Simple Present Tense With DO/DOES

 LEARN SECTION!

A. Simple present tense USE:

➢ To express habits, general truths, repeated actions or unchanging situations, emotions and wishes: 

Exampes: I smoke (habit); I work in London (unchanging situation); London is a large city (general truth)

➢ To give instructions or directions: 

Example: You walk for two hundred meters, then you turn left.

➢ To express fixed arrangements, present or future: 

Example: Your exam starts at 09.00

More Examples

1. For habits He drinks tea at breakfast. She only eats fish. They watch television regularly.

2. For repeated actions or events We catch the bus every morning. It rains every afternoon in the hot season. They drive to Monaco every summer.

3. For general truths Water freezes at zero degrees. The Earth revolves around the Sun. Her mother is Peruvian.

4. For instructions or directions Open the packet and pour the contents into hot water. You take the No.6 bus to Watney and then the No.10 to Bedford.

5. For fixed arrangements His mother arrives tomorrow. Our holiday starts on the 26th March.

B. Simple present tense STRUCTURE

1. AFFIRMATIVE SENTENCES

I. Subject ( I /You / We / They ) + verb + complement: 

I play the piano. 

You play the piano. 

We play the piano. 

They play the piano.

II. Subject ( She / He / It ) + Verb + s + complement: 

She plays the piano. 

He plays the piano. 

It plays the piano.

Third person singular -s ending (conjugated with HE, SHE, or IT)

• In the third person singular the verb always ends in -s:

He wants / She needs / He gives / She thinks

2. NEGATIVE SENTENCES

• In negative sentences use the auxiliary DO or DOES + NOT

The contraction for DO NOT is DON’T.

The contraction for DOES NOT is DOESN’T.

I. Subject ( I /You / We / They ) + do not + verb + complement 

I don’t play the piano 

You don’t play the piano 

We don’t play the piano 

They don’t play the piano

II. Subject ( She / He / It ) + does not + Verb + complement 

She doesn’t play the piano 

He doesn’t play the piano 

It doesn’t play the piano

*In the negative form we do not conjugate the third person singular -s ending.

3. YES / NO QUESTIONS

• In yes/no questions we use the auxiliary DO or DOES at the beginning of the question.

I. Do + Subject ( I /You / We / They ) + verb + complement + ? 

Do I play the piano ? Do You play the piano ? 

Do We play the piano ? Do They play the piano ?

II. Does + Subject ( She / He / It ) + Verb + complement + ? 

Does she play the piano ? 

Does he play the piano ? 

Does It play the piano ?

*In questions we do not conjugate the third person singular -s ending.

YES / NO QUESTIONS SHORT ANSWERS

• These questions are looking for a simple yes or no answer.

1. Do you play the piano? 

Yes, I do. No, I don’t. 

2. Does she play the piano? 

Yes, she does. No, she doesn’t.

4. INFORMATION QUESTIONS

• These questions use WH-QUESTION WORDS to obtain specific information.

I. WH-QUESTION WORD + do + Subject ( I /You / We / They ) + verb + complement + ? 

What do I play ? 

Where do you play ? 

Why do We play ? 

How often do they play ?

II. WH-QUESTION WORD + does + Subject ( She / He / It ) + Verb + complement + ? 

What does She play ? 

Where does he play ? 

Why does It play ?

C. Simple present tense TIME EXPRESSIONS

• Use 'every' with segments of time such as every day, month, year, every two months, etc.

o She travels to Las Vegas every year.

o Jack tries to exercise every day.

• Here is how to use adverbs of frequency (usually, sometimes, often, etc.):

o They sometimes play golf.

o She rarely smokes.

Watch the following video to complement the information related to the use of simple present structure.

PRACTICE SECTION!

A. Make the present simple.  Write the statements in order in your notebook. Choose positive, negative or question.

1) (he / drive to work every day) 

2) (I / not / think you're right) 

3) (we / have enough time)? 

4) (I / eat cereal in the morning) 

5) (they / write e-mails every day)? 

6) (you / watch a lot of TV) 

7) (he / not / read the newspaper) 

8) (she / dance often)? 

9) (where / I / come on Mondays)? 

10) (what / you / do at the weekend)? 

11) (you / not / drink much tea)

12) (how / he / travel to work)? 

13) (they / not / like vegetables) 

14) (she / catch a cold every winter) 

15) (I / go out often)? 

16) (you / speak English)? 

17) (we / take the bus often) 

18) (she / not / walk to school) 

19) (what / you / buy in the supermarket)? 

20) (how / he / carry such a heavy bag)?