PRESENT SIMPLE

The present tense is the base form of the verb: I Questions:

work in London. Look at these questions:
But the third person (she/he/it) adds an -s: She Do you play the piano?
works in London. Where do you live?
Does Jack play football?
Use Where does he come from?
Do Rita and Angela live in Manchester?
We use the present tense to talk about: Where do they work?
something that is true in the present:
With the present tense, we use do and does
Im nineteen years old. to make questions. We use does for the third
He lives in London. person (she/he/it) and we use do for the
others.
something that happens again and again in We use do and does with question words
the present: like where, what and why. Do and does
come after the question words.
I play football every weekend.
But look at these questions with who:
We use words like sometimes, often. always, Who lives in London?
and never (adverbs of frequency) with the present Who plays football at the weekend?
tense: I sometimes go to the cinema. Who works at Liverpool City Hospital?
She never plays football.
Negative form:
something that is always true: Look at these sentences:
I like tennis, but I dont like football. (dont = do
The adult human body contains 206 bones. not)
Light travels at almost 300,000 kilometres per I dont live in London now.
second. I dont play the piano, but I play the guitar.
They dont work at the weekend.
something that is fixed in the future. John doesnt live in Manchester. (doesnt = does
not)
The school term starts next week. Angela doesnt drive to work. She goes by bus.
The train leaves at 1945 this evening.
We fly to Paris next week. With the present tense we use do and does to
make negatives. We use does not (doesnt)
Spelling for the third person (she/he/it) and we use do
Look at these sentences. not (dont) for the others.
She washes the dishes.
Dan watches TV every day.
The baby cries at night.

For he/she/it - verbs that end in consonant

+ -y, -y becomes i and we add es.
For he/she/it - verbs that end in sh,-ch,-s,
-o,-x we add es.
Be careful! y doesn't change to -i if the
ending is -ay, -ey, -oy, -uy. So, play
becomes plays, say becomes says, buy
becomes buys, enjoy becomes enjoys, stay
becomes stays.
 PRESENT CONTINUOUS
Questions:
The present continuous tense is formed from the Look at these questions:
present tense of the verb be and the -ing form of a Are you sleeping?
verb: What are you doing?
Is he working?
Use Where is she going?
1. We use the present continuous tense to talk about
the present:
for something that is happening at the Yes/no questions are created by moving the
moment of speaking: verb to be to the beginning of the sentence.
Im just leaving work. In WH-questions the WH- word comes first
She is reading at the moment. and then the verb to be.
Please be quiet! The children are sleeping.

for something which is temporary: Negative form:

Im working in London for the next two weeks. Look at these sentences:
He usually goes to work by bus, but today he is She isnt dancing.
taking a taxi. We arent cooking.
Im not reading a book.
2. We use the present continuous tense to talk about
the future: To form the negative we use the negative
for something which has been arranged or
form of the verb to be.
planned:
Mary is going to a new school next term.
What are you doing next week?

Spelling
Look at these sentences.
He is making a cake now.
The boy is running.
He is lying.

When the verb ends with -e, drop the -e and

add ing.
For short, one-syllable verbs, that end with
consonant + vowel + consonant (CVC), we
must double the last consonant and then add
ing.
For verbs that end in -ie, change the -ie to -y
before adding ing.
 PAST SIMPLE All right, that makes sense, but how do you form
questions and negatives?
It is the most common way of talking about past With the verb did (do in the past) + the infinitive.
events which have finished.
I stopped at a zebra crossing. Did you pass?
We carried on with the test. You didn't fail, did you?
We stayed at my grandparents' house last Yes, I did. / No, I didn't.
summer.
Right, thanks, I've got it now!
How do you form the past simple? Good. But you also need to learn the irregular past
For regular verbs the past simple is formed by simple forms.
adding -ed to the infinitive of the verb.
start started You mean there are verbs that don't end in -ed in the
kill killed past? So how do I know which verbs are regular and
jump jumped which are irregular?
You have to learn them!
That seems easy!
Yes, but there are some spelling rules. If a verb ends Learn them from the list? Oh no!
in -e, you add -d. It's not so bad. There aren't really so many verbs to
agree agreed learn and the past forms don't change.
like liked
If a verb ends in CVC, the last consonant is usually I took a taxi to the airport. (take took)
doubled before -ed. That was when we spoke. (speak spoke)
!! If the verb has one syllable we always double the
last consonant. I see what you mean. I made, you made, he made,
stop stopped she made, it made, we made, they made!
plan planned Exactly! They're all the same. And the negatives are
If a verb ends in consonant and -y, y becomes i and all formed with didnt + the infinitive without to.
add -ed. The question forms are very similar: did + subject +
try tried the infinitive without to.
carry carried
What did you do all day in the airport?
OK, not quite so easy! But the form doesn't change We didn't take a taxi.
for I, you, he, she, we and they, does it?
No, the form doesn't change. See, it is easy! OK, you're right, that's not too bad. Are there any
exceptions?
What about the pronunciation of the -ed ending? Yes the verb to be. The past form is was for I, he,
There are three kinds of pronunciation: /d/, /t/ and she and it, but were for you, we and they.
/d/. Look at the table below.
/d/ /t/ /d/ It was horrible outside yesterday.
We were stuck in the airport.
arrived asked wanted
failed crossed decided The negative forms are wasnt and werent.

Aaagh! How do I know how to pronounce each He wasnt at school.

one?
Good question. Well, really all you need to know is And, we form questions by putting the verb form
that /d/ is easier to say after arrive, and /t/ is easier before the subject.
to say after ask. For /d/, the infinitive ends in a /d/
or a /t/ sound already so you must add an extra Were you at school?
syllable for these verbs. Where was he this morning?