The Present Simple Tense (also called the Simple Present Tense)
Simple present tense with ‘be’
The verb ‘be’ is different from the other verbs in this tense. Let’s look at ‘be’ first.
Here’s the positive form (positive means a normal sentence, not a negative or a question. This is
sometimes called ‘affirmative’).
Positive Positive short form
I am I’m
you are you’re
he is he’s
she is she’s
it is it’s
we are we’re
they are they’re
For example:
• I’m Scottish.
• She’s hungry.
• They’re always late.
Next, here’s the negative. It’s very easy. You only add ‘not’.
Negative Negative short form
I am not I’m not
you are not you aren’t
he is not he isn’t
she is not she isn’t
it is not it isn’t
we are not we aren’t
they are not they aren’t
For example:
• I’m not cold.
• He isn’t from Spain.
• We aren’t at home.
Here’s the ‘yes / no’ question form.
For example:
• Am I next in the queue?
• Are you from Tokyo?
• Is he at the library at the moment?
If you’d like to make a ‘wh-‘ question, you just put the question word at the front.
Wh- questions
Where am I?
What are you?
Why is he?
Who is she?
What is it?
When are we?
How are they?
For example:
• Where are you from?
• Who is that girl?
• Why are they still at work?
Present simple tense with other verbs
With all other verbs, we make the present simple in the same way.
The positive is really easy. It’s just the verb, with an extra ‘s’ if the subject is ‘he’, ‘she’, or ‘it’.
Let’s take the verb ‘play’ as an example.
Positive
I play
you play
he plays
she plays
it plays
we play
they play
For example:
• I play tennis every week.
• He likes chocolate.
• They usually go to the cinema on Fridays.