| Affirmative | Interrogative |
| I work you work he works she works it works we work you work they work | Do I work? Do you work? Does he work? Does she work? Does it work? Do we work? Do you work? Do they work? |
| Negative | Negative |
| Long-form I do not work you do not work he does not work she does not work it does not work we do not work you do not work they do not work | Short-form I don’t work you don’t work he doesn’t work she doesn’t work it doesn’t work we don’t work you don’t work they don’t work |
- We form the present simple with the subject (noun or personal pronoun) and the verb.
- The third person singular takes -s or -es in the affirmative.
Negative
We use subject + don’t + main verb in all persons in the negative except the third person singular. We use subject + doesn’t + main verb in this person.
I don’t play, he doesn’t play.
Interrogative
- We use do + subject + verb in all persons except for the third person singular. We use does + subject + verb in this person.
Do you like football? Does he like tennis?
Spelling: 3rd person singular affirmative
- Most verbs take -s in the third person singular.
I work – he works
- Verbs ending in -ss, -sh, -ch, -x or -o take -es.
I go – he goes
- Verbs ending in a consonant + y drop -y and take –ies.
I fly – he flies
- Verbs ending in a vowel + y take -s. I play – he plays
-s or -es in the third person singular is pronounced:
- /s/ with verbs ending in /f/, /k/, /p/ or M sounds. he sits
- /ız/ with verbs ending in /s/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ or /z/ sounds. he watches
- /z/ with verbs ending in all other sounds. he plays
We use the present simple for:
- daily routines, repeated actions or habits
I get up at seven every day.
- permanent states
I live in London.
Time Expressions
Time expressions used with the present simple: every hour/ day/week/month /summer/year etc, usually, always, every morning/evening/afternoon/night, in the morning/afternoon/evening/night, at night etc.
| Do you…? | Yes, I do./Yes, we do. No, I don’t./No, we don’t. |
| Does he/she/it…? | Yes, he/she/it does. No, he/she/it doesn’t. |
| Do they …? | Yes, they do. No, they don’t. |
In short answers we use “Yes” or “No” the subject pronoun and do/don’t or does/doesn’t.
Download “Simple Present Tense Explanation with Examples” in PDF.
Download “Simple Present Tense Explanation with Examples Quiz” in PDF.
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