The Present Simple Tense

The verb 'be' is different from the other verbs in this tense. Let's look at 'be' first:

Here's the positive form (positive means a normal sentence, not a negative or a question. This is sometimes called 'affirmative')

Next, here's the negative. It's very easy. You only add 'not'.

And finally let's talk about the question form of the present simple with 'be'.

Firstly, here's the 'yes / no' question form:

If you'd like to make a 'wh' question, you just put the question word at the front:

Present simple tense with other verbs

With all other verbs, we make the present simple in the same way.

The positive is really easy. It's just the verb with an extra 's' if the subject is 'he', 'she', or 'it'. Let's take the verb 'play' as an example:

• Don't forget the 's'! Even really advanced students do this!
• For a few verbs, there is a spelling change before the 's'. For example, 'study' becomes 'studies'. Click here for a list of these verbs .
• There are also few verbs which are irregular in the present simple:
  1. 'have' becomes 'has'
  2. 'do' becomes 'does'
  3. 'go' becomes 'goes'

To make the negative form, you need to use 'do not' (don't) or ' does not' (doesn't).

How about the question form of the present simple tense?

We use 'do' or 'does' before the subject to make the 'yes / no' question:

Just like with 'be', if you'd like to make a 'wh' question, you just put the question word at the front:

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