Simple Present Tense: I cook, you

cook, he cooks.
Sentence Practice
Cook

 I cook.
 You cook.
 We cook.
 They cook.
 He cooks.

Run

 I run.
 You run.
 We run.
 They run.
 She runs.

Study

 I study English.
 You study English.
 We study English.
 They study English.
 He studies English.

How to Form the Simple Present Tense

Most verbs in English only change in the 3rd person singular: he/she/it.

 I work.
 You work.
 He / she / it works.
 We work.
 You work.
 They work.

For certain verbs, we add an 'es' to the verb: 'I go', 'I watch', and 'I fix'
become 'he goes, she watches, it fixes' not 'gos', 'watchs', 'fixs'.
For verbs that end with the letter 'y', we remove the 'y' and add an 'ies': 'I
study English' becomes 'He studies English'.

Reasons to Use Simple Present Tense

We use the simple present tense to talk about:
1. Things that are always true:

 The Sun rises in the east. (= the Sun always rises in the east)

 Water boils at 100 degrees.
 The Earth goes around the Sun.

2. Things that are generally true:

 I work. (= I normally work.)
 You smoke. (= In general, you smoke.)
 He drinks tea with milk. (= Most of the time, he drinks tea with milk)

Exercise 2
Sentence Practice – Adverbs of Frequency

Things that are always true:

 The Sun rises every day.

 Leaves fall in the autumn.
 Americans watch football.

Things that are generally true:

 He goes to Japan.
 They visit their grandmother.
 I watch the news.

Exercise 3
Fill in the Blanks

1. I _________.

a) exercise

b) exercises
 2. He _________.

a) write

b) writes

3. Sharks _________.

a) swim

b) swims

4. She _________ soccer.

a) play

b) plays

5. You _________ fast food.

a) eat

b) eats

6. Students _________ questions.

a) ask

b) asks

7. They __________ to school.

a) go

b) goes
Exercise 4

Sentence Building
 go to work
 eat breakfast
 cook
 write reports
 study English
 see my friends
 play guitar

Yes-no questions
You may remember how to form yes-no questions with the verb 'be': switch
the verb and the subject. "You are Japanese." becomes "Are you
Japanese?"

To form yes-no questions with verbs other than 'be', put the helping verb 'do'
at the beginning of the sentence.

 I know you. → Do I know you?

 You live here. → Do you live here?
 We eat dinner late. → Do we eat dinner late?
 They speak Italian. → Do they speak Italian?

To respond 'yes' to these questions, say "Yes, I / you / we / they  do."

For the third person singular (he, she, it), the helping verb 'do' becomes
'does' to agree with the subject. Put 'does' at the beginning of the sentence
and use the main verb in its basic (without -s) form:

 He knows French. → Does he  know French?

 She eats meat. → Does she eat meat?
 It often rains here. → Does it often rain here?

Tip
Remember that the helping verb 'do' changes to 'does' in the third person.  The main
verb stays in its basic form. So don't add an 's' to the main verb! "Does he
knows French?" is wrong.
EXERCISE
1. __________ you know the muffin man?
2. __________ she know the muffin man?
3. __________ they know the muffin man?
4. __________ you like milk?
5. __________ they like milk?
6. __________ he like milk?

Use 'do not' before a verb to make a negative sentence in Simple

Present. The contracted form is 'don't':

 I do not (don't) eat meat.

 You do not (don't) exercise often.
 We do not (don't) speak Italian.
 They do not (don't) work.

For the third person singular (he, she, it) use ' does not' (contracted form
'doesn't') before the verb, and don't add the 's' to the verb:

 He does not (doesn't) teach Italian.
 She does not (doesn't)  like dogs.
 It does not (doesn't) rain here often.

Note that to form a negative sentence, we do not make the verb negative. "I
eat not meat" is wrong. We add a helping verb 'do' and make 'do' negative:
"I do not eat meat."

Remember that the verb 'be' does not need a helping verb.  We can make it negative:

 I am not Russian.
 You are not Russian.
 He/she/it is not Russian.
 We are not Russian.
 They are not Russian.

EXERCISE
1. I __________ have children.
2. She __________ exercise.
3. We __________ work. We are retired.
4. He _________ speak English.
5. They _________ write letters to each other.