The affirmative form of the simple present:

I, you, we, they play.
He, she, it plays.

Remember the verbs in the third person singular (he,she and it) always take an "s". For example, "he plays, she sings,it works..."

Examples:

  • Nancy and James speak good German.
  • Nancy works in a restaurant downtown.
  • The children play in the garden every weekend.

The interrogative form of the simple present:

Do I, you, we, they play?
Does he, she, it

Examples:

  • Do you speak good German?
  • Does Nancy work in a restaurant downtown?

The negative form of the simple present:

I, you, we,they do not play.
don't
He, she, it does not
doesn't

Examples:

  • No, I don't speak German.
  • No, she doesn't work in a restaurant downtown

The use of the simple present:

The simple present is used:

  • to give your opinion - I like ice cream. I don't like spicy food.
  • to talk about schedules - The library opens at eight. It doesn't open at 7.
  • to talk about daily habits (routine actions)- Sara eats a cheese for breakfast every day. She doesn't eat cereal.
  • to give facts - The earth circles the sun. The moon doesn't circle the sun.

The spelling of the third person singular form of the simple present:

All the verbs take an "s" in the simple present when conjugated in the third person singular (he, she, it) form:

Examples:

  • I visit my parents every summer holiday. But my wife visits her parents every weekend.
  • My brother meets his girlfriend everyday.

So the rule is:

He / she / it + Verb + S

There are however some special cases. Here are the spelling rules:

Silent e Vowel + y Consonant + y Verbs ending in o Verbs ending in s, z, sh, tch, ch
close = closes
note = notes		 play = plays
say = says		 study = studies
marry = marries		 go = goes
do = does		 miss = misses
buzz = buzzes
hatch = hatches
finish = finishes
teach = teaches

Examples:

  • She drives to work every morning.
  • He says he plays football on the weekends

Exception:

  • The verb to have changes its forms as follows:
    I have two sisters and two brothers. But she has one sister and two brothers.
    I have = he / she / it has

Things to remember about the simple present:

1.In the interrogative forms, we use "do" or "does".

  • "Do you like the house?"
  • "Does she go to school?"

2. Verbs never take an "s" in the the negative and interrogative forms.

  • "Does he speak German?"
  • "Do they play soccer?"
  • She doesn't like ice cream.

3. don't is the short form of "do not". You can say either:

  • I do not speak Italian, or
  • I don't speak Italian.

4.doesn't is the short form of "does not". you can say either:

  • He does not listen to jazz music, or
  • He doesn't listen to jazz music.