Verbs. Present tenses.

The verb is a part of speech which names an action or a condition. There are four form of the verb in English: the Infinitive (to do); Past Indefinite (did); Past Participle (done); Present Participle (doing).

English verbs can refer to future, present or past time. For each kind of time, there are three possibilities with most verbs: simple, progressive (be+ …ing) and perfect (have+past participle). There is not a direct relationship between verb forms and time. A past verb is not only used to talk about past events, but also about unreal or uncertain present or future events. And present verbs can be used to talk about the future. Also, progressive and perfect forms express ideas that are not simply concerned with time – for example continuation, completion, present importance.

Progressive (or continuous) forms are used especially when we describe an event as going on or continuing (perhaps at a particular time, or up to a particular time. Ex: I can’t talk to you now. I’m working. When you phoned I was working in the garage. I was tired because I had been working all day.

Perfect forms are used, for example, when we want to suggest a connection between a past event and the present, or between an earlier and a later past event; or when we want to say that something is/was/will be completed by a particular time.

Present simple

We use the present simple to talk about things in general. We are not thinking only about the present. We use it to say that something happens all the time or repeatedly or that something is true in general. It is not important whether the action is happening at the time of speaking. We use the ending –s for he/she/it. Ex: I work in a bank. Harry works at a bank. Verbs ending in consonant+y change y to i and add -es. Verbs ending in –s, -z, -ch, -sh, -x add –es.

We use auxiliary verbs do/does to make questions and negative sentences. Ex: Do I/we/you/they work? Does he/she/it work? I/we/you/they don’t work. He/she/it doesn’t work. When we ask about someone’s origin, we use the question: Where do you come from? (Откуда ты?). When we suggest something we can say ‘Why don’t you…?’ Ex: Why don’t you go to bed earlier?

We use the present simple when we say how often we do things. Ex: I get up at 8 a.m. every morning. How often do you go to the dentist? Ann doesn’t often drink tea.

Present simple with future meaning. We use the present simple when we are talking about timetables, programmes etc. (for example, for public transport, cinemas). Ex: What time does the film begin? But we do not normally use the present simple for personal arrangements. Ex: What time are you meeting Ann?

So present simple generally refers to: 1) facts that are always true. Ex: Water boils at 100 degree Celsius. 2) habits. Ex: British people drink a lot of tea. 3) states. Ex: I don’t like gangster films. Present simple is also used for: 4) making declarations. Verbs describing opinions and feelings tend to be state verbs. Ex: I hope you’ll come soon. I bet you don’t know the answer. 5) headlines are written in a ‘telegram’ style, and references to the past are usually simplified to present simple. Ex: Ship sinks in midnight collision. 6) instructions and recipes can be written in present simple. Ex: First you roll out the pastry. 7) summaries of historical events, plots of stories and films. Ex: May 1945: The war in Europe comes to an end.