The simple present, present simple or present indefinite is one of the verb forms associated with the
present tense
The present tense (abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense whose principal function is to locate a situation or event in the present time. The present tense is used for actions which are happening now. In order to explain and understand present ...
in modern English. It is commonly referred to as a
tense, although it also encodes certain information about
aspect
Aspect or Aspects may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Aspect magazine'', a biannual DVD magazine showcasing new media art
* Aspect Co., a Japanese video game company
* Aspects (band), a hip hop group from Bristol, England
* ''Aspects'' (Benny Carter ...
in addition to present time. The simple present is the most commonly used verb form in English, accounting for more than half of verbs in spoken English.
It is called "simple" because its basic form consists of a single word (like ''write'' or ''writes''), in contrast with other present tense forms such as the
present progressive
The present continuous, also called the present progressive or present imperfect, is a verb form used in modern English that combines the present tense with the continuous aspect. It is formed by the present tense form of be and the present part ...
(''is writing'') and
present perfect
The present perfect is a grammatical combination of the present tense and perfect aspect that is used to express a past event that has present consequences. The term is used particularly in the context of English grammar to refer to forms like " ...
(''has written''). For nearly all English verbs the simple present is identical to the base form (
dictionary form
In morphology and lexicography, a lemma (plural ''lemmas'' or ''lemmata'') is the canonical form, dictionary form, or citation form of a set of word forms. In English, for example, ''break'', ''breaks'', ''broke'', ''broken'' and ''breaking'' a ...
) of the verb, except when the subject is third-
person
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property, ...
singular, in which case the ending ''-(e)s'' is added. There are a few verbs with irregular forms, the most notable being the
copula ''be'', which has the simple present forms ''am'', ''is'', and ''are''....
Conjugation
For pronouns I, you, we, they, there is no modification for verbs.
For pronouns he, she, it, a suffix is added following these rules:
For verbs that end in -o, -ch, -sh, -s, -x, or -z, the suffix -es is added
Examples:
*Go – Go
es
*Catch – Catch
es
*Wash – Wash
es
*Kiss – Kiss
es
*Fix – Fix
es
*Buzz – Buzz
es
For verbs that end in a consonant + y, the letter y is replaced by the suffix -ies.
Examples:
*Marry – Marr
ies
*Study – Stud
ies
*Carry – Carr
ies
*Worry – Worr
ies
In other cases, the suffix -s is added.
Examples:
*Play – Play
s
*Enjoy – Enjoy
s
*Say – Say
s
And a special situation happens with the verb "to have" in which the letters ve are omitted before adding s.
Example:
*Have – Ha
s
Formation
The basic form of the simple present is the same as the base form of the verb, unless the subject is third
person
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property, ...
singular, in which case a form with the addition of ''-(e)s'' is used. For details of how to make this inflected form, see .
The
copula verb
In linguistics, a copula (plural: copulas or copulae; list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word or phrase that links the subject (grammar), subject of a sentence (linguistics), sentence to a subject complement, such as the word '' ...
''be'' has irregular forms: ''am'' (first person singular), ''is'' (third person singular) and ''are'' (second person singular and all persons plural). The
modal verbs
A modal verb is a type of verb that contextually indicates a modality such as a ''likelihood'', ''ability'', ''permission'', ''request'', ''capacity'', ''suggestion'', ''order'', ''obligation'', or ''advice''. Modal verbs generally accompany the b ...
(''can'', ''must'', etc.) have only a single form, with no addition of ''-s'' for the third person singular.
The above refers to the
indicative mood
A realis mood (abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood which is used principally to indicate that something is a statement of fact; in other words, to express what the speaker considers to be a known state of affairs, as in declarative sentences. Mos ...
of the simple present; for the formation and use of the subjunctive mood, see
English subjunctive
While the English language lacks distinct inflections for Grammatical mood, mood, an English subjunctive is recognized in most History of English grammars, grammars. Definition and scope of the concept vary widely across the literature, but it is ...
. (The
defective verb
In linguistics, a defective verb is a verb that either lacks a conjugated form or entails incomplete conjugation, and thus cannot be conjugated for certain grammatical tenses, aspects, persons, genders, or moods that the majority of verbs or ...
''beware'' has no simple present indicative, although it can be used in the subjunctive.)
The conjugation of the simple present is given below, using the verb ''write'' as an example.
Negative
The present simple of lexical verbs has an expanded form which uses ''do'' (or ''does'', in the third person indicative) as an
auxiliary verb
An auxiliary verb (abbreviated ) is a verb that adds functional or grammatical meaning to the clause in which it occurs, so as to express tense, aspect, modality, voice, emphasis, etc. Auxiliary verbs usually accompany an infinitive verb or a p ...
. This is used particularly when forming questions and other clauses requiring inversion, negated clauses with ''not'', and clauses requiring emphasis. For details see
''do''-support. For the verbs (auxiliary and copular) which do not make this form, as well as the formation and use of contracted forms such as '' 's'', ''isn't'', and ''don't'', see
English auxiliaries and contractions
English auxiliary verbs are a small set of English verbs, which include the English modal verbs and a few others. Although definitions vary, as generally conceived an auxiliary lacks inherent semantic meaning but instead modifies the meaning of an ...
.
Simple present subjunctive
Uses
To refer to an action or event that takes place habitually. In the other hand to remark habits, facts and general realities, repeated actions or unchanging situations, emotions, and wishes. Such uses are often accompanied by frequency adverbs and adverbial phrases such as ''always'', ''sometimes'', ''often'', ''usually'', ''from time to time'', ''rarely'', and ''never''.
Examples:
*I always take a shower.
*I never go to the cinema.
*I walk to the pool.
*He writes for a living.
*She understands English.
This contrasts with the
present progressive
The present continuous, also called the present progressive or present imperfect, is a verb form used in modern English that combines the present tense with the continuous aspect. It is formed by the present tense form of be and the present part ...
(present continuous), which is used to refer to something taking place at the present moment: ''I am walking now''; ''He is writing a letter at the moment''.
With
stative verb
According to some linguistics theories, a stative verb is a verb that describes a state of being, in contrast to a dynamic verb, which describes an action. The difference can be categorized by saying that stative verbs describe situations that are ...
s in senses that do not use progressive aspect (see ), to refer to a present or general state, whether temporary, permanent or habitual;
*You are happy.
*I know what to do.
*A child needs its mother.
*I love you.
The simple present is also used to state facts:
* The earth revolves around the sun.
* A king beats a jack
* Many Americans drink coffee in the morning.
It can similarly be used when quoting someone or something, even if the words were spoken in the past:
*Mary says she's ready.
To refer to a single completed action, as in recounting the events of a story in the present tense (see
historical present
In linguistics and rhetoric, the historical present or historic present, also called dramatic present or narrative present, is the employment of the present tense when narrating past events. It is widely used in writing about history in Latin (w ...
), and in such contexts as newspaper
headline
The headline or heading is the text indicating the content or nature of the article below it, typically by providing a form of brief summary of its contents.
The large type ''front page headline'' did not come into use until the late 19th centur ...
s, where it replaces the
present perfect
The present perfect is a grammatical combination of the present tense and perfect aspect that is used to express a past event that has present consequences. The term is used particularly in the context of English grammar to refer to forms like " ...
:
*In ''Hamlet'', Ophelia drowns in a stream.
*40-year-old wins gold medal.
Sometimes to refer to an arranged future event, usually with a reference to time:
*We leave for Berlin tomorrow at 1 pm.
*Our holiday starts on 20 May.
In providing a commentary on events as they occur:
*I chop the chives and add them to the mixture.
*Ronaldo dribbles round the defender and shoots.
In describing events in some theoretical or planned situation that is under consideration:
According to the manager's new idea, I welcome the guests and you give the presentation.
In many
dependent clause
A subordinate clause, dependent clause, subclause, or embedded clause is a clause that is embedded within a complex sentence. For instance, in the English sentence "I know that Bette is a dolphin", the clause "that Bette is a dolphin" occurs as t ...
s referring to the future, particularly
condition clauses, clauses expressing place and time, and many relative clauses (see ):
*If he finds your sweets, he will eat them.
*We will report as soon as we receive any information.
Simple present is also used in zero conditional sentences in both parts of the sentence.
Zero Conditional , English Grammar Guide , EF
''Education First''
*Ice melts if you heat it.
*Plants die if they don't get enough water.
In certain situations in a temporal adverbial clause, rather than the present progressive:
*We can see the light improving as we speak.
In colloquial English it is common to use ''can see'', ''can hear'' for the present tense of ''see'', ''hear'', etc., and ''have got'' for the present tense of ''have'' (denoting possession
Possession may refer to:
Law
* Dependent territory, an area of land over which another country exercises sovereignty, but which does not have the full right of participation in that country's governance
* Drug possession, a crime
* Ownership
* ...
). See .
See also
* Present continuous
The present continuous, also called the present progressive or present imperfect, is a verb form used in modern English that combines the present tense with the continuous aspect. It is formed by the present tense form of be and the present part ...
* Simple past
The simple past, past simple or past indefinite, sometimes called the preterite, is the basic form of the past tense in Modern English. It is used principally to describe events in the past, although it also has some other uses. Regular English v ...
* Uses of English verb forms
This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes:
* Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went''
* Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone''
* Combinations of s ...
References
{{Reflist
Grammatical tenses