Learn English Tenses: The Present Continuous

- I am running.

I'm running.

I am jumping.

I'm jumping.

I am walking.

I'm walking.

Hi, Bob, the Canadian here.

Welcome to this English lesson

where I'm going to help you learn the English tense

called the present continuous.

That's where you use sentences like this:

I am making a video.

You are watching a video.

I am teaching you English.

You are learning English.

I am speaking.

You are listening.

We'll look at how to form the present continuous.

We'll look at how to use contractions

when using the present continuous.

And then I'll show you when you are supposed

to use this tense when you're speaking the English language.

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So there's two things you need to know

when you are forming the present continuous.

The first thing you need to know is the present simple form

of the verb to be, or the simple present,

it has two names, and that looks like this.

You would say things like: I am, you are, he is, she is,

we are, or they are.

But we don't actually use those forms

when we are using the present continuous in English speech.

We use the contracted forms.

We use the contractions.

So instead of saying, I am, we would say, I'm.

We would say, you're, instead of you are.

We would say, he's or she's

instead of, he is and she is.

And we would say, we're instead of we are.

And we would say, they're instead of they are.

So when you use the present continuous in writing,

you are most likely going to use the uncontracted form.

But when you use it in everyday speech,

you're most likely going to use the contracted form.

So that means a sentence like, I am making a video,

would actually be, I'm making a video.

We don't often in spoken everyday English

say things like, I am making a video.

It sounds kind of odd.

It's not incorrect,

but we would most likely say, I'm making a video.

When I say, you are watching a video,

it still sounds a little strange to my ear.

Again, it's correct,

but we would most likely say, you're watching a video.

So I'm making a video and you're watching a video.

Once you have the verb to be correctly conjugated,

in most cases, you simply take the verb you want to use

and add ING to the end.

So if you want it to use the verb, read,

you would say, I'm reading.

You need to be careful though

because there are some exceptions.

There are some verbs that are a little bit irregular.

If you look at the verb, to run,

you'll notice that when I say I'm running...

I'm running.

I've added another N.

If you look at the verb, to sit,

you would say, I'm sitting.

Notice I've added extra T.

So there are some verbs that have little rules

that you need to memorize.

If you look at the verb, to write,

you'll notice that you drop the E

and you add ING to say, I'm writing.

So be careful.

You need to memorize and learn which verbs

are slightly irregular,

but in most situations you will simply

be adding ING to the verb.

So when do you use the present continuous?

Well, the first situation where you would use

the present continuous is to describe the things

that you are doing right now.

So, I'm sitting on a chair.

I'm running on the spot.

I'm hopping.

So when you want to describe things that you are doing

in the moment, things that you are doing right now,

you would use the present continuous.

The second situation where you would use

the present continuous is to talk about things

that you are currently doing in your life.

Let me give you some questions and answers.

And I think that will help you understand.

If my son who is in university was talking to my mum,

my mum could say, "What are you studying?"

And my son could say, "I'm studying accounting."

So he's not in that moment

sitting with his accounting book open,

he's having a conversation with my mum.

But he's talking about something that he's doing.

If my mom asked my other son,

"Do you have your driver's license?"

My son could reply and say, "No, I'm learning to drive."

So he's talking about something he's doing in his life.

He's not doing it right at that moment

but he's in the process of doing it.

So the second situation where you would use

the present continuous is to talk about something

that you're doing in your life.

The third situation where you can use

the present continuous is a little bit strange,

because you can use it to talk about the future.

You can use it to talk about an event in the future

that's already planned.

So you can say things like this:

I'm going to Toronto this weekend.

You can say things like, I'm visiting my mom on Friday.

So if you have an event in the future and it is planned,

you can use the present continuous to talk about it.

Next fall, Jen and I are going to Toronto.

Next weekend, I'm going to my mom's house.

So it seems a little strange,

and if you're not comfortable using the present continuous,

you can use one of the future tenses.

You can say, I will be visiting my mum,

or I will be going to Toronto.

Those are fine as well.

But the third situation where you can use

the present continuous

is to talk about a planned event in the future.

I'm not sitting.

And now I'm not standing.

Did you know I was sitting on a stool?

Maybe you didn't.

But anyways, you'll notice I used the negative form

of the present continuous.

I said, "I'm not sitting."

And then I said, "I'm not standing."

In order to create the negative,

you simply add the word, not, between the to be form

of the verb and the ING form.

So you say things like, I'm not sitting,

I'm not standing, I'm not walking, I'm not running.

In English, it's very common to ask questions

using the present continuous.

But when we do that,

we usually invert the to be verb and the subject.

So we say things like this:

Are you learning English?

The response would be, I'm learning English.

Are you having fun?

The response would be, yes, I'm having fun.

So when you ask a question using the present continuous,

make sure you remember to invert

the beginning of the sentence.

So I hope you are having fun.

Are you having fun?

One of the best ways to practice the present continuous

is to do what I call narrate your life.

This means you say out loud or in your mind

what you are doing as you go through your day.

So you would do things like this.

You would say, I'm driving my car, I'm going to work,

I'm eating my lunch, I'm playing the piano, I'm watching TV.

If you can start to use the present continuous

to describe either out loud or in your mind

the things that you are doing,

it will really help you learn this verb conjugation,

and you'll have it down pat.

Anyway, it's Bob the Canadian here.

Thank you so much again for watching this lesson.

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