☰

Simple Present Tense With Examples

What is the Simple Present:

The simple present,or (present simple), is a common tense in English, and common to new learners. It is used specifically with verbs like “to be” or “to have.” It is important to know when to use it and how to conjugate it. You will need the simple present mostly to talk about daily life activities.

When to Use:

1. For activities that happen regularly in the present:

I feed my cat before leaving the house
The airplane to Paris leaves every two hours.
Anna drives to work at 9am.

2. When talking about facts:

There are 7 days in a week.
The sun rises in the East.
Ice melts at high temperature.

3. For habits:

Jamal goes to the gym every weekend.
I eat lunch each day at 1pm.
She reads a book every night.

How to Use:

Conjugating verbs in the present tense follows a regular pattern (that is, forms), which must be memorized. Here are the rules to understand:

1. For most regular verbs:

The third-person singular (he/she/it) is formed by adding an “s” at the end:

I/you/we/you/they = drive
He/she/it = drives

2. For verbs that end in ss, sh, ch, th, x, z, or o, add an es at the end:

pass

I/you/we/you/they = pass
He/she/it = passes

smash

I/you/we/you/they = smash
He/she/it = smashes

touch

I/you/we/you/they = touch
He/she/it = touches

bathe

I/you/we/you/they = bathe
He/she/it = bathes

fix

I/you/we/you/they = fix
He/she/it = fixes

buzz

I/you/we/you/they = buzz
He/she/it = buzzes

I/you/we/you/they = go
He/she/it = goes

3. For verbs that end in consonant + y, delete y and add ies:

try

I/you/we/you/they = try
He/she/it = tries

study

I/you/we/you/they = study
He/she/it = studies

Conjugation of "To Have" and "To Go"

The verb to have can be defined as the manner of showing possession or a quality.
To go is a verb that is related to movement (that is, travel) in a specific direction.