SIMPLE PRESENT
SIMPLE PRESENT VERB TO BE
The simple present or present simple is one of the verb forms associated with the present tense in modern English. It is commonly referred to as a tense, although it also encodes certain information about aspect in addition to present time.
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 continuous(is writing) and present perfect (has written). For nearly all English verbs the simple present is identical to the base form (dictionary form) of the verb, except when the subject is third-person 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.
The principal use of the simple present is to refer to an action or event that takes place habitually, as in He writes for a living (in contrast to the present continuous, which refers to something taking place at the present moment: He is writing a letter now). However certain verbs expressing a state, such as be and know, are used in the simple present even when referring to a temporary present state. There are also certain other uses (including those mentioned in the following paragraph) in which the simple present does not reflect a habitual aspect.
Like other English present tense forms, the simple present has certain uses in which it does not refer to present time. It frequently refers to the future, as in "My train leaves tomorrow" and "If we win on Saturday, ...". It can also sometimes refer to past events – as in newspaper headlines, for example.
For more information about the uses of constructions related to or contrasting with the simple present, see Uses of English verb forms.
Formation
The basic form of the simple present is the same as the base form of the verb, unless the subject is thid person singular, in which case a form with the addition of -(e)s is used. For details of how to make this inflected form, see English verbs: Third-person singular present.
The copula verb be has irregular forms: am (first person singular), is (third person singular) and are (second person singular and all persons plural). The modal verbs(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 of the simple present; for the formation and use of the subjunctive mood, see English subjunctive. (The defective verb bewarehas no simple present indicative, although it can be used in the subjunctive.)
The present simple of lexical verbs has an expanded form which uses do (or does, in the third person indicative) as an auxiliary verb. 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.
All forms of the simple present are given below, using the verb write as an example:
- Basic simple present indicative:
- I write
- You write
- He/she/it writes
- We write
- You write
- They write
- Expanded simple present indicative (with question, negative, and negative question forms):
- I do write (Do I write? I do not/don't write. Don't I/Do I not write?)
- You do write (Do you write? You do not/don't write. Don't you/Do you not write?)
- He/she/it does write (Does he write? He does not/doesn't write. Doesn't he/Does he not write?)
- We/you/they do write (Do we write? We do not/don't write. Don't we/Do we not write?)
- Simple present subjunctive (affirmative):
- (that) I/you/he/she/it/we/they write
- Simple present subjunctive, negative:
- (that) I/you/he/she/it/we/they not write.