3. Form

As its name suggests, the Present Simple form is a simple one-word verb, composed of the base form for all persons, except for a verb agreeing with a subject in the third person singular, represented by the pronouns he, she, it (See usages 1 and 3 above). Adding the third person’s verb ending (s) where needed is one of the most basic grammar rules in English, as it is the only inflectional verb ending that remained in English grammar, which has been dramatically simplified throughout the centuries.

Subject	Main Verb	Rest of sentence
I, you, we, they	V1
he, she, it	V1+s
I	live	in Paris.
She	lives	in France.

Watch out !

For verbs agreeing with subjects in the third person singular in the Present Simple, you must add the s ending to the main verb. • Spelling Rules in the Present Simple: • Two verbs in English have special forms in the Present Simple:

to be	to have
I am
you, we, they are	I, you, we, they have
he, she, it is	he, she, it has

I am an engineer, my mother is a teacher, and my grandparents are retired. My family has one car. The Smiths have 3 cars.

4. Common Time Expressions

The Present Simple is used with time expressions (in blue) informing about when or how often things happen. Pay attention to the frequency time expressions used before the verb (pre-verbals), as opposed to those used at the end of the sentence. Notice the use of prepositions (on, in, at) with time expressions appearing at the end of the sentence.

Subject	Frequency time expressions before the verb	Verb	Place / Manner	Time
I	always	go	there	on Sunday.
You	often	travel	abroad	in the Summer.
Dan / He	usually / generally	swims	at the pool	at 7 a.m.
Sheila / She	sometimes	stays	in	on the weekend.
We	seldom	study	at the library	at night.
You	rarely / hardly ever	work	hard	every day.
My parents They	never	leave	home	in the evenings.

 

5. Negative Statements and Question Types in the Present Simple

 

1. Negative Statements:

Subject	Auxiliary verb+not	Main verb	Rest of sentence
I, you, we, they	do not / don’t	work	in the evening.
He,she,it	does not / doesn’t	work	at home.

Watch out !

Note that in the third person singular, the main verb is in its base form without the s ending, which is added to the auxiliary verb do, resulting in does.

 

 

The 3 Question Types:

1. Yes/No Questions:

Auxiliary verb	Subject	Main verb	Rest of sentence
Do	I, you, we, they	work	in the evening?
Does	He,she,it	work	at home ?

2. Wh Questions:

Wh question word	Auxiliary verb	Subject	Main verb	Rest of sentence
When	do	I, you, we, they	work	?
Where	does	He,she,it	work	?

3. Wh-Subject Questions:

Wh subject question	Main verb	Rest of sentence
Who	works	here ?
What	happens	at the end of the story ?

 

Watch out !

• Note that in Wh subject-questions, there is no need for an auxiliary verb. • In Wh subject-questions in the Present Simple, the verb is always in the third person singular form, with the s ending.