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Hi, I'm Alvian. Welcome to Basic Grammar in Use Class. In this class, we would like
to look at the present simple tense and present progressive. I would like to show
you exactly when to use it, how to use it, and also what mistakes to be careful of
when you're using this tense. We'll also go through lots of practice exercises
together, so you'll learn exactly how to use this tense correctly and confidently.
Are you ready? Let's get started.

In this class I would like to share about Simple Present Tense and Simple Present
Progressive. But what are tenses anyway? Tenses are simply the way we talk
about time in English. What do we mean by time? We mean the past, the present,
the continues and the future, right? These are all different times and we have
different tenses to express or talk about those times. So, in this lesson, we're
going to look at the two basic ways that can speak about the present in English
and they are: the present simple and the present continuous, or present
progressive as it's also called.
Now, although we are focusing on the present simple, I want to give you a little
overview so you understand the basic differences between these two simple
tenses, alright? So, let me give you an example. In present simple, we would say "I
work". And in present continuous,
we would say "I am working". So, what's the difference? What's the difference
between
these two sentences? What's the difference, is there a difference? I don't know,
what
do you think? Well, I do know. And there is a difference.

So, let me explain what that difference is. When we say "I am working", which is
that
other tense, present continuous, which we can learn later, that is talking about
something
that is happening now, or something temporary. What do I mean by now? For
example, I am teaching.
You are listening, right? All these things are happening right now. So, when we
are saying
that, when I'm saying that, I'm using present continuous. But when I say "I work",
that
is in general. For example, I may not be working at this moment, but I work
somewhere. I have
a job. So, when we talk about something that's true in general, that's present
simple. Also,
present simple is for something that's more or less permanent. For example, if
you have
a job, of course, no job or thing in life is necessarily permanent. What does
permanent
mean, that it lasts all the time, but let's say you're not changing jobs every day.
So,
more or less, this is the job you'll always have. This is your permanent job. So
then,
for those kind of activities, we use present simple and we say "I work at the
bank". "I
work in the store" etc. But, "I am working" would just be right now, or it could
also
be for something temporary. "Temporary" means only for a short period of time.
This is for
always, this is for a short period of time. This is true in general, and this one is
true
for something happening now. So, those are some basic differences between
these two tenses.
Now, let's focus on the tense that we're working on today, which is present
simple. So, how
does it sound? How does it actually work? It's like this - so these are the different
subjects, and this is the verb and the way we use it. So just repeat it after me: I
work.
You work. We work. They work. He works. She works. And: It works. "It" meaning
the air
conditioner, or the computer. "It" is for something which is not a person but it's
for
a thing.
And we saw some differences there. Don't worry about those changes now. We're
going to learn
all about that in a later part of this lesson, okay? So that's what it sounds like. This
is a basic description of these two differences which you can keep in mind as we
now move
forward with the present simple tense.
Now, let's look at when we use the present simple tense, okay? So, we have five
different
situations in which we can use this tense. Let's go through them one by one.
First of all, we can use the present simple tense to talk about things which are
permanent.
Which are more or less always true, okay? For example: "We live in New York".
So, let's
suppose that this is where you live, right? Not just for a short time, but for a long
time, and more or less, it's a permanent situation. It's always true for you. It
doesn't mean
it's completely true always, but most of the time, this is where you live. So, that's
what
we consider permanent. So, we could say "We live in New York", "He works at a
bank", so
when we say, "He works at a bank", it means that's his permanent regular job,
okay? It's
not a temporary job, it's not a job that he has just for a little while, that's where
he works most of the time, okay? So, we use this for permanent situations. Think
about
yourself, okay? Whenever you're trying to learn a tense, one of the great things
you
can do is to think of an example that applies to your life, or to people that you
know.
What is permanent for you?
So, let's look at another situation in which you can use the present simple tense.
For
routines. So, what's a routine? A routine is something you do regularly, okay? For
example,
"I wake up at 6:00 every day.", okay? "I go to sleep at 11:00". So, wake, go, these
verbs
are in the present simple tense because they're talking about a regular activity, a
routine.
We can also use this tense to talk about facts. For example: "The sun rises in the
east".
It's just a fact, it's something that's a scientific truth. It's not something that
I decided or you decided, it's just true. We could also say "The sun sets in the
west",
okay?
Next, we can use this tense to talk about schedules, because think about it, what
is
a schedule? A schedule tells us when something is going to happen, and that's
kind of connected
to this point, right? A regularly scheduled event. So, for example, we could say
"Our
class starts at 9:00." Why are we using present simple? Because our class always
starts at
9:00, alright? It's kind of permanent, it's kind of a routine, it's a schedule. Or, the
flight leaves at noon. Not just this time, but the flight always leaves at noon. It has
a schedule and therefore we're using the present simple tense with the words
"starts" and "leaves".
Okay, got that?
Now, let's look at one other situation. There are some words in English, and
they're called
adverbs of frequency, to describe how often something is happening. And these
words are
shown down here, but let's look at this sentence first. "She always takes the bus".
So, always
is a word that tells us how often something happens, and all of these words down
here
are just like that. So, if always is like 100% of the time, we have other words. We
have the word "never", which is 0%, it never happens. It doesn't happen at all. So,
we
could say he or she never takes the bus. We could also say, let's say, 50% of the
time,
okay, she takes the bus. So, we could say "She sometimes takes the bus". Or, once
in
a while, okay, "She rarely takes the bus". Or, "She often takes the bus". So, when
you
see one of these words, which are called adverbs of frequency, that also tells you
that you
should be using the present simple tense, along with these other situations. So, if
you want to learn it really well, as I said, apply it to yourself. Say something about
your routine. Say something about what you always do, or what you never do,
and that
way, you are already using the present simple tense.
Now, let's look at how to form the present simple tense. So, I've divided the
board into
three sections. For positive sentences, negative sentences, and for questions. And
we'll go
through each one step by step, okay? So, for these subjects, I, You, We, and They,
we just
say "work". For example, "I work". You can say it after me, that way, you will
remember
the grammar, you'll also get the pronunciation, and it'll help you to learn and
remember.
So, repeat after me: I work, you work, we work, they work. Good. Now, look what
happens
here. When it comes to he, she, and it, we need to add an "s", okay? That's all.
We need
to add an "s" for he, she, and it, not because it's plural, it's not plural, but from a
grammar
point of view, in the present simple, we need to add an "s" here. So, say it after
me: He
works, she works, and it works. Okay? Very good. So, that's for a positive or
affirmative
sentence.
Now, let's look at a negative sentence. So, what we would say is "I don't work" if
we're
shortening it, or we would say "I do not work". So, what happened here? How did
we make it
negative? First, we have to add this word "do", and down here, we have to add
the word
"does". So, this is a helping verb that we have to use in this negative form, alright?
So just learn it the way it is and then you'll understand it and you'll get used to it.
So,
we say "I do not work". The "do not", when we shorten it, becomes "don't", and
how does
that happen? We take out the "o" here and then we squeeze these words
together, we join
them together, and it becomes "don't". So, first, let's say it with the contraction,
with the short form, because that's how we usually speak. It is correct to say, "I
do
not work", but usually we'll say "I don't work", alright? But the most important
thing
to remember is here we say, "I do not work" but here it becomes "He does not
work", and
"does not" when we shorten it, when we contract it, becomes "doesn't". So, what
happened here?
We cancelled the "o" and again, we joined these two words "does" and "not" and
it became
"doesn't", and you can always know how to spell this contraction or this short
form
because of where we put the apostrophe. We put the apostrophe, this little
comma that's
in the in the air, in the place where we take out a letter. So, we put it here instead
of
the "o" and we put it here instead of the "o". So, let's go through these. I don't
work,
You don't work, We don't work, They don't work. Now, let's go to he, she, and it.
Remember,
he, she, and it is always going to be a little bit different. Let's hear it and say it: He
doesn't work, She doesn't work, It doesn't work. Let's say the phone, the
computer, it
doesn't work, okay?
Now, let's go to the questions. So, what happens in the questions? In the
question, we also
have to use that helping verb: "do". "Do" here, and "does" down here, and we
have to
change the order, so instead of saying "I do", we say "Do I?", alright? So, repeat it
after me: Do I work? I don't know, I don't remember. Do you work? Do we work?
Do they
work? Down here, you would say, with he, she, and it: Does he work? Does she
work? Does
it work? Alright? Now usually, of course, you're not just going to say "Do you
work?"
You might say something more than that. Do you work on Fridays? Do you work
Monday to
Friday? Do you work at the bank? Alright? So usually there's something more, but
I've
just put the basic form here so that you understand the structure of how to use
this tense.
Now, another important point is that sometimes, when we ask questions, we
don't just start
with "do" or "does", but we need to add a question word, right? So, maybe you
want to
say "where". What are the question words, first of all: who, what, when, where,
why,
how, how much, how many, how often, okay? These are all what are called
question words,
but if you have one of these question words, all you have to do, it's really easy,
the
only thing you have to do is to put that question word right before this structure.
So, "Where
do you work?", right? When do you work? Why do you work? How much do you
work? How often
do you work? But we're keeping the same structure and we still need to have that
helping verb
"do". The same down here: Where does he work? When does she work? Okay?
So, keep that structure
and even if you have a question word, don't worry, just put it at the beginning. So,
here
we have some examples: Where do you live? What do you do? Okay?
But the most important thing to remember is this part, okay? He works. She
works. It works.
This is the only place in the entire board where we're adding an "s" to the verb
itself.
Everywhere else, we're just using the base form of the verb, right? So, let's say
our
verb is "to work". So, here it's "work". I work, I don't work, Do you work? He
works,
here it's different, but after that, it goes back to the base form of the verb, right?
He doesn't work. Does he work? So even though with he, she, and it in the
positive sentence
we add the "s", but here in the negative, no, go back to the base form and in the
question,
go back to the base form of the word "work", but you do need to remember that
in that positive
sentence, add the "s", okay? So, that's the structure of the present simple tense.
It's
really pretty straightforward, you just need to practice it and you will get it.

Now, let's look at how to give short answers in English. See, in real conversation,
when
someone asks you a question, we don't usually repeat the whole question in our
answer. We
just give what's called like a short answer. Let me give you an example. If
someone says,
"Do they need help?", then you can just say, in short, either "Yes, they do" or "No,
they
don't". So, we do not have to say "Yes, they need help", right? You don't have to
repeat
that whole question. You just give what's called the short answer. And how do
you know
how to shorten it? It's really easy. So, if the question starts with "Do", like this,
right? Then your answer will include some form of "do" or "don't", depending on
if it's
a positive sentence or a negative one. So, we see here "Do they need help?" "Yes
they
do.", right? Or "No, they don't." Alright? So, the "do", the way the question starts
is the way you will be able to answer it, alright. It's really pretty simple, it really
is. The important thing to remember is that in the affirmative or positive answer,
we
cannot shorten it, okay? There is no way to shorten that correctly. So here, we
have to
say "Yes, they do", but here we can use the short form, or that contraction that
we learned,
and you can say "No, they don't". Alright?
Let's look at another example. This time, I think you'll be able to apply the
principle
yourself. So, the question is "Does he speak French?". So, how did it start? With
"does".
So, what are our options? "Yes, he does.", right? Or "No, he doesn't." Okay?
Again, the
"does" is used in the short answer. "Yes, he does." "No, he doesn't." Got it?
Alright.
So, based on that, you can see that you could answer any question that
someone's asking
you in present simple by just listening carefully to the question, but you do have
to pay attention
also to the subject here. So for example, in this last one, "Do you like this song?",
somebody asks you, "Do you like this song?". So your answer - they're asking you,
so you
can't say "Yes, you", you have you say "Yes, I". "Yes, I do", the "do" comes into
play
again, or "No, I don't." So again, you do see the same principle applied all the way.
And again, remember, in the positive form, you cannot shorten it, but in the
negative
form you can and you should shorten it because that's how we normally speak,
and these short
answers are used a lot in normal conversation, so it would be a good idea for you
to learn
them and it's really pretty fast and I think you might have already learned them.
So, do
you understand? You could say "Yes, I do!" I hope that's what you said, okay?
Alright.
Now, let's look at some common mistakes that students often make when they
start using
the present simple tense, and this way you'll know what to be careful of so that
you don't
make these kind of mistakes, alright? Let's look. So usually the mistakes are of
four
different kinds. Sometimes, the mistake is in the tense itself. So remember we
mentioned
at the beginning that there can be present simple and present continuous, and
that present
simple is for something permanent and present continuous is for something
temporary. So
sometimes, learners get mixed up between these two tenses. So, let's say in this
example
that this person lives in Tokyo, right? It's not just for a little while, it's where that
person lives. So, if that person said "I am living in Tokyo", that would be wrong. If
that's where the person stays permanently, he or she should say "I live in Tokyo".
They
could say "I am living in Tokyo" only if it's something temporary, alright? So, that
is
one mistake that's sometimes made with the present simple, that confusion
between it
and present continuous. Now, let's look at another kind of mistake. That's when a
mistake
is made with the verb form. You'll find it because now you're good at this, okay?
Ready,
let's read. These are all mistakes, okay, so these are all wrong, we're going to
correct
them together. The sentence right now says "We likes to travel." So, the verb is
wrong.
What should it be? "We like to travel". Say it after me: We like to travel. Good.
Here's
a mistake, the same thing in the verb form, but in a negative sentence: "They
doesn't
eat vegetables." That's wrong, you know that. What should it be? "They don't eat
vegetables".
Say it after me: "They don't eat vegetables". Good. And here's a mistake in the
question:
"Does you talk to him often?" That's wrong. We can't say that. We need to say
what? "Do
you". Say it after me: "Do you talk to him often?" Good. Alright? So those are verb
form
kind of mistakes. Another mistake that's possible is in spelling. We looked at the
many kinds
of spelling, right, and you need to make the changes. So here, the person wrote
"She trys
to save money", but the spelling of the verb is incorrect, because here it's a y and
before
that it's a consonant, remember? So what should it be? "Tries". They had to drop
that "y"
and add "ies". So, you'll pick up those spelling changes, okay? Just pay attention
when you're
reading and so on and it'll come to you unnaturally.
Next, sometimes an entire word is missing. So, let's look at this one. This is a
question:
"What time you finish work?". It almost sounds right, but it's not. It's wrong.
Grammatically
in English, that's wrong. Can you understand it? Yes, you can understand it, but
it's still
wrong. So, how do we correct it? Did you find the mistake? So we should say
"What time do
you finish work?". So, what was missing was that helping word, okay, that helping
verb,
remember, we do have to add that even if you have a question word here like
"what time",
alright? "What time do you finish work?". So, these are the four main kinds of
mistakes
that you have to be careful of. In tense, using the wrong tense, using the wrong
verb
form, making any kind of spelling mistakes, or leaving out an essential verb or
helping
verb. Alright? That's it!
we're going to practice some more, we're going to learn a little bit more, and
you'll get it for sure by the end of this, okay. Stick with me.
To review: you know the present simple tense and present progessive when you
know when you use it, which we talked
about, and how to use it. And how do you know that you know how to use it?
When you can
do these things: you can make a positive sentence, a negative sentence, and a
question. For example,
you should be able to say easily "They live in Amsterdam." or "They don't live in
Amsterdam."
or "Do they live in Amsterdam?". You should be able to switch easily and
comfortably and
quickly and correctly between these three sentences, okay?
So, remember, this is the present simple tense, but this is an entire series that we
have
of English tenses, so from the present simple, you can go to the next class which is
on the
present continuous tense, and that way you can take your English forward step by
step,
alright?
Thank you very much for watching, I know you're a serious student, and I know
you're going to make good progress.
Bye.