The usage of the Present Simple Tense

— Hello, boys and girls! My name is Kyle.

— Hello, everyone! My name is Sophia.

— Hello, friends! I’m Melanie.

— Hello! I’m Jackson.

— Welcome to our lesson! 

— We are happy to see you!

Today in the lesson we will:

● talk about the Present Simple Tense;

● discuss how to form sentences in this tense;

And

● put the knowledge into practice.

The Present Simple Tense is the most basic tense in English.

Now let’s answer the question:

When do we use the Present Simple Tense?

We use Present Simple to refer to an action that happens regularly.

For example:

Zoe always brushes her teeth in the morning.

This tense is used to describe a situation that is more or less permanent.

For instance:

Katherine works in a hospital.

We can use Present Simple to talk about a timetable or fixed plans in the future.

For example:

Kyle, the lessons start at 9 o’clock tomorrow.

The Present Simple Tense is used to talk about habits.

For instance:

Jacob gets up early every day.

We can also use this tense when we talk about general truth.

For example:

It snows a lot in winter.

Now let’s answer the following question:

How do we form sentences in the Present Simple Tense?

To form positive sentences we put the subject in the first place. For example:

I

He, she, it

You, we, they

Then we put the base form of the verb if we use the pronouns: I, you, we, they. And we put the verb with the ending -s or -es if we use the pronouns: he, she, it.

For example:

My parents watch TV every morning.

Or

Charles likes drinking orange juice.

To form negative sentences we put the subject in the first place. For example:

I

He, she, it

You, we, they

Then we put the auxiliary verb “do” or “does” with the particle “not”. The short forms are: don’t and doesn’t. After that we use the base form of the verb.

For example:

My parents don’t watch TV every morning.

Or

Charles doesn’t like drinking orange juice.

And to form questions we put the auxiliary verb “do” or “does” in the first place. Then we put the subject. For example:

I

He, she, it

You, we, they

After that we use the base form of the verb.

For example:

Do my parents watch TV every morning?

Or

Does Charles like drinking orange juice?

To give short answers to the questions we can use one of the following two constructions:

The first construction is…

In the first place we put the word “yes”. Then we use the personal pronoun. After that we need to put the auxiliary verb “do” or “does”.

And the second construction is…

In the first place we put the word “no”. Then we use the personal pronoun. After that we need to put the auxiliary verb “do” or “does” with the particle “not”.

Now let’s answer the last question:

What time markers do we use in the Present Simple Tense?

In the Present Simple Tense we use the following time markers:

Always

Often

Never

Sometimes

Usually

Every day/week/month/year

At night

In the morning

In the afternoon

In the evening

— Boys and girls, we’ve talked about the Present Simple Tense.

— Now we would like to check your knowledge.

Read the sentences and choose the right variant!

The girls … drinking pineapple juice.

The variants are:

doesn’t like

don’t like

like

likes

Let’s check!

The right answer is:

Like

Jason and Leslie … football on Mondays.

The variants are:

doesn’t play

don’t play

play

plays

Check yourselves!

The right answer is:

don’t play

Kimberly always … long dresses.

The variants are:

wears

wear

don’t wear

doesn’t wear

Let’s check!

The right answer is:

wears

I usually … my breakfast at 8 o’clock in the morning.

The variants are:

eats

eat

don’t eat

doesn’t eat

Check yourselves!

The right answer is:

eat

Kate, the film … at 6 o’clock. We need to hurry!

The variants are:

start

don’t start

doesn’t start

starts

Let’s check!

The right answer is:

starts

Steven … the dishes in the evening.

The variants are:

doesn’t wash

wash

washes

don’t wash

Check yourselves!

The right answer is:

doesn’t wash

Tyler … his bike every day.

The variants are:

ride

rides

doesn’t ride

don’t ride

Let’s check!

The right answer is:

doesn’t ride

Kevin and Rachel … tennis every morning.

The variants are:

play

don’t play

doesn’t play

plays

Check yourselves!

The right answer is:

don’t play

Well done, boys and girls!

Now…

Complete the questions using “do” or “does”!

Check yourselves!

The right answers are:

Do you listen to rock music?

Does Mary help her mum every day?

Do the boys play football very well?

Does James walk his dog on Sundays?

Does Joseph go to the gym every Friday?

Do the girls learn to dance at school?

Does Megan water the flowers every Tuesday?

Now…

Look at the pictures and answer these questions!

Let’s check!

The right answers are:

Yes, I do.

No, she doesn’t.

No, they don’t.

Yes, he does.

No, he doesn’t.

Yes, they do.

Yes, she does.

— Well done, boys and girls!

— Now it’s time to say goodbye to everyone.

— Goodbye, friends!

— Goodbye, boys and girls!

— Goodbye!