Past Simple is the past simple tense in English. Group Times Simple (Indefinite)

To speak English means to open many doors for yourself. In the modern world, this skill is highly valued, and therefore, learning English should be given a lot of time. It is necessary to develop such an ability in oneself from childhood, although an adult can master a new language even in the absence of any basic knowledge. The main thing is to know the grammar, and the rest will come with practice.

Everyone who is familiar with the basics of the English language has come across its tenses. It is on them that the entire grammar of English is based, and it is they that cause difficulties and problems in learning for many. The most used among tenses is the simple (indefinite) present tense (Present Simple). The table, as a rule, greatly simplifies the process of studying.

When is the Present Simple used?

English, like any language, is built on general principles and rules that often do not allow alternatives in the application of certain grammatical constructions. Some cases oblige to use only the table of use of this time must be observed for literate speech.

Present Simple is used in the following cases:

1. When it comes to general rules, truths - about what everyone knows: a description of the laws, natural phenomena, research results and any other generally accepted facts (Mouses love cheese - Mice love cheese).
2. When we show emotions, feelings or state (I believe in love - I believe in love).
3. When describing everyday or permanent situations (His parents live in Russia - His parents live in Russia).
4. In the context of the future tense after the words if, when, before, until, unless (I "ll stay here untill you get back - I will stay here until you return).
5. When it comes to the schedule or regular activities, phenomena (I get up at 8:30 - I get up at 8:30).
6. When talking about personal habits, hobbies (I like becon - I love bacon).
7. When we talk about what is happening now (She is here now - She is here now).

Although Present Simple is considered one of the simplest grammatical tenses in the English language, it has several nuances that cannot be ignored, because otherwise the written and oral speech will be ridiculous.

Narration in Present Simple

The declarative sentences are most our speech. In Present Simple, they are built as follows: subject + predicate (if speech is in the third person, then with the ending -s, only for singular).

For example:

• I read the newspaper every morning. - I read a newspaper every morning.
• He reads the newspaper every morning. - He reads a newspaper every morning.

This is important: you must not confuse the form that the third person takes in the singular tense with the plural! The ending -s should be added only to the pronouns "it", "he", "she".

Question in Present Simple

Auxiliary and special questions are taken as the basis for constructing questions in Present Simple. modal verbs. Such sentences are built according to the following scheme: interrogative word + special auxiliary / + subject + predicate.

If different to be are used, it should be taken as the basis for constructing the question. For example:

• He is a teacher. - He is a teacher.
• He is a teacher? - Is he a teacher?

In general questions, modal verbs are used, not auxiliary ones. For example:

• She knows how to jump into the pool. - She can jump in the pool.
• Can she jump into the pool? - Can she jump in the pool?

The verb to do has a special meaning in Present Simple, a table of its main forms is given below. If the sentence has a semantic verb, but there is no modal verb in it, then the following forms of the verb to do are used:

This is important: when using the does form, the ending -s is not put in the main predicate.

Negation in Present Simple

Auxiliary and special modal verbs in Present Simple, the table of forms to do in the present tense are also used to form negative sentences.

Scheme: subject + special auxiliary / modal verbs + particle not + predicate. In practice, abbreviations are often used: do not - don "t,
does not - doesn't.

For example:

• He runs every evening. - He runs every evening.
• He doesn't run every evening. - He does not (doesn "t) run every evening.

Table in English: Present Simple

It is better to see and understand once than to read a thousand times and remain at a loss. Visual memory and general perception helps to remember the material better. Especially when it comes to base time in English language, such as Present Simple. A table for children, as well as for adults, is a great option for quickly learning grammar.

Verbs in Present Simple

All verbs are important for constructing sentences: modal, auxiliary and, of course, the main ones. Together, they create a certain system that makes up the main part of both this tense and the entire English language.

In Present Simple, the first one is used. At the same time, there are nuances that must be taken into account when constructing a sentence of this time:

1. In affirmative sentences from the third person singular, the verb acquires the particle -s.
2. In denials and third person singular questions using the does form, the particle -s is not used.
3. In an interrogative sentence, the auxiliary verb is used before the subject. In case of type, an interrogative pronoun is used before them.
4. If the question is for the subject itself, then Who is used instead of the subject and is applied before the predicate.

The verbs in Present Simple, the conjugation table of which is given below, are a framework without which it would be impossible to express one's thoughts.

marker words

It is one thing to learn what the Present Simple table looks like, and another thing is to put into practice the knowledge gained. Sometimes, looking at a sentence, it is not immediately possible to determine to which grammatical tense it belongs. That is why there are words-markers - a kind of indicators of a particular time. They are usually used after a modal/special auxiliary or at the end of a sentence. Marker words for Present Simple:

• sometimes - sometimes
• regularly - constantly
• rarely - rarely
• often - often
• at the weekend - on the weekend,
• on Wednesday - on Wednesdays,
• every day - every day,
• at weekends - on weekends,
• always - always,
• at 9 o "clock - at 9 o'clock,
• usually - usually.

We use the simple past tense when we say:

1. About events or actions that occurred in the past and the time for which has expired. That is, the action or event is completed.
(he bought a car last year, they went on vacation last month, the meeting was last week)

2. About events or actions in the past that were repeated regularly, but do not occur now.
(she did dance at school, we went to the gym last year)

3. About events in the past that happened one after the other.
(they met, walked in the park, went to the cinema)

Bonus! Difficulties with English times? in Moscow and find out how easy it is to master tenses and start speaking English in 1 month!

How is the affirmative form of Past Simple formed?

At education past simple we always look at the verb as it will change. There are two types of verbs in English: right and wrong.

Depending on the verb, the past tense is formed as follows:

• if the verb is correct, we add ending -ed(cook - cooked);
• if the verb is irregular, we put it in second form (see-saw).

There is no rule by which to determine the right or wrong regular verb before us. The only way to find out is to look it up in a dictionary or memorize it.

Same thing with forms. irregular verbs. They must be memorized or looked up in a dictionary. The Past Simple education scheme is as follows:

The person in question + a regular verb with the ending ed or the 2nd form of an irregular verb.

For example

I went to the cinema yesterday.
I went to the cinema yesterday.

She moved last year.
She moved last year.

They married three years ago.
They got married three years ago.

Verb ending -ed in Past Simple

There are several nuances when adding the ending -ed to regular verbs.

• If the verb ends in -e, then the verb is added only -d:

change e- chang ed- change;
clos e-clos ed- close.

• If the verb ends into a consonant, in front of which stressed vowel, then the consonant is doubled:

sto p- sto pped- stop;
ba n-ba nned- forbid.

Exceptions: verbs ending in -x and -w:

fi x- fi xed- fix;
flo w- flo wed- flow.

Note: in British English, when the verb ends in -l, it is doubled no matter where the accent falls:

travel l- travel lled- travel.

American version:

travel l- travel led- travel.

• If the verb ends in -y and preceded by a consonant, y changes to i +ed:

cr y-cr ied- cry;
tr y-tr ied- try.

Important: if -u is preceded by a vowel, then the ending -ed is added without change letters:

sta y-sta yes- stay;
pla y-pla yes- play.

Companion words Past Simple

These are hint words that help determine that we have a simple past tense:

• yesterday,
• last week / month / year,
• in 1989 (2000, 2012 etc.) year,
• two (three, four, etc.) days/month/years ago.

Examples

I saw him five days ago.
I saw him five days ago.

She watched this film yesterday.
She watched this movie yesterday.

They lived in England in 1999.
They lived in England in 1999.

Negative sentences in Past Simple

Negation is formed with auxiliary verb did(this is the auxiliary verb do, but in the past form) and particles not. In this case, the semantic verb is used in the initial form.

The combination did + not will be our particle " not". For example, he did not participate in the exhibition, they did not go to the club yesterday.

The scheme for constructing a negative sentence in Past Simple is as follows:

The one in question + did + not + verb in the initial form.

Important point: the auxiliary verb did already shows that the sentence is in the past tense, so verb in a sentence(run / jump / work) we do not put in the past tense, but use the initial form. That is, we do not put it in the 2nd form and do not add the ending ed.

Why is it necessary to show 2 times that this is the past tense?

Did not swim yesterday.
He didn't swim yesterday.

NOT: He did not swam yesterday.

For example

They did not work last summer.
They didn't work last summer.

She did not run yesterday.
She didn't run yesterday.

What abbreviation can be used?

We can reduce the negative particle not as follows.

Did + not = didn't

We didn't win this battle.
We have not won this battle.

Interrogative sentences in Past Simple

The construction of questions in Past Simple is the same as in other tenses of this group (Simple). To ask a question, you need to put the auxiliary verb did in the first place in the sentence. The semantic verb, as well as in negation, is not put in the past tense, but its initial form is used. You don't need to add -ed endings.

Did + the person in question + the initial form of the verb.

Statement

He called me last week.
He called me last week.

They bought a new car.
They bought a new car.

Question

Did he call you last week?
Did he call you last week?

Did they buy a new car?
Did they buy a new car?

Short positive answer contains the auxiliary verb did, which replaces the action itself.

Yes, he did.
Yes, he called.

Yes, they did.
Yes, they bought.

Full positive response constructed as an affirmative sentence.

Yes, he called me last week.
Yes, he called me last week.

Yes, they bought a new car.
Yes, they bought a new car.

Short no answer contains the auxiliary verb did and the negative particle not.

No, he did not.
No, he didn't call.

No, they did not.
No, they didn't buy.

Full negative answer constructed as a negative sentence.

No, he did not call me last week.
No, he didn't call me last week.

No, they did not buy a new car.
No, they didn't buy a new car.

Special questions in Past Simple

When we ask a question with the following question words:

• what,
• when,
• where,
• which,

Interrogative word + did + the one in question + the verb in the initial form?

Let's look at examples.

Why did you steal this thing?
Why did you steal this thing?

Whendid she sell her phone?
When did she sell her phone?

Whatdid they buy?
What did they buy?

So, we have analyzed the simple past tense, which is actually not so simple. If you have any questions, ask them in the comments below the article.

Also, if you haven't already done so, I advise you to read about other times of the Simple group:

Now let's move on to practice.

Exercise to consolidate Past Simple

Translate the following sentences into English:

1. He built his house in 1997.
2. They went to a concert last month.
3. Did you give her a present yesterday? Yes, I gave her a present yesterday.
4. We didn't see each other last week.
5. My friend broke her phone last year.
6. The children didn't go to camp last summer.
7. Why did he move?
8. Did you go camping last weekend? No, we didn't go.

Write your answers in the comments, and I will definitely check them.

Those who have taken up the English language are frightened, first of all, by the so-called times. But if you figure it out, then these are not some mythical times at all, but simply forms of the verb that are conjugated in speech and carry a certain meaning.

Do not think that the British perceive the world in some special times. In the simplest table, there are as many as 12 of them. There are really 12 of them, but this is only pure grammar and to real life has no special relationship. Actually in physical world There are only three times - present, past and future. Those times that grammarians write about are just an artificial creation. If we want, we will do 20. In Russian, for example, the conjugation of the verb and the system of prefixes are developed:

I'm going. I left. I'm leaving. I will go

Such proposals can be made more than a dozen. But in fact, the initial form of the predicate is "to go." The English language is much poorer in this regard, but it compensates for these nuances with a developed system of tenses.

Important! It must be remembered that the noun () + conjugated verb form the semantic core of any sentence, i.e. are the focus of the offer.

Essence of Present Simple

It is difficult to say why this time has become Simple in two decades. Again tricks of pundits? When I was a schoolboy, textbooks called him indefinite ( Present Indefinite), and this name appeals to me more. It is found in many grammars to this day. Consider what place the Present Simple occupies on the scale of physical time. If you think about it, what is real. The second that runs? Current time period? What has already ended, but there is a result? Let's leave these reflections to philosophers - grammar considers time in its own way.

In all manifestations present Present Simple occupies its own niche - it is used in relation to actions taking place at the present time, but not tied to the moment of action. it actions that happen regularly, that repeat or never happen.

From the point of view of grammar, the absence of action is also a kind of regularity. For example,

I never drink coffee. — I never drink coffee.

Present simple markers

always - always
often - often
usually - usually
once in a while - occasionally; sometimes
once a week - once a week
twice a week - twice a week
sometimes - sometimes
seldom - rarely; infrequently
hardly ever - almost never
never - never
every day/week/month - every day/week/month
etc. (everything related to regularity, recurrence of events)

Education Present Simple

So, how is the Present Simple formed? I have good and bad news for you:

a) good news

To form Present Simple, it is enough to take a pronoun (there are exceptions) or a noun in and simply add a verb to it:

I play football. - I'm play soccer.

My friends live there. - My friends live there.

Education Present Simple for pronouns I, you, we, they

But if you have a subject she, he, it or a noun in the singular, then you already need to add a suffix to the predicate -(e)s. But when pronouncing, the same rules almost always work here as in the formation of the plural of a noun, so it will not be difficult to get acquainted:

My brother watches MTV. — My brother watches TV.

Many grammarians recommend in such cases to use circumstances indicating the repetition of an action ( after school, often etc.), but this is not necessary at all - the British will understand that this action is regular.

Education Present Simple for pronouns he, she, it (3rd person)

b) bad news

For the formation of a negative, auxiliary verbs appear in Present Simple, which mean absolutely nothing, but if we talk about literary speech, they must be present. For she, he, it and a singular noun, this is does, for all other personal pronouns and nouns in plural - do. There is nothing complicated here.

If the sentence is interrogative, put it before the subject. In Russian, such questions are formed only by intonation.

If the sentence is negative, put it after the subject. do or does and particle not.

Don't be afraid to use the full verb do in negative or question:

I do not do anything on Sundays. — I don't do anything on Sundays.

First do does not mean anything. AT colloquial speech it is even reduced to don't.

A few more simple truths

Don't forget that the auxiliary verb do pronounced, and its negative form in an abbreviated version (it dominates in speech) -, and, accordingly, the form does pronounced, and negative - doesn't. Both are used to form interrogative and negative sentences.

Such questions are called in grammar special:

What do you do on Sundays? - What do you do on Sundays?

What does your friend do on Sundays? What does your friend do on Sundays?

The only exceptions are questions to the subject. In this case, the auxiliary verb do is not used, and the semantic verb is always in the third person singular, i.e. with the ending -(e)s:

Who lives next door to you? - Who lives next door to you?

Such questions are always posed with -(e)s on the verb, regardless of the number of objects.

Exercises

Exercise 1

Add the ending -(e)s where necessary:

1. Your father … that we are here. (know)
2. These cameras … too much for me. (cost)
3. Paul …interested. (seem)
4. I … coffee very much. (like)
5. The bus … at the corner. (stop)
6. Chuck … Jessica to the movies every Saturday. (take)
7. The children … just like their mother. (look)
8. He … everything you teach us. (remember)

Exercise 2

Form negative and interrogative sentences. If there is a question word in brackets, the question must be special. Please note that the question may contain a negative. In such cases, there will be a small hint in brackets.

1. Mr. Baker works in a bank. (where?)
2. Bob's parents play tennis. (who?)
3. The soup tastes good.
4. The plane leaves at 6'olock. (when?)
5. Wood and paper burn easily, but glass doesn't burn at all. (What? (What's not lit at all?)
6. Jane love flowers. (who?)
7. This house belongs to Mary.
8. I go to the market every week. (how often?)

A few important notes

The Present Simple is often used in tennis or football commentary to express actions that take place in this moment. This can obviously be explained by the simplicity of its formation - the task of the commentator is to quickly cover events on the court or football field.

Some verbs in the Present Simple express the past tense, especially hear and see:

I hear you are getting mrried. (I heard that you are getting married.)

Verbs see and think(and a number of others) in Present Simple mean “understand” and “express an opinion”, respectively, although in many other times they have a different meaning.

Present Simple with verbs can express movement. There is an example of this in the second exercise.

Finally

Present Simple has many subtleties and nuances. We have reviewed the main ones. The main thing is to understand the essence of this species-temporal form. Don't try to learn this lesson in one fell swoop. Do the exercises, other textbooks have them too. Re-read several times.

Present Simple (Presentation simpl)- this is the simple present tense - a very common, very important form English verb. It is used to convey permanent actions, as well as actions of a periodically recurring nature, to describe habits, hobbies, facts.

And although the very name of this time includes the word "simple", in application it turns out to be not so simple, there are some nuances and exceptions to the rules.

Hear how Anna Cambridge University Press explains cases usage Present simple. Anna speaks English, but very clearly, even a beginner will understand her, especially since the explanation is accompanied by writing and pictures.

Rules for using Present Simple (video in English)

Education Table Present Simple

The table shows that only the verbs of the 3rd person singular, that is, those that agree with the pronouns he, she, it , differ in spelling: they take the ending -s . In some cases, this ending can be -es (go - go es, do - does, search - searches, wash - washes), or -ies (cry - cr ies , study - studies , hurry - hurries , apply - applies ).

Examples (suggestions) + explanation in Russian

1. Verbs in present simpl are used to express action permanent or recurring:

2. We are talking about facts, for example, that the earth revolves around the sun, water boils at 100 degrees, and the like.

3. We talk about how often we do something (we use adverbs always, never, sometimes, often, rarely, usually)

4. By the way, there is a way to just remember these, this will help us .... dinosaur, or rather an acronym DINOSAUR(each letter of the word is associated with a certain adverb, thus helping to remember them)

5. We talk about our thoughts, express feelings, which, although they are temporary, are not used in, this state verbs, as well as verbs that describe our promises, assumptions, tips, namely:

suggest, advise, promise, agree, refuse, insist, apologise, recommend, want, understand

Listen to a fun, simple song for kids about the activities we do every morning when we wake up. Adults also do not hurt to listen to strengthen the use of Present Simple.

Let's start a series of articles about the tenses of the English language from the simplest tense - Present Simple, present simple. Indeed, there should be no difficulties either with the construction of this time or with its use.

In some textbooks, you can see the name Present Indefinite. Don't be scared - it's exactly the same as Present Simple. Indefinite means indefinite, that is, without any features that need to be conveyed about the action in the sentence.

How is the Present Simple formed?

Let's start with how the Present Simple is formed. Here, from the very beginning, a slight difficulty lies in wait for you - the time of Present Simple looks different for the verb to be (to be) and for all other verbs. Why exactly the verb “to be” is so honored - because it is the most common verb in the English language and therefore a lot will happen to it, not like everyone else, in a special way. But for now, let's start with everyone else.

Present Simple for all verbs except the verb to be

Present Simple is a really simple time, and not only by the standards of the English language, but also by the standards of other languages.
However, in order to appreciate how simple everything is arranged in English, let's take a step back and remember from school what the verb conjugation is. If a in simple words are different forms for different actors. For example me look, you look, he looks, we we look, you see, they watching. It turns out that in Russian there are 6 different forms for each verb. In Italian, Spanish and French - also 6 different forms. AT German a little simpler - 4 forms. And now, attention - in English there are only 2 different forms!

So, for all persons and numbers, except for he / she / it (that is, for me, you, we, you and they) we take the form that is in the dictionary - see (I see, I see, I see, I see, I see), and for he/she/it we add -s (or –es): sees (sees). That's all - there are only two forms and they are formed simply elementarily. Isn't it much easier than Russian?

I see dead people. I see dead people. (Movie “The Sixth Sense”)
Moscow never sleeps. Moscow never sleeps. (Extremely affectionate musical composition, which, I hope, will not let you forget about -s in the third person singular)

Present Simple for the verb to be

Now a small fly in the ointment in this idyll. There is one verb that in Present Simple becomes completely different from its original form - this is the verb to be, to be.

Surely you remember from school how you memorized I - am, you - are, he / she / it - is, we - are, you - are, they - are. This is the verb to be in Present Simple. If you still do not know these forms, then you must learn them. If there are things that you can’t do without, and this is just one of them. However, am, are and is will appear in every second sentence - and it will be simply impossible not to remember them.

By the way, there are only 3 different conjugations for the verb to be: am, are, is. All the same, it is twice as simple as conjugations of Russian verbs. Ironically, in Russian, on the contrary, the verb “is” in the present tense will remain in the same form: “is”, no matter how you conjugate it.

Another note: the verb to be is very often used in the form of abbreviated forms when it merges with a noun into one word: I am = I'm, you are = you're, he is = he's. There is no difference between them, it's just easier and faster to pronounce them.

This is a table. it – table. (The phrase is the apotheosis of school English).
You're beautiful. You're beautiful. You're beautiful, it's true. You are beautiful, you are beautiful, you are beautiful and it's true. ( James Blunt, the song "You're beautiful").
I'm the king of the world. I am the king of the world (Movie "Titanic").

When is Present Simple tense used?

The use of tenses in English is a complex, multifaceted topic, and, of course, the use of Present Simple is not limited to these five cases. However, these five cases are quite suitable for the first idea of ​​​​when and how the Present Simple is used.

1. General facts

Present Simple should be used for general facts about a life that is always true. Whether these are facts from physics and mathematics known to all mankind, or facts from personal experience, which no one knows except you - Present Simple is suitable for everyone.

Ice melts at 0 degrees. Ice melts at 0 degrees.
London is the capital of Great Britain. London - Capital of the UK. (Another hello from the Soviet school).
My name is Pasha, I'm from Russia. My name is Pasha, I'm from Russia.

2. Things and phenomena that are more or less constant