The Present Simple Tense
Verb Forms
We use the present simple tense for usual or repeated actions, facts, future schedules and stative verbs.
For I, You, We and They we use the infinitive form of the verb:
| Subject | Infinitive | |
|---|
| I | play | football every Saturday. |
| You | start | the job tomorrow. |
| We | understand | the question. |
| They | walk | to school every day. |
| The games | begin | next Monday. |
| The planets | move | around the sun. |
For He, She and It (3rd person singular), we usually add s to the infinitive:
| Subject | Verb Form | |
|---|
| He | reads | every day. |
| Tom | runs | every morning. |
| She | knows | the answer. |
| Sara | sings | every day. |
| It | begins | next week. |
| Ice | melts | at zero degrees. |
| The train | leaves | at eight. |
We add es to infinitives ending ss, sh, ch, o and x:
| Infinitive | Verb Form |
|---|
| miss | misses |
| wash | washes |
| watch | watches |
| go | goes |
| mix | mixes |
We change y to i for words ending in y:
| Infinitive | Verb Form |
|---|
| study | studies |
| carry | carries |
We change have to has:
| Infinitive | Verb Form |
|---|
| have | has |
| Subject | Verb Form | |
|---|
| He | misses | her. |
| Tom | catches | fish every morning. |
| She | washes | the dishes every day. |
| Sara | goes | there on Saturdays. |
| It | mixes | with water. |
| He | studies | at 6 o'clock. |
| She | has | a bicycle. |
Now try the quiz below!