Present Simple (Entry 2)

I get up at 7:00 am.
You eat breakfast.
We have a shower.
I go to work.

We use the present simple tense to talk about our routines and habits.

- Things we do regularly (like every day, every week).
- Things we do sometimes (sometimes, often, usually, occasionally)
- Things we always or never do.
- Facts about life and the world.

To make the present simple we need to use a subject + a verb.

The subject is the person doing the verb.

Example: I, you, he, she, it, we, they, Mrs Smith, the doctor, British people.

Make the present simple with subject + a verb + anything else you need.

Example:
British people + drink + a lot of tea every day.
(subject) (verb) (anything else)

The "anything else" is sometimes called a "complement". Don't worry about that.

Make present simple negatives with
subject + "do not" + a verb + anything else you need.

Example:
British people + do not + play + baseball at school.
(subject) "do not" (verb) (anything else)

Make present simple questions with
"Do" + subject + a verb + anything else you need. Use a question mark!

Example:
Do + British people + play + baseball at school?
"Do" (subject) (verb) (anything else)

The "1st person" talks.
The "2nd person" listens.
The "3rd person" is somebody else. They don't talk and they don't listen.

In grammar, we use "1st person", "2nd person", "3rd person" to mean different people.

3rd person can be a name or description!

"my boss"
"the girl wearing the red dress"
"everyone in class 3R"
"a small horse"

"I" and "we" are 1st person.

"you" is 2nd person.

"he", "she", "it" are 3rd person.

Singular: I, you, she, he, it
Plural: we, you, they

Singular: a man, the table, Jim
Plural: some men, the tables, Jim and Andy

"Singular" means we are talking about one person.
"Plural" means we are talking about 2+ people.

Hey!

The girl in blue talks.
She is the 1st person.

Hey!

Make the 3rd person singular present simple with
subject + a verb + s + anything else you need.

Example:
He + drinks + a lot of tea every day.
(subject) (verb) (anything else)

If the verb ends with "s", "sh", "z", "ch" then add -es instead of -s. The sound changes.

Example:
He + watches + a lot of TV every day.
(subject) (verb) (anything else)

Make the 3rd person singular present simple negative with
subject + "does not" + a verb + anything else you need.

Example:
He + does not + drink + coffee.
(subject) "does not" (verb) (anything else)

Make the 3rd person singular present simple question with
"does" + subject + a verb + anything else you need.

Example:
"Does" + he + play + baseball?
"Does" (subject) (verb) (anything else)

BBC Bitesize

On the next page is a link to a BBC Bitesize lesson about present simple. You can read this and practice to get more confident!