Learn English Tenses: The Present Simple

(buzzing) (groans) I hate mosquitoes, I love pizza. I walk every single day of the week. Those are all sentences where I used the verb conjugation called the present simple.

Oddly enough, the present simple is not used to talk about what you're doing right now, for that we use the present continuous but the present simple is used to make general statements. You can say things like I teach in a school or he works in a factory. In this English lesson I'm going to help you learn how to conjugate in the present simple and then I'll outline for you, I'll help you learn when you should use the present simple when you're speaking in English.

(soft music) Well, hello and welcome to this English lesson where I'm going to help you learn a little bit more about the present simple. Before we get started though, if this is your first time here, don't forget to click that red subscribe button and give me a thumbs up if this video helps you learn just a little bit more English. Well, you're in luck.

The present simple is one of the easiest verb conjugations to learn, especially if you're using I, you, we and they. When you use those four subjects you simply use the verb minus the to. So if you wanted to use the verb, to read, you would say, I read, you read, we read and they read.

If you wanted to use the verb to write, you would simply say, I write, you write, we write and they write. So you can see when you're using I, you, we and they, it's very, very simple. Things do change a bit though when you're using he or she and other nouns.

Thankfully, most verbs simply take an S. So you can say things like he reads, she writes or the dog barks. But there are some verbs where things change a little bit.

Let's look at verbs like to try and to cry. Because they end in Y and they are preceded by a consonant, you actually need to change the Y to an I E S. So you end up saying things like he tries or she cries.

For verbs that end in SS, X, SH, CH, Z or O, you'll simply need to add an E S to the verb when you're conjugating it with he or she. So you'll end up saying things like this, he passes, she fixes, he washes, she catches, the bee buzzes and he goes. You'll notice how I took the base verb and I simply added ES to it when I was conjugating it with he or she.

Let's talk a little bit about when you should use the present simple. I'm going to go over six different times when you should use the present simple in English speech. The first is to talk about a repeated action.

When you talk about something that happens all the time you would say things like this, I eat pizza on Fridays. I walk every day of the week. He plays video games at night.

You'll notice that I use the present simple but I also mentioned when that action was repeated. It was either on Fridays, every day or at night. So when you use the present simple to talk about a repeated action, you must mention when the action is taking place, when the repetition happens.

We also use the present simple to express emotions or feelings that are always true. You'll hear people say things like this, I hate mosquitoes. You saw me swat a mosquito that was on my face earlier.

(buzzing) (groans) I hate mosquitoes. That was just pretend by the way. There's no mosquitoes in the winter but I hate mosquitoes.

I love pizza. She likes dogs. In each of those sentences I'm using the present simple to express a feeling or emotion that is always true.

We also use the present simple to make statements of facts. You can't see the moon during the day but the moon orbits the earth. That is a statement of fact that uses the present simple.

The river behind me flows South. So it's another statement of fact. The river flows South, the moon orbits the earth.

The river is not flowing very fast today though because it's actually frozen over. That's why it's so nice and white. It's frozen and there's a little layer of snow on it.

We also use the present simple to talk about future events that are going to be happening at a specific time. I could say things like this, I'll leave for work tomorrow at seven, I start work tomorrow at nine, the play starts next fall. All of those sentences refer to something in the future at a specific time but I use the present simple to talk about them.

This is very common in English speech and it can be a little bit confusing. We also use the present simple in sentences that also use one of the future tenses. We say things like this, I will buy gas before I leave.

You'll notice the beginning of the sentence is in the future, but the second part of the sentence is in the present simple. We say things like, I will pack the car before I leave or he will eat breakfast before he runs the race. Again, notice the structure there.

You have the present simple as well as one of the future tenses. You can also flip these by the way. You can say, before I leave, I will buy gas or before I leave, I will pack the car or before he runs the race, he will eat breakfast.

So in sentences that have the future tense, you can also have the present simple. We also use the present simple when we're using what's called the zero conditional. The zero conditional is when you use two phrases in the present simple to state a fact.

You say things like this, when I run, I sweat. If you heat water, it boils. If you eat too much, you gain weight.

Sorry, that last one is making me laugh. 'Cause I think that's what happened to me over the Christmas break. So another time when you use the present simple is when you are making a factual statement using what's called the zero conditional.

Let's talk a little bit about how to form the negative when using the present simple. In order to do this, you will need to use the verb to do and you'll need to use the word not and you will form sentences like this. I do not love pizza.

I do not like mosquitoes or he does not read. So you'll notice that we added the verb, to do conjugated properly with the subject of the sentence and then we added the word not, between the verb to do and the verb that you are using. You'll also need to use the verb to do when you're asking questions in the present simple.

You'll ask questions like this, do you like pizza? Do you like mosquitoes? Or does he read?

You'll notice that the question inverts the sentence. It has the verb at the beginning and we start with the verb, to do. So again, we would say things like, do you like pizza?

Do you like mosquitoes? The answer's probably no and does he read? The best way to practice the present simple is to write down a list of all of the things you like, write down a list of all of your habits and the things you do regularly.

When you have an English conversation, those are very common things that you will be talking about. People often ask you about the things you like and they often ask you about the things you do regularly. So knowing the present simple and knowing how to answer those questions would be a huge benefit for you.

Anyways, Bob the Canadian here, thank you so much for watching this little lesson on the present simple. If you are new here, please don't forget to click that subscribe button and give me a thumbs up. And if you have a little bit more time, why don't you stick around and watch another video?