What is simple present tense

The simple present tense is a basic tense in English used to describe actions or situations that are regular, habitual, or generally true. The structure of simple present tense is:

Let's take a look at some examples

1. Regular situations

• I go to the gym three times a week.
• He reads the newspaper every morning.

We can also use simple present tense to describe situations that do not happen all the time or never happen as well.

• She never goes to the gym.
• I rarely eat fruits.
• I do not go to school on Friday. - It maybe common for other students to go to school on weekdays, but for some reason, this person does not go to school on Friday.

Another common use for simple present tense is to describe a person's job. For example, instead of saying "My dad is a bus driver", people often say "My dad drives a bus."

2. General truths and facts:

We use simple present tense to describe something that's true.

• The sun rises in the east.
• Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius.

It can also be used for something the speaker believes to be true or untrue as well. For example

• You are so smart! - The speaker believes the other person is smart.
• Not all beaches are clean.
• Cats hate water. - Maybe not all cats hate water, but generally cats do not like to get wet.

3. Present situations

We can use simple present tense to describe current situations , even though we cannot currently see. For example

• They live in an apartment. - They may be outside at the moment, but we know that they live in an apartment.
• He has 5 cats. - Even though we cannot see the cats at the moment, we know that the person owns 5 cats.
• I cannot swim. - We may learn in the future, but at this moment of speaking, we cannot swim.

Subject-verb agreement

To become a master in English tenses, it is important to understand the concept of subject-verb agreement. We will cover basic of subject-verb agreement in the next lesson.