Present Simple

We use present simple to talk about activities that repeat, habits, and routines.

picture picture picture

I get up at 8 o’clock. I go to work by bus. I finish work at 4 o’clock.

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I have dinner with my friends. I go to bed at 10 o’clock. I go to the gym on Monday.

The structure of a present simple sentence is as follows:

subject verb …
I work at a hospital.
You work every day.
We work on Tuesdays.
They work at home.

1. Complete the sentences with the verbs in brackets.

I __go___ (go) to work by bus.
We _____ (meet) every day.
You _____ (drink) coffee.
They _____ (make) dinner in the evening.

2. Complete the sentences with suitable verbs.

drink cook have meet go finish
I __cook___ dinner every day.
We _____ work at 2pm.
You _____ coffee in the morning.
 They _____ to work by car.
I _____ my friends on Wednesdays.
You _____ a nice house.

Be careful, there is a slight change for he/she/it.

subject verb + s …
He works at a hospital.
She works every day.
It works on Tuesdays.
My friend works at home.

*If the verb ends in ch, sh, or x we add an additional -es.

**If the verb ends in -y we replace it with -ies.
***The verb have changes to has.

3. Put these sentences into 3rd person.

I work in a hospital. She works in a hospital______.
We start at 8:00. The class _________________.
They call their friends very often. He ______________________.
You study math. She _____________________.
I have a car. My father ________________.
We watch TV every night. He ______________________.

4. Order the words into sentences.

read / I / books. I read books.
tennis / every / Monday. / We / play _____________________________
coffee. / wants / He _____________________________
She / cats. / likes _____________________________
watch / in the evening. / TV / They _____________________________
to the radio. / listen / You _____________________________
It / in the house. / lives _____________________________
Negative
We create negative sentences with the use of do.

do + not -> don’t

subject don’t verb …

I don’t work at a hospital.
You don’t work every day.
We don’t work only in December.
They don’t work hard.

Examples:
I don’t get up at 7 o’clock. I get up at 8 o’clock.
I don’t eat meat. I am a vegetarian.
We don’t live in Spain. We live in Germany.
You don’t study German. You study English.

For 3rd person singular (he/she/it) the s shifts to the do

She likes English.

↓

She do not likes English.

↓
She does not like English.

does + not -> doesn’t

subject doesn’t verb …

She doesn’t work in a library.
He doesn’t work from home.
It doesn’t work .

5. Complete the negative sentences

I _____ (not work) in an office. I don’t work in an office.
She _____ (not drink) coffee. _____________________________
We _____ (not read) every day. _____________________________
You _____ (not eat) meat. _____________________________
He _____ (not go) to bed at 10 o’clock. _____________________________
It _____ (not sleep) in the house. _____________________________
They _____ (not cook) lunch at home. _____________________________

6. Order the words

don't / You / a cat. / have You don’t have a cat.
like / dogs. / She / doesn’t _____________________________
He / day. / swims / every _____________________________
know. / We / don’t _____________________________
in the office. / drink / They / coffee _____________________________

7. Write about Jamie and Hannah. What do they like?

dogs ice cream pop music chocolate

Jamie    
Hannah    

Jamie likes dogs.

Hannah doesn’t like dogs.
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
Question
We also make questions using do and does.

(Question word) do / does subject verb …

Do I work at a hospital?
When do you work ?
Where does she work ?
Does he work from home?
Why does it work ?
Do we work only in December?
Do they work hard?

8. Make these sentences into questions

You work in a hospital. Do you work in a hospital?
She likes cats. _____________________________
We go to school. _____________________________
They go to bed at 11 o’clock. _____________________________
He makes a lot of money. _____________________________

9. Order words
you / like / Do / avocado? Do you like avocado?
Does / history? / study / she _____________________________
work? / does / Where / he _____________________________
When / they / get up? / do _____________________________
it / Does / work? _____________________________
a big house? / Why / you / do / want _____________________________

10. Make questions for these answers

When do you get up?
I get up at 7 o’clock.

______________________________
I eat bread with butter for breakfast.

______________________________
I work in a hospital.

______________________________
My sister also works in a hospital.
______________________________
She gets up at 11 o’clock.

______________________________
No, she doesn’t eat breakfast.
Adverbs of Frequency
We use adverbs of frequency to indicate how often we do a certain activity.

How often do you…?

In a sentence, we put the adverb of frequency BEFORE the verb.

subject (don’t / doesn’t) adverb of frequency verb …

I sometimes watch TV at night.
He never cleans the house.
She doesn’t usually eat breakfast.
We don’t always get up early.

*We cannot use never and a negative (don’t/doesn’t)

I don’t never take a shower. --> I never take a shower.

Question
(Question do / does subject adverb of verb …
word) frequency
Do we sometimes work at a hospital?
When do you usually work ?
does she always work in the morning?
 11. Rewrite the sentences. Use the words in brackets.

a) I go to school by bus. (usually)

_____I usually go to school by bus.____________

b) He works until midnight. (never)

________________________________________

c) Do you work at a hospital? (sometimes)

_________________________________________

d) We visit our grandmother on Sundays. (sometimes)

_________________________________________

e) She doesn’t feed the dogs. (usually)

_________________________________________

f) Does he do that? (always)

_________________________________________

g) You watch TV before bed. (often)

_________________________________________

The word order changes slightly for the verb to be. We keep the subject and to be together.
The adverb of frequency comes AFTER the verb to be.

TO BE
subject to be (not) adverb of frequency …
I am sometimes at home.
He is never in the garden.
She isn’t usually tired.
We aren’t always ready.

to be subject adverb of frequency …

Are you sometimes at home?
Is she often in the garden?
Is he usually tired?
Are we always ready?

Learn more adverbs of frequency from the vocabulary list.

 12. Order the words into sentences.
never / He / is / angry. __He is never angry.___
always / I / am / at home.
sometimes / don’t / We / dinner. / make
often / Is / in the garden? / it
She / usually / hungry. / isn’t
Do / always / the cats? / feed / you
my car. / I / clean / never
Answer Key
1. Complete the sentences with the verbs in brackets.
I __go___ (go) to work by bus.
We __meet_ (meet) every day.
You _drink__ (drink) coffee.
They _make__ (make) dinner in the evening.

2. Complete the sentences with suitable verbs.

drink cook have meet go finish
I __cook___ dinner every day.
We __finish_ work at 2pm.
You _drink__ coffee in the morning.
They _go_ to work by car.
I _meet__ my friends on Wednesdays.
You _have__ a nice house.

3. Put these sentences into 3rd person.

I work in a hospital. She works in a hospital______.
We start at 8:00. The class starts at 8:00______.
They call their friends very often. He calls his friends very often_.
You study math. She studies math___________.
I have a car. My father has a car_________.
We watch TV every night. He watches TV every night___.

4. Order the words into sentences.

read / I / books. I read books.
tennis / every / Monday. / We / play We play tennis every Monday.
coffee. / wants / He He wants coffee.
She / cats. / likes She likes cats.
watch / in the evening. / TV / They They watch TV in the evening.
to the radio. / listen / You You listen to the radio.
It / in the house. / lives It lives in the house.

5. Complete the negative sentences

I _____ (not work) in an office. I don’t work in an office.
She _____ (not drink) coffee. She doesn’t drink coffee.
We _____ (not read) every day. We don’t read every day.
You _____ (not eat) meat. You don’t eat meat.
He _____ (not go) to bed at 10 o’clock. He doesn’t go to bed at 10 o’clock.
It _____ (not sleep) in the house. It doesn’t sleep in the house.
They _____ (not cook) lunch at home. They don’t cook at home.

6. Order the words

don't / You / a cat. / have You don’t have a cat.
like / dogs. / She / doesn’t She doesn’t like dogs.
He / day. / swims / every He swims every day.
know. / We / don’t We don’t know.
in the office. / drink / They / coffee They drink coffee in the office.

7. Write about Jamie and Hannah. What do they like?

dogs ice cream pop music chocolate

Jamie    
Hannah    

Jamie likes dogs.

Hannah doesn’t like dogs.
Jamie doesn’t like ice cream.
He likes pop music.
He likes chocolate.
Hannah doesn’t like ice cream.
She likes pop music.
She doesn’t like chocolate.

8. Make these sentences into questions

You work in a hospital. Do you work in a hospital?
She likes cats. Does she like cats?
We go to school. Do we go to school?
They go to bed at 11 o’clock. Do they go to bed at 11 o’clock?
He makes a lot of money. Does he make a lot of money?

9. Order words
you / like / Do / avocado? Do you like avocado?
Does / history? / study / she Does she study history?
work? / does / Where / he Where does he work?
When / they / get up? / do When do they get up?
it / Does / work? Does it work?
a big house? / Why / you / do / want Why do you want a big house?
 10. Make questions for these answers
When do you get up?
I get up at 7 o’clock.

__What do you eat for breakfast?___

I eat bread with butter for breakfast.

__Where do you work?___________

I work in a hospital.

__Where does your sister work?____

My sister also works in a hospital.

__When does she get up?_________

She gets up at 11 o’clock.

__Does she eat breakfast?_________

No, she doesn’t eat breakfast.

11. Rewrite the sentences. Use the words in brackets.

h) I go to school by bus. (usually)

_____I usually go to school by bus.____________

i) He works until midnight. (never)

__He never works until midnight._____________

j) Do you work at a hospital? (sometimes)

___Do you sometimes work at a hospital?_______

k) We visit our grandmother on Sundays. (sometimes)

_We sometimes visit our grandmother on Sundays.

l) She doesn’t feed the dogs. (usually)

___She doesn’t usually feed the dogs.___________

m) Does he do that? (always)

___Does he always do that?___________________

n) You watch TV before bed. (often)

___You often watch TV before bed._____________
 12. Order the words into sentences.
never / He / is / angry. __He is never angry.___
always / I / am / at home. I am always at home.
sometimes / don’t / We / dinner. / make We don’t sometimes make dinner.
often / Is / in the garden? / it Is it often in the garden?
She / usually / hungry. / isn’t She isn’t usually hungry.
Do / always / the cats? / feed / you Do you always feed the cats?
my car. / I / clean / never I never clean my car.