Present Simple

Hello! This video is about the present simple, or as some people call it, the simple present When I learned grammar, I learned the present simple, so that’s what I’m going to call it. It’s my video; I get to make the decision! First, we’re going to look at the form, which is how to make the present simple, and then we’re going to look at the function, which is how to use it. At the end of the video, there’s also a little quiz. So we’re going to look at these two things here – we’re to look at the form of the function. We’re probably going to spend more time looking at the form, but actually, what’s more important is the function – how to use the present simple. Let’s get started. So, first of all, we will look at positive sentences or, as we also can say, at affirmative sentences. So we start with the subject: I, you, we, they, and then he, she, and it are a little bit different. So we take the base form of the verb – the base form is the infinitive without to – and you’ll notice that for he, she, and it, there’s something that’s a little bit different. I add S’s to the end of those words, okay? We call this the third person S. So he and she and it have to have their S, and that’s whether it’s a positive sentence, or a question… whatever it is, there has to be an S there. When I was teaching in Germany, my students taught me a little rhyme that their teachers taught them and today I’m going to teach you. “He she it, das s muss mit!” He, she, it the S must go with it, okay? So he, she, it das s muss mit; if there’s he, she, or it, there has to be an S in the present simple. Okay, I’ll remind you of that a few times as we go through. Let’s take a look at some example sentences. I walked to the store. He – which is obviously part of he she it – he walks to the store. You drink coffee every day. She drinks coffee every day. We start the tennis match at 7:30 It – the match – starts at 7:30. Now let’s take a look at negative sentences. So we start where we were before, with the subject and then the base form Notice I’ve got my S and I slide that over, and I have to add two things. I have to add an auxiliary verb, and I have to add a negation. So this is the easy part, so we’ll talk about this first. I obviously have to add this “not” to make the sentence negative. Now look over here. For I, you, we, they, I add “do” but for he, she, it I add the OES; I add “does.” Now if you take a look at this, there’s actually a little mistake on what I’m showing you right now. Can you find it? It’s over here. You see it now? I’ve left my S’s here, which, when I’m using the negative form, I can’t do, and the reason is because they’re over here instead. So, now that I fixed that, we’ll continue. He, she, it – I do still have to have my S but it goes on the auxiliary verb, and this is something that confuses people for a while when they are first learning English. It is what it is; it’s not going to change. Just do your best to remember. One other thing, and that is it sounds like “duz.” It doesn’t sound like do-is. Sometimes when students are first learning, they make that mistake. I understand why, but that’s not right. We say “does.” Okay, there’s one other thing that we could look at before we move on, and that is contractions. So, I can take the do not or the does not and I can combine them, and I end up with don’t or doesn’t. Notice I still have my S here; I still have my third person S. Okay, let’s go back to where we were a moment ago, and now we’re going to move to yes/no questions. So yes/no questions, all I do… well I take away the negation because it’s not a negative question. All I do is I change the auxilary verb and the subject. Now, because these are now at the beginning of a sentence, I really should have a capital D here and a capital D here, but I don’t so you will have to imagine. So, yes/no questions: Do you build? Does she walk” okay? Now there’s one other type of question, which is WH questions. From here, it’s very simple; all we do – at the beginning of the sentence – is we add our question word. Where do you build? Where does she walk? How do they talk? Okay? All right. so that’s the form; that’s the easy part. Here’s the more important part to the function, which is how to use the present simple. We use the present simple for habits, for things that happen often, or for things that are always true. I walk to work – that’s how I get there; I don’t take the bus, I don’t drive. I walk. Gina is my sister. Well, Gina has been my sister for a very, very long time. Gina will be my sister for a very, very long time. This is just something that, that, it just is the way it is okay? It’s always true. Or – and this is where people get confused a little bit – things that are true for a long time. He lives in London. So, he may have lived in London – he may have been born someplace else, but now he lives in London, and he’s been there for a long time and he will probably continue to live there for a long time. With the present simple, we’re not talking about kind of how something started or where it’s going to go in the future; we’re just saying that this is true now, okay? So he lives in London. If he’s visiting London – notice I said visiting ing – that’s a short time period, so we don’t use the present simple. We use the present simple for ideas that are true over a longer time. Another way we use the present simple is for facts, for scientific truths. The Sun rises in the east. It always has, it always will. Water freezes at zero degrees Celsius. Those are scientific facts; those are never going to change. I wrote “bonus” here; a lot of people don’t talk about this… we’re still using the present simple, but if you notice, we’re actually talking about the future. It’s… we can think of it as “this is a future fact” or “this is a fact about the future” so we can talk – sorry, we can use the present simple for scheduled events, okay? So it’s scheduled events; it hasn’t happened yet, but it is, again, a future fact. The plane arrives at 7 o’clock. The train leaves at 4:30. Those are both very specific times on the clock. Okay? Look at this net next one, though, it’s quite different. The party starts after the Sun goes down. It’s not a specific time on the clock, but we can still understand that as being a time in the future, okay? So we can use the present simple to talk about the future, when we’re talking about scheduled events. This is really important because this is where people make the most mistakes. So I’ve just talked about how we do use the present simple; now I’m going to talk about how we don’t use the present simple. We do not use the present simple for things that are happening right now. So if I have a sentence: I drink water. What that means is I drink water often; I drink water every day; if I made a diagram, it might look like this, okay? So in the past, drinking water, drinking water, drinking water. This is, this is now. In the future, I will continue to drink water, okay? So I’m saying this is a fact; this is how things are. If you’re a little bit confused, just hold on; it’ll be clear in a minute. Take a look at this it doesn’t have this meaning: If I say “I drink water” it does not mean “right now I am drinking water” that’s not what that means, okay? So I drink water means this is a habit; it doesn’t mean this is what I’m doing right now, and this is the most common problem, is that people want to use the present simple for what they are doing not for something that is true. Okay, I’ve written some sentences here. I’d like you to look at them and decide if they are correct or not, and, more importantly, why. Okay, so here are the sentences – and remember we are looking at them through the lens of the present simple. So, are these sentences correct in the present simple or not? Pause the video and I’ll come back in a moment and share the answers with you. Some of them are correct, some of them are not. The ones that aren’t, please tell me why. I’ll pause the video now and I’ll come back in a few moments. Okay, so how do you think you did? Let’s take a look. Here are the answers. So we can see that there are problems with most of these sentences. Let’s go through them one by one. She walk to the store. No, we forgot our he, she, it. He, she, it, das S muss mit, so she walks to the store. Number two is correct; there’s no problem there. Number three: He drinks water right now. Boy, I hope you got this one right because we just talked about this okay? Not right now; he is drinking water right now. He drinks water often, he drinks water every day, okay. If we’re talking about what he’s doing right now, we cannot use the present simple. You have to use the present continuous. Winter colder than summer. There is no Verb here. You would have to say “Winter is colder than summer.” Tom and Susan walks to school together. Now, depending on what your first language is, this might look completely correct. You might be kind of scratching your head right now wondering what the problem is. Well this S… I understand why people might put that there, but that S doesn’t belong because Tom and Susan is like “they” and it’s he, she, and it that gets the S, not they. So Tom and Susan is “they.” That s should not be there. Number six: My brothers likes football. Well, this is very similar. “They like” and, so we do not put this S here. Number seven: They has nice clothes. [A] problem with the verb again: They have nice clothes. Number eight: These pens is good. Well, these pens, that’s plural, so not “is” but “are.” And number nine: Ice is being cold. Well it’s not being cold; it’s not something that it’s doing, okay? So this is the problem here. Ice just is cold, okay? So not being cold; it doesn’t work in English. Number ten is correct: The light is bright. So, how did you do? If you’d like some more practice, look below the video. I’ve created some activities and practice for you.Tthat’s all for today. Thank you very much!