Learn English Tenses: Present Simple or Present Continuous?

In this lesson, you will learn the difference between the present simple tense and the present

continuous tense, which is also called the present progressive tense.

In other words, you'll learn the difference between saying "I work" or "I am working".

So, this lesson is part of a series created by engVid to help you learn all of the English

verb tenses.

Now, I have created lessons on each of these tenses separately, and maybe you have already

watched them, and now you're watching this, which is great, or you can watch this lesson

and then you can go on and watch the other separate lessons so that you can go into more

detail if you wish.

So, both of these tenses are basic tenses.

However, they don't exist in all languages, and maybe they don't exist in your language,

so pay a little more attention and as you do, you will understand easily the differences

between these tenses.

So, shall we begin?

Let's go!

So, the present simple tense sounds like this: I work.

The present continuous tense sounds like this: I am working.

So, what's the very basic difference?

The basic difference is that "I am working" talks about something that's happening right

now, or something temporary that happens for a short time.

"I work", present simple, talks about something that's true in general, or something more

permanent, something that lasts for a long time.

That's the very basic difference, but we're going to be looking at all of the really specific

differences between these two tenses.

But first, let's see, what does this tense even look like?

What does it sound like?

Let's see that.

So, with present simple, we basically take the subject + the verb.

In this case, our sample verb is "work".

So, it would sound like this - you can say it after me if you like.

It's good to repeat things out loud, helps you to feel more comfortable and get used

to using it yourself.

So, we would say: I work.

You work.

We work.

They work.

But here we have a difference: He works.

We have to add an "s" there.

She works.

It works, okay?

Again, once you've studied this tense in detail, you'll know all of these changes perfectly,

but I'm just giving you an overall view.

When it becomes negative, it becomes "He does not work.", or, if it becomes a question,

it would say "Does he work?", alright?

So, that's the basis of the present simple.

Now, let's look at present continuous.

Now here, what happens?

We have a subject: I, he, you, they, etc., + the verb "to be", we need that helping verb

here, + our basic verb, which in this case is "work", + "-ing", so it's a little bit

longer because we have that helping verb in the middle, plus we have "-ing" at the end,

okay?

So, how does this sound?

I am working.

You are working.

We are working.

They are working.

He is working.

She is working.

And, it is working, alright?

So, that's the basic positive form of it.

The negative form would be just to add a "not".

"You are not working".

He is not working.

And if we shorten that, it becomes "He isn't working".

And if we make it into a question, change the order, we would say "Is he working?"

Are you working?

Are they working?

And so on, okay?

So, that's the basic structure of the two tenses, and next we will be looking at when

to use them.

So, we use these two tenses in different ways.

Let's understand now what they are.

So, in the present simple, we would say, for example, "I live in this building".

This is my permanent residence.

This is where I live all the time.

So, we use present simple: "I live".

In present continuous, we might say "I am staying at a hotel."

This is something temporary.

It's not all the time, it's only for some time.

So, here, we have "I am staying", which is present continuous, here we have "I live",

which is present simple.

Permanent, temporary.

Next, we could say "He plays the guitar."

This is true in general.

It means he knows how to play the guitar.

He plays.

Present simple.

Here, we could say "He is playing the guitar."

That means he's doing that right now.

He is playing now.

As soon as we say, "He is playing", even if we don't use the word "now", this tense already

means that it's happening right now, okay?

So, he plays in general, but he is playing the guitar means it's happening right now.

Another example, "We watch the news at 9:00pm."

"We watch", okay?

This is to talk about a routine, every day we watch the news at 9:00pm.

Alright?

So that's to describe a routine, something that happens regularly.

Or, we could say here "We are watching the news."

"We are watching" means what?

In this case again, it's happening right now, okay?

We're watching the news, call us later, we're just watching the news, happening now.

But, every day, we watch the news at 9:00, okay?

So that's a routine, that's again something that's happening now.

See the difference?

Let's look at another one.

"The sun sets in the west."

"The sun sets", okay?

The sun rises in the morning, the sun sets in the evening.

This is just a fact, okay?

So, we use present simple to talk about facts.

But, here, we could say "Look, how beautiful, the sun is setting!

The sky is all orange and pink and lovely colors".

So, this means the sun "is setting" means it's happening right now, alright?

So here, it was a fact, the sun sets in the west, it's just a fact, and here, it's happening

now.

So, these are the first few differences between these two tenses.

Now, here are some more differences.

In present simple, we would say "The price rises every year."

This is something that happens in general.

In present continuous, we might say "The price is rising this year."

This is a trend, this is the general direction in which things are changing, so here, the

price "is rising" this year, but the price "rises every year", okay?

This is present simple.

Next, suppose we want to talk about a habit.

We might say "She always takes the bus."

She always takes - but here, we might say "She is always complaining about the bus."

So, when you're talking about a negative habit, then we can use present continuous, but if

you're just talking about a regular habit, then you would use present simple.

Alright?

Next, we could say, in present simple, "The flight leaves at 7:00pm."

Now, why do we use present simple for that?

Because it's a regularly scheduled event, right?

The flight leaves at 7:00pm, that's the schedule.

It always leaves at 7:00pm.

But in present continuous, we might say "The flight is leaving."

The flight is leaving means what?

The flight is leaving right now, okay?

And we know that because we have "is leaving".

Here, we had just "leaves".

Okay.

And now here's something where both of these tenses can actually be used for the same purpose,

but in different ways, with different language.

So, we could say, for example, even though this is the present simple, and even though

this is the present continuous, until now we have been talking about present uses, but

let's look at this example, this is different.

"The flight leaves at 7:00pm tomorrow."

What, Rebecca, really?

Leaves, present simple, and tomorrow?

Yes, we could say that, and we do say that sometimes.

Why?

Because it's kind of connected with this one because it's a regularly scheduled event,

right?

Then we could use it to talk about tomorrow, okay?

And sometimes we do.

So, we could say "The flight leaves at 7:00pm tomorrow."

and it's kind of connected to this idea of the schedule, alright?

But similarly, you could also say "The flight is leaving at 7:00pm tomorrow."

Again, you're saying, "Rebecca, really, this is present continuous, why are we using it

to talk about the future?"

Because we can!

It has a special use where we can say - use present continuous to talk about something

in the future but you have to say something like tomorrow, next week, next Monday, next

year.

You have to give the time, because if you say, "The flight is leaving at 7:00pm.", what

does it mean?

It's leaving right now.

But - or, a little bit in the future - but if we say the flight is leaving at 7:00pm

tomorrow, then we know for certain it's in the future and yes, we can also use present

continuous along with a few other ways to talk about the future.

There's one other really important difference between the present simple tense and the present

continuous tense, and that has to do with the kind of verbs we can use with each tense.

So, one way to divide verbs in English is to see whether it's an action verb or whether

it's a stative verb.

An action verb is something that has action.

For example, run or jump, or sing and dance, read and write.

These are all action verbs.

And action verbs, we can use in the present simple tense and we can also use them in the

present continuous tense.

For example, I could say "She runs", as in, she runs every day, or "She is running", like

she's running right now, but stative verbs are different.

Stative verbs describe a state or condition.

It could be a mental state, it could be an emotional state, it could talk about possession,

it could talk about certain senses, and there is a list of stative verbs which you need

to learn when you're studying English grammar, because most of the time, we cannot use the

stative verbs in the continuous tenses.

But, with the present simple, you can use all the verbs.

You can use the action verbs and you can use stative verbs, no problem, alright?

So, for example, we can definitely say "He knows them."

or "We like them.", knowing being something mental, and like being something emotional,

alright?

So, with present simple, use any verb you like.

With present continuous, be careful, definitely you can use the action words, but if you are

not sure about the stative verbs, avoid them.

As a general rule, be careful of using any stative verbs with the present continuous

tense.

Now, we're going to practice by looking at some mistakes and you are going to help me

correct them.

Number one: someone says "Look!

It snows!".

What's wrong with that?

Well, it's happening right now, because you're saying "Look!"

Look at what's happening right now, so this should not be "It snows", which is present

simple, it should be what?

"It is snowing.", okay?

Because it's happening right now.

Number two: "She works in the Tokyo office this month."

What's wrong with that?

It's wrong because it's temporary.

So, what should it be?

Not "She works", but "She is working", okay?

Alright.

Number three: "We are making websites."

Let's suppose somebody asks a company, "What do you do?"

And they answer, "We are making websites."

That's wrong.

Why?

Because that's their permanent activity.

That's their main activity.

It's not something temporary.

So, what should they say?

They should say "We" - not this - but "We make websites."

We make websites.

We manufacture cars.

Alright?

Like that.

Number four: "He gives a presentation now."

You know that's wrong.

Why?

We even have the word "now", so if it's happening now, it needs to be in which tense?

The present continuous tense.

How do we change this?

We get rid of "gives" and we say, "He is giving".

He's giving a presentation now.

Alright?

Good.

Number five: "Unemployment goes down this year."

Unemployment is people who are out of work, who do not have work.

But it's saying "this year".

This is what?

This is a trend, this is a way that things are changing.

So, for that, we should use - not present simple, but present continuous.

So, this one will be "Unemployment is going down this year."

Okay?

Excellent.

Number six: "They're always going to bed at 11:00."

What's wrong with that?

Well, is it a bad thing?

Is it a bad habit to go to bed at 11:00, or is it just a habit?

Well, I think it's just a habit.

So, in that case, we cannot say "They are always going to bed", but we just say, "They

always go to bed at 11:00."

If it was a negative habit, then we could have said the other way.

Number seven: "Are you liking chocolate cake?"

That's wrong, but why is it wrong?

It's wrong because this is a stative verb, and we said that with most stative verbs,

we cannot use the present continuous.

So, instead of all of this, we have to say, "Do you like chocolate cake?"

Present simple, with most stative verbs, okay?

Present simple - sorry, with all stative verbs, and the other one with just a few stative

verbs.

Number eight: now look at number eight and number nine together, okay?

Let's try to understand when we use which one.

Number eight says "What are you doing?" and number nine says "What do you do?".

What is the difference between these two?

So, "What do you do?"

means what is your job?

What is your profession, what do you do for work?

And "What are you doing?" means right now.

Hey, what are you doing?

Oh, I'm watching TV, I'm reading the news, okay?

So, if you confuse the two, that's a problem.

So, if you meet someone at a networking event, or a party, or a conference, and you want

to get to know their profession, their work, it would be wrong in that case to ask them

"What are you doing?".

There, you want to know the second one, "What do you do?".

But, in number nine, if you call up your friend and you ask him or her "What do you do?",

that would be wrong, because you want to ask your friend "Hey, what are you doing?", alright?

So, this one - these two depend on what you mean and who you're talking to, and what it's

about.

And accordingly, you will use present continuous or present simple.

And the last one here: "She is living in Brazil."

That's wrong.

Why?

Because we don't have any information to tell us that this is temporary, so this is probably

permanent.

This is what happens all the time, or most of the time, so it should be not present continuous

but "She lives in Brazil.", okay?

Excellent work!

Excellent work correcting them and thinking through them, most important, because that's

what you can do when you are working on them by yourself.

Now, we'll finish up by filling in the blanks with the correct tense.

So, I've written the verb that you need to use in the blanks at the beginning of the

sentence, so, let's read the sentence so you understand what you need to do.

(drink) "Usually, I ____________ tea, but today I __________ coffee".

Can you tell which one needs to be in present simple and which one needs to be in present

continuous?

In this case, in the same sentence, we need to use both of the tenses.

So, which one goes where?

Are you ready?

Let me help you out a little bit.

Usually, I - yes - drink, because this is "Usually", most of the time, okay?

Usually I drink tea, but today I - we'll use the contraction, I'm drinking coffee.

Okay?

Very good.

Number two: now the verb is "start".

"Usually, he __________ work at 8:00, but today he _________ at 9:00."

What should it be?

Usually, he starts work at 8:00, but today he is starting at 9:00.

Okay?

Very good.

Number three: "listen" is the verb we need to use.

"Usually, we ___________ rock music, but today we _____________ jazz."

Usually, we - yes - listen to, we need a preposition there, usually we listen to rock music, but

today we - we're listening to jazz.

Okay, you've got it!

And number four: (make) "Usually, they ______ rice, but today, they _______ noodles."

Use the verb "make".

So, usually they make rice, but today they are making noodles.

Great!

And you are making a lot of progress!

Okay?

So, where do you go from here?

Well, if you'd like to review these tenses or learn these tenses, you can watch the full

lesson and the class that I've created for each of these tenses, the present simple and

the present continuous so you can certainly do that so that you really understand them

very deeply, when to use them, how to use them, and so on, and if you feel quite confident

and comfortable and you've got most of these right or all of them right, then you're ready

to move on to the next tense in our series, which is the past simple tense.

And, if you'd like to do a little quiz on this, then please go to www.engvid.com so

you can do that.

So, congratulations and I wish you all the best with your English.