Exercises for this card
Complete them: results are saved and count towards Analysis and Progress.
A1 · ② Present simple
Present simple
What you do every day — and the little word do, which does all the work and exists in almost no other language.
45minthe whole
sheet
48questions
in the practice
3pages,
one at a time
01 · First page · what it is and what shape it takes
The forms
| Affirmative | Negative | Question | |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | I work | I don't work | Do I work? |
| you | you work | you don't work | Do you work? |
| he / she / it | he works | he doesn't work | Does he work? |
| we | we work | we don't work | Do we work? |
| you | you work | you don't work | Do you work? |
| they | they work | they don't work | Do they work? |
present simple: The present simple is the tense of what is always true and what happens again and again: habits, routines, facts, timetables. It is not the tense of what is happening right now — that one is the present continuous, and it comes next.
auxiliary do: To ask a question or to say no, English does not change the verb: it calls in a helper, do. The helper takes the ending and the main verb goes back to its bare form. Most languages have nothing like it, which is why the helper is the first thing to disappear.
third person -s: Of all the endings English once had, one survives: the -s of he, she and it. It is small, it carries no meaning, and it is the most forgotten thing in the language. Say it out loud every time, until your mouth does it without you.
- I work in a hospital.
- She works in a hospital.
- They don't live here.
- Does he speak Italian?
- Water boils at 100 degrees.
| How to write it | How to say it | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Verb ends in… | Add | Example | Sound |
| most verbs | -s | work → works | /s/ after p, t, k, f |
| -o, -ch, -sh, -ss, -x | -es | go → goes · watch → watches | /ɪz/, one more syllable |
| consonant + -y | -y becomes -ies | study → studies | /z/ |
| vowel + -y | -s | play → plays | /z/ |
| have | irregular | have → has | /z/ |
Golden rule
The -s belongs to the sentence, not to the verb: it appears once and only once. If do or does is there, the ending is already on the helper, so the main verb stays bare. He works, but Does he work? — never Does he works?
Three verbs build their negative and their question without do: be (I am not, Are you…?), can (I can't, Can you…?) and have got (I haven't got, Have you got…?). Everything else needs the helper.
02 · Second page · when you use it
The uses
Habit
Something you do again and again, often with an adverb of frequency.
I always drink tea.She never works on Sunday.We go to the gym twice a week.
Fact
Something that is simply true, now and in general.
He lives in Lisbon.Water freezes at zero.I speak two languages.
Timetable
A fixed schedule — the present simple, even when it is about the future.
The train leaves at six.The shop opens at nine.The film starts at eight.
Opinion, feeling
Verbs of thinking, liking and knowing do not go into the continuous.
I think you're right.She likes coffee.I don't understand.
do or does?
does with he, she, it — do with everything else. The helper takes the -s so the verb does not.
Do you work?Does she work?Do they work?
Back to bare
After do, does, don't and doesn't the main verb loses every ending.
She doesn't work.Does he live here?not: doesn't works
Short answers
You answer with the helper, not with the verb. Repeating the verb sounds foreign.
Yes, I do.No, she doesn't.not: Yes, I work.
do meets do
do is also an ordinary verb, so it can turn up twice in one sentence.
Do you do sport?She doesn't do her homework.
Word order, and where the adverb goes
English word order is fixed: subject, verb, object. You cannot move the pieces around for emphasis the way a freer-order language does — move them and the sentence either changes meaning or breaks. Adverbs of frequency (always, usually, often, sometimes, never) go before the main verb but after be: I always drink tea, and I am always tired. And never put never with another negative: never is the negative already.
🌍 For everyone
Both languages can drop the subject, because the ending of the verb already says who is speaking. English endings say almost nothing, so the subject is compulsory — even when there is nobody at all: It is raining.
Piove. / Pada. → It is raining.
The subject can never disappear. Many languages let you drop it, because the ending already says who is speaking; English does not, so it needs a subject even when there is nobody: It rains. It is cold. There is a problem.
He work in a bank. → He works in a bank.
Third person needs the -s: it is the only ending left in the language.
Does she works here? → Does she work here?
does already carries the ending, so the verb goes back to its bare form.
You like coffee? → Do you like coffee?
A question needs the helper do. Intonation alone is not enough in English.
I not understand. → I don't understand.
The negative is do + not. not on its own does not negate a verb.
She don't work here. → She doesn't work here.
he, she and it take does, so their negative is doesn't.
Is raining. → It is raining.
English always needs a subject, even an empty one.
I don't know nothing. → I don't know anything.
English allows one negative per sentence; several languages require two.
- — Do you work on Saturday? — No, I don't.
- — Does your sister live in Warsaw? — Yes, she does.
- My father doesn't drink coffee.
- The train leaves at half past six.
03 · Third page · now it's your turn
Exercises
Ask Nova
Something unclear? Ask a question about this card.