Simple Present Tense

What Is the Simple Present Tense?

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The simple present tense is an English verb tense used to describe facts and habits, to describe scheduled events in the future, and to tell stories. Here are two easy examples of each usage:

(1) Simple present tense to describe facts and habits.

Alan walks the dog every morning.
He plays chess.

(2) Simple present tense to describe scheduled events in the future.

The train arrives at 5 o'clock.
The plane lands in 5 minutes.

(3) Simple present tense to tell stories (particularly jokes).

Sarah crosses the road and asks the policeman for directions.
A horse walks into a bar, and the barman says, "why the long face?"

The simple present tense is quite easy to form, but it is difficult to use. In fact, it's complicated.

Table of Contents

More Examples of the Simple Present Tense
Video Lesson
Forming the Simple Present Tense
The Spelling Rules
Interactive Verb Conjugation Tables
The Other Present Tenses
Test Time!

More Examples of the Simple Present Tense

The simple present tense is used:

(1) To describe facts and habits:

I like chocolate. (Fact)
Angela runs a youth club full of glue-sniffers. (Fact)
I ride horses in the summer. (Fact and habit)
It always snows here in January. (Fact and habit)
Dawn plays chess in the evenings. (Fact and habit)

(NB: These activities do not have to be happening right now.)

This type of sentence, especially if it's describing a habit, will usually include a time expression like "always," "every year," "never," "often," "on Mondays," "rarely," "sometimes," or "usually."

(2) To describe scheduled events in the future

The train arrives at 5 o'clock.
It is low tide at 0234.

(Yes, we know! It's supposed to be the present tense!)

(3) To tell stories (particularly jokes) to make your listener or reader feel more engaged with the story.

There are two parrots sitting on a perch. One turns to the other and asks, "Can you smell fish?"
We heard the helicopter overhead. Suddenly, the radio bursts into life.

(This is sometimes called the fictional present or the historic present.)

Video Lesson

Here is a short, 1-minute video on the simple present tense. video lesson

Are you a visual learner? Do you prefer video to text? Here is a list of all our grammar videos.

Forming the Simple Present Tense

The simple present tense is quite easy to form.

base form

"s"

Let's look at the verb to run (whose base form is run). In the simple present tense, run looks like this:

Person	Example
First person singular	I run
Second person singular	You run
Third person singular	He/She/It runs
First person plural	We run
Second person plural	You run
Third person plural	They run

In other words, it only changes in the third person singular (he / she / it). It adds either s, es or ies.

The Negative Version

To create a negative sentence, use "do not" + [base form of the verb]. (Use "does not" with third person singular (he / she / it).)

"do not" or "does not"

[base form of the verb]

I do not like chocolate.
Angela does not run a youth club full of glue-sniffers.
I do not ride horses in the summer.
It does not always snow here in January.
Dawn does not play chess in the evenings.

In speech and writing (especially informal writing), "do not" is often shortened to "don't," and "does not" is often shortened to "doesn't." If you want to add some emphasis, use one of the long versions (i.e., "do not" or "does not"), and emphasize the word "not."

The Question Version

If you need to ask a question, you can use the following word order for a yes/no question:

"do" or "does"

[subject]

base form of verb

Do you like chocolate?
Does Angela run the youth club?

You can use the following word order for a question-word question:

[question word]

"do" or "does"

[subject]

base form of verb

Why does Tony talk so quickly?
When do the farmers plant the corn?

You can use the following word order for a choice question:

"do" or "does"

[subject]

base form of verb

choice A

choice B

Does Mark sing or dance?
Do they want hamburger or sausages?

The Spelling Rules

For regular verbs, just add s:

talk > talks
improve > improves

For verbs that end in s, ss, sh, ch, x and o, add es:

guess > guesses
mash > mashes
fix > fixes
go > goes

For verbs ending [consonant]-y, change the y to i and add es:

fly > flies
study > studies

Infographic for the Simple Present Tense

Interactive Verb Conjugation Tables

The tables below show all 12 tenses so you can see the simple present tense among the other tenses. (You can change the verb by clicking one of the green buttons.)

Top 10 Regular Verbs

Top 10 Irregular Verbs

All 4 Past Tenses

Person	Simple Past	Past Progressive Tense	Past Perfect Tense	Past Perfect Progressive Tense
I you he/she/it we you they	past tense past tense past tense past tense past tense past tense The simple past tense is for a completed activity that happened in the past.	was present participle were present participle was present participle were present participle were present participle were present participle The past progressive tense is for an ongoing activity in the past. Often, it is used to set the scene for another action.	had past participle had past participle had past participle had past participle had past participle had past participle The past perfect tense is for emphasizing that an action was completed before another took place.	had been present participle had been present participle had been present participle had been present participle had been present participle had been present participle The past perfect progressive tense is for showing that an ongoing action in the past has ended.

All 4 Present Tenses

Person	Simple Present	Present Progressive Tense	Present Perfect Tense	Present Perfect Progressive Tense
I you he/she/it we you they	base form base form 3rd pers sing present base form base form base form The simple present tense is mostly for a fact or a habit.	am present participle are present participle is present participle are present participle are present participle are present participle The present progressive tense is for an ongoing action in the present.	have past participle have past participle has past participle have past participle have past participle have past participle The present perfect tense is for an action that began in the past. (Often, the action continues into the present.)	have been present participle have been present participle has been present participle have been present participle have been present participle have been present participle The present perfect progressive tense is for a continuous activity that began in the past and continues into the present (or finished very recently).

All 4 Future Tenses

Person	Simple Future	Future Progressive Tense	Future Perfect Tense	Future Perfect Progressive Tense
I you he/she/it we you they	will base form will base form will base form will base form will base form will base form The simple future tense is for an action that will occur in the future.	will be present participle will be present participle will be present participle will be present participle will be present participle will be present participle The future progressive tense is for an ongoing action that will occur in the future.	will have past participle will have past participle will have past participle will have past participle will have past participle will have past participle The future perfect tense is for an action that will have been completed at some point in the future.	will have been present participle will have been present participle will have been present participle will have been present participle will have been present participle will have been present participle The future perfect progressive tense is for an ongoing action that will be completed at some specified time in the future.