Present Simple usage in English Grammar
I like | I don’t like. | Do I like |
you like | you don’t like | Do you like |
he/she/it likes | she doesn’t like | Does it like |
we like | we don’t like | Do we like |
they like | they don’t like | Do they like |
Here, we are talking about future facts, usually found in a timetable or a chart.
Christmas Day falls on a Monday this year.
The plane leaves at 5.00 tomorrow morning.
Ramadan doesn’t start for another 3 weeks.
Does the class begin at 10 or 11 this week?
The library doesn’t close until 6.30.
Thoughts and feelings
Here, we are talking about our thoughts and feelings at the time of speaking. Although these feelings can be short-term, we use the present simple and not the present continuous.
They don’t ever agree with us.
I think you are right.
She doesn’t want you to do it.
Do you understand what I am trying to say.
I wonder what she is doing now.
What is present simple?
The Present Simple is used
To express habits, general truths, repeated actions or unchanging situations, emotions and wishes
To give instructions or directions
To express fixed arrangements in the present or future
To express future time after some conjunctions -after, when, before, as soon as, until
Can we use Present Simple to talk about the future?
Yes, for scheduled events.
The train leaves in 2 hours.
The sun rises at 6.53 tomorrow.
What is the difference between the Present Simple and Present Perfect?
The Present Simple talks about the present or is timeless.
The Present Perfect looks back at the past from the present.
I drink coffee 5 times a day.
So far today I’ve drunk 3 cups.