English Grammar for less confident speakers, Lesson 1

 Lesson 1:  The Power of Now – Present Tenses

Many people tell me they can speak and understand English, but they are never sure how to use it correctly because they never learned English grammar. These posts are intended for such people. They will be in English, I will try to use simple words and clear examples and clarify some issues that many students have a problem with. People usually tell me: "Here's the deal: I can watch movies without subtitles, I can understand English and yes, I can speak but I don't know how to use the tenses! How many tenses are there? When do I use what?"

Let’s begin with the Present Tense. There are two present tenses in English. Present Simple and Present Continuous Tense, and soon you will see why.

 THE PRESENT SIMPLE TENSE

Here is what you can say with just the present simple tense:

Hello, I am Jasmina. I Live in Novi Sad and I am an English teacher. I like music and books and I play the guitar. I don't like maths but I enjoy learning new languages. How many languages do you speak?

 It is very important to know this tense. You will use it to talk about yourself, where you live, what you do, your habits, your likes and dislikes, and you will use it to talk about facts (The Earth revolves around the Sun), and timetables (The bus to Belgrade leaves at 7pm every day) you can even use it when you describe something that happened in the past if you want to make the story very exciting - like in this example:
"So, I go to her house, and I open the door, and I don't hear anything, looks like nobody's home...and then a few seconds later everyone comes to the door and yells: SURPRISE!"




                        I LIVE IN NOVI SAD
             YOU LIVE IN NOVI SAD
HE, SHE, IT LIVES IN NOVI SAD
               WE LIVE IN NOVI SAD
             YOU LIVE IN NOVI SAD
           THEY LIVE IN NOVI SAD

This tense is truly very simple. The only thing you should remember is to add the S at the end of the verb with HE, SHE or IT. So, if you talk about your friend Nina, you say: "Nina lives in Novi Sad" :)

NOTE: 

  Ana misses her family. Mary finishes everything in time.

  Tom watches football every Sunday. Her dad boxes professionally. Her brother goes to my school.

Sometimes you will have to ad ES, when just S would be difficult to say (pronounce), as in these examples

So, in cases when the verb ends in -ss, -sh, -ch, -x or -o, add -es to the base form.

ONE MORE THING:

 I fly to the moon in my dreams. 
An astronaut flies to the moon for real.

Verbs ending with consonant and “y”: Change “y” for “ies”.
 So we have: fly - flies; try -tries; cry-cries etc.
this does not happen when there is a vowel before Y,
so PLAY, because we have A, a vowel, before Y, will just need S
 She plays the violin like a professional!


Asking questions
  Do you speak English?
  Does she speak German? 

You will need to use DO or in case of he, she, it DOES to ask a question. Notice that you do not need the S at the end of the verb now with he, she, it - not Does she speaks German?


Negative statements

 I don't like football.

She doesn't like coca-cola. 


You will need to use DON'T (DO NOT) or in case of he, she, it DOES NOT (DOESN'T) to ask a question. Notice again that you do not need the S at the end of the verb now with he, she, it - not She doesn't likes coca-cola.

Present Continuous 

In some case you will need to use the other present tense, known as the Present Continuous Tense. Look at these two sentences:

My friend Mia drinks coffee. 

My friend Mia is drinking coffee.

How are they different? I drink coffee, that is my habit. Some people think it is a bad habit :). Anyway, as we have said, when we talk about habits, we use the Present Simple: I drink coffee.

So 

"I am drinking coffee" has a different meaning. It means RIGHT NOW, IN THIS MOMENT, I am drinking coffee, you will see the coffee in my hand or on my desk... When we want to talk about something that is not our habit, not something we usually or sometimes do, not a fact, not always true but only temporarily true, at this moment, or these days, temporarily, for a limited duration of time we use the Present Continuous.

I usually drink coffee, but today I am drinking tea.

These days I am reading a great historical novel! Usually, I don't like historical novels, but the one I'm reading now is very interesting.

This month I am riding my bike to work because my car broke down and I need to fix it.

for Present Continuous you need to use the verb TO BE and then the verb you need + ing.

                        I AM DRINKING COFFEE
             YOU ARE DRINKING COFFEE
  HE, SHE, IT IS  DRINKING COFFEE

               WE ARE DRINKING COFFEE
             YOU ARE DRINKING COFFEE
           THEY ARE DRINKING COFFEE

Don't foget the verb TO BE, it is not correct to say:

You drinking coffee (without ARE)

also, don't forget the ING at the end of the verb it is not correct to  say:

You are drink coffee.

(many people make that mistake, so just pay attention :) )

You will read more about the spelling rules of the Present Continuous as well as about its other uses (for future arrangements, for trends, for expressing annoyance) in the next post. Please leave a comment if you have found this useful or if you have any questions or suggestions.

here is a little exercise for you:

 1. Every morning, Mary ______her kids to school. 

a) drives 

b) is driving

c) driving

2. Usually, I ______ as a teacher at a school, but this summer I __________ as a French teacher in my city.

a) work, volunteer

b) work, am volunteering 

c) am work, am volunteer

3. Shhhhh! Be quiet! Hellen _______ . 

a) Sleeping

b) is sleeping

c) sleeps