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Present Tense
Present Tense
The present tense is one of three verb tenses used to describe situations in
the present. Sometimes we also use it to talk about future and past
activities.
1. Present simple
2. Present continuous
3. Present perfect
4. Present perfect continuous
It is really important to generally know all the tenses, but the most common
and frequently used tense is the present simple. It is used in almost 50% of
spoken English, so that’s why we need to at least learn this tense perfectly.
Regardless, all of the tenses are important.
All of the present tenses have their own special sentence structures and all
of them are used in different situations.
Below is an example that compares all of the present tenses and their
different structures:
While all of the sentences use the same verb „play“, they all mean
something different.
We use the present tenses to talk about actions in the present, but also to
describe something in the near future or in the past. We have to look at
each tense separately to know when to use them to describe certain
events.
Present simple
We use the present simple to talk about everyday situations and things that
happen regularly. We use this tense to talk about:
Habits and repeated actions
This tense is most commonly used to talk about habits and repeated
actions. We very often use adverbs like „usually“, „every day“ or „never“.
General truth
We use the present simple to talk about general truths. If we want to tell
someone an interesting fact, we will use this tense. Such facts are usually
timeless and aren’t changed by external influences.
Did you know that approximately 1.2 million people live in Prague?
London is the capital city of the UK.
The present simple is used to talk about fixed schedules, such as bus or
school timetables. It can also describe any repeated or unchanging
situations, such as those happening every day at the same time.
Feelings or opinions
The present simple is used to talk about feelings and opinions, often by
using stative verbs to describe feelings and emotions.
Instructions
Negative
To construct a negative sentence, we simply add the negative „not“ and the
auxiliary verb „do“ or „does“ based on the person and subject:
Question
Example:
I like potatoes. / She likes potatoes.
I do not like potatoes. / She does not like potatoes.
Do I like potatoes? / Does she like potatoes?
We use the form „am“ to talk about the 1st person singular – it means „I
am“. We can also use its short-form „I’m“. The form „is“ is used to talk
about the 3rd person singular – it means subjects „He“, „she“ or „it“. We
can also use their short-forms, with an apostrophe, „‘s“.
The last form „are“ is used in combination with all the other subjects – „we“,
„you“ and „they“. This short-form also includes an apostrophe, „‘re“.
Negative
Questions
Example:
Present perfect
This tense is used to connect past events with a present time. The time of
the actions is not given – it is unspecified. In the present perfect, we focus
more on the result of the action than on the action itself.
Unspecified times
Construction of sentences
Form „has“
The form „has“ is used with the 3rd person singular (He, she, it).
Form „have“
We use this form in combination with all the other persons, except for the
3rd person singular.
Negative
Questions
This tense is commonly and primarily used to talk about actions that started
in the past and continue into the present.
Negative
To construct a negative sentence, we just add the negative „not“ right after
the verb „have/has“. The structure of the sentence is:
Questions