also an interesting tense because it can express both the present and the future.

USE

1. Facts and generalization
2. Habits and routines
3. Permanent situations
4. State verbs (e.g. be, have, think, know)
5. Fixed / official arrangement that we can't change
6. Narrations (e.g. telling a story or a joke)

Note
Apart from the above uses, this tense is also used in:

• Zero Conditional - If it rains, I go play football.
• First Conditional - We won't get our pocket money, if we don't pass this exam.
• In sentences after "when", "before", "till", "after", "as soon as" ("Before you leave, please take the keys").

USE 1: Facts and Generalizations
The first and most important use of the Present Simple is to talk about things we believe are (or are not) true. It's also used to generalize about somebody or something.
Examples:

• It is a big house.
• He talks a lot.
• Berlin is the capital city of Germany.
• Buenos Aires is a large city.
• The Elephant doesn't fly.
• Dogs don't smoke cigarettes.
• A dog is not large than an elephant
• London is the capital city of France. (Remember: the sentence doesn't have to be true)

USE 2: Habits and Routines
We also use this tense to indicate that an activity is a habit or a routine.
Examples:

• We leave for work at 7.30 every morning.
• Susan often meets with her friends after school.
• They usually play football on Sunday.
• Mark rarely visits his sick grandmother.

The Present Simple tense is often used with the frequency adverbs:

Read more...

USE 3: Pernament Situations 
Use the Present Simple to talk about situations in life that last a relatively long time.
Examples:

• I live in Boston
• He works as a fireman.
• Margaret drives a Porshe.
• Jerry doesn't teach maths at highschool.

USE 4: State Verbs
You should use the Present Simple with state verbs.
Examples:

• I like swimming.
• We know this man.
• Margaret drives a Porshe.
• Jerry doesn't teach maths at highschool.

USE 5: Fixed / Official arrangements 
Use the Present Simple to talk about events that we can't change (for example, an official meeting or a train departure).
Examples:

• The meeting starts at 4 pm.
• The train leaves at the noon.
• When does the plane take off?
• Jerry doesn't teach maths at highschool.

USE 6: Narrations 
The Present Simple is also used in narrations (e.g. to tell a story or a joke).
Examples:

• A man goes to visit a friend and is amazed to find him playing chess with his dog. He watches the game in astonishment for a while [...]

(read more)

Good to know...
Some of the verbs used in the simple form can also appear in the continuous form. This is typically when they have an active meaning or exphasize change.
Examples:
- I'm thinking of moving to San Francisco
- I'm loving your new hairdo!
(read more)

FORM
Forming a sentence in the Present Simple is easy. To form a declarative sentence, all you need is the subject of the sentence (e.g. I, you, he, a dog) and the verb (e.g. be, talk, swim). Questions and negative sentences are only a little more difficult, because they require an auxiliary verb.

Declarative Sentences



Questions

Questions require the auxiliary verb to do or, in the third person singular, does.
Compare these examples:

• A: Does she like going to the mountains?
• B: Yes, she does.
• A: Does John have a dog?
• B: No, he doesn't.

Keep in mind that when you ask a question, the verb does not conjugate:

• Does she have a dog?
• Does she has a dog?

For the verb to be, we do not use an auxiliary:

• Is he tall?
• Does he be tall?

Negative Sentences