Simple Present Tense

UNIT I

SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE / PRESENT TENSE

( Bentuk Sekarang Kebiasaan / kenyataan )

A.    Penggunaan

1. Untuk menyatakan peristiwa atau perbuatan yang berlangsung setiap hari / berulang-ulang / kebiasaan sehari-hari (habitual action).
2. Untuk menyatakan suatu kejadian atau peristiwa yang merupakan kebenaran umum (general truth).

B.     Keterangan waktu

Keterangan waktu yang menunjukkan tenses adalah :

1.      Adverb of frequency

-          always                                           -    sometimes

-          usually                                           -    occasionally

-          generally                                        -    seldom

-          habibually                                      -    rarely

-          normally                                        -    never

-          often                                              -    ever

-          frequency

2.      Every

-          every hour                                     -    every night

-          every day                                      -    every Sunday

-          every week                                    -    every Monday

-          every month                                  -    every Wednesday 

-          every year                                      -    every Saturday

-          every morning                               -    every January

-          every afternoon                             -    every December

-          every evening

3.      Once

-          once a day                                     -    once a month

-          once a week                                  -    once a year

4.      Twice

5.      three times

6.      four time

7.      at noon

8.      at night

9.      at midnight

10.  on Sunday, Monday

11.  in the morning

12.  in the afternoon

13.  in the evening

C.    Susunan kalimat

1.      Positive (+) : Subject + Verb I (s/es)

Subject	Verb I (KK I)	Object
I You	write buy	a story a shirt
We They He She It	clean play goes gives swims	the room tennis to school a present very fast

2.      Negative (-) : Subject + do/does + not + verb I

Subject	do/does	not	Verb I	Object
I You We They	do	not	write buy clean play	a story a shirt the room tennis
He She It	does		goes gives swims	to school a present very fast

3.      Interrogativ (?)

Do/does	Subject	Verb I	Object
Do	I You We They	write buy clean play	a story| a shirt? the room? tennis?
Does	He She It	goes gives swims	to school? a present? very fast?

Present Simple Tense

I sing

How do we make the Present Simple Tense?

subject	+	auxiliary verb	+	main verb
		do		base

There are three important exceptions:

1. For positive sentences, we do not normally use the auxiliary.
2. For the 3rd person singular (he, she, it), we add s to the main verb or es to the auxiliary.
3. For the verb to be, we do not use an auxiliary, even for questions and negatives.

Look at these examples with the main verb like:

	subject	auxiliary verb		main verb
+	I, you, we, they			like	coffee.
	He, she, it			likes	coffee.
-	I, you, we, they	do	not	like	coffee.
	He, she, it	does	not	like	coffee.
?	Do	I, you, we, they		like	coffee?
	Does	he, she, it		like	coffee?

Look at these examples with the main verb be. Notice that there is no auxiliary:

	subject	main verb
+	I	am		French.
	You, we, they	are		French.
	He, she, it	is		French.
-	I	am	not	old.
	You, we, they	are	not	old.
	He, she, it	is	not	old.
?	Am	I		late?
	Are	you, we, they		late?
	Is	he, she, it		late?

How do we use the Present Simple Tense?

We use the present simple tense when:

• the action is general
• the action happens all the time, or habitually, in the past, present and future
• the action is not only happening now
• the statement is always true

John drives a taxi.
past	present	future
It is John's job to drive a taxi. He does it every day. Past, present and future.

Look at these examples:

• I live in New York.
• The Moon goes round the Earth.
• John drives a taxi.
• He does not drive a bus.
• We meet every Thursday.
• We do not work at night.
• Do you play football?

Note that with the verb to be, we can also use the present simple tense for situations that are not general. We can use the present simple tense to talk about now. Look at these examples of the verb "to be" in the present simple tense - some of them are general, some of them are now:

Am I right? Tara is not at home. You are happy.
past	present	future
The situation is now.

 

I am not fat. Why are you so beautiful? Ram is tall.
past	present	future
The situation is general. Past, present and future.

 

This page shows the use of the present simple tense to talk about general events. But note that there are some other uses for the present simple tense, for example in conditional or if sentences, or to talk about the future. You will learn about those later.

The simple present tense is used to discuss permanant situations and the frequency of events.

To have	Short form	Other Verbs (to work)
I have	I've	I work
he has	he's	He works
she has	she's	She works
it has	it's	It works
you have	you've	you work
we have	we've	we work
they have	they've	they work

Statements +	Statements -	Questions	Short answer +	Short answer -
I work.	I don't work.	Do I work?	Yes, I do.	No, I don't.
He works.	He doesn't work.	Does he work?	Yes, he does.	No, he doesn't.
She works.	She doesn't work.	Does she work?	Yes, she does.	No, she doesn't.
It works.	It doesn't work.	Does it work?	Yes, it does.	No, it doesn't.
You work.	You don't work.	Do you work?	Yes you do.	No, you don't.
We work.	We don't work.	Do we work?	Yes we do.	No, we don't.
They work.	They don't work.	Do they work?	Yes they do.	No, they don't.

Regular or permanent situations

When something happens regularly or is a permanent situation we usually use the simple present tense. When using the simple present the verb (with the exception of the auxiliary verbs) remains in the dictionary form (verb + s with he/she/it).

Simple Present Timeline

For example:
Q) "Where do you live?" A) "I live in Germany."
Q) "Where does he live?" A) "He lives in Germany."
Q) "What do you do?" A) "I'm a teacher."
Q) "What does he do?" A) "He's a teacher."

Frequency

The simple present tense is also used to show how often something happens with adverbs of frequency - always, usually, often, sometimes, occasionally, seldom, rarely, never, etc.... And when discussing daily, weekly, monthly etc. routines.
For example:
"I always get up at 6.00."
"I never drink coffee before 12.00."
"I work on my website every day."
"Every Monday and Thursday I go to the gym."
We also use the simple present to ask for and give instructions or to discuss a series of actions.
For example:
Q) How do I make pancakes?" A) Well, first you take 4 eggs and crack them into a bowl, then you weigh out 4 oz. of flour and sieve it into the eggs. etc.
The simple present tense can also be used to discuss future events.