XII. Present Tense

            The present tense is a grammatical tense that locates a situation or event in present time. This linguistic definition refers to a concept that indicates a feature of the meaning of a verb.

            The past simple can also be used with a habitual sense, to refer to a series of past events that occurred on a regular basis. Often, when used in this way, the verb is accompanied by an adverbial  that underscores the regularity of the situation described:

a. Every morning, I walked  to the office, no matter the weather.
b. My mother always went  to the fish market on Mondays.
c. Whenever I played  football I would injure myself.

The habitual meaning expressed here by means of the past simple can also be expressed with an alternative grammatical pattern. This involves a special habitual form, used to, plus an infinitive  verb. Each of the examples in can be rephrased using this pattern without change of meaning:

        a.   Every morning, I used to walk  to the office, no matter the weather.
        b. My mother always used to go to the fish market on Mondays.
        c. Whenever I used to play  football I would injure myself.

The present simple or simple present is used in several ways:

·         to describe both habits and or routines (habitual aspect) (I eat breakfast every morning at 9:40; I go to work every day), and general facts or the truth (The earth revolves around the sun);

·         to present thoughts, feelings, and other unchanging states (stative aspect) (I think so; I like it; It is hot; The sun always shines in the desert);

·         to indicate scheduled events in the near future (so that the simple “present” verb form actually indicates future tense) (I take the train tomorrow at 8:00);

·         to indicate events at any time in the future in a dependent clause (I’ll retire when I reach age 65);

·         to provide narratives such as instructional narratives (Now I mix the ingredients; now I put the pan in the oven).

                In the present simple, English uses the verb without an ending (I get the lunch ready at one o’clock, usually.) except that in the third person singular, (after he, she, it, your friend, etc.) the suffix -s or -es is appended to the verb (It gets busy on the weekends; Sarah catches the early train).

The present simple tense is often used with adverbs of repeated time, as in these examples with the adverbs shown in italics:

·         I never come to school by cycle.

·         He always forgets to do his homework.

·         I never catch the late bus home.

How do we make the Simple Present Tense?

subject	+	auxiliary verb	+	main verb
		do		base

There are three important exceptions:

1.      For positive sentences, we do not normally use the auxiliary.

2.    For the 3rd person singular (he, she, it), we add s to the main verb or es to the auxiliary.

3.     For the verb to be, we do not use an auxiliary, even for questions and negatives.

Look at these examples with the main verb like:

	subject	auxiliary verb		main verb
+	I, you, we, they			like	coffee.
	He, she, it			likes	coffee.
-	I, you, we, they	do	not	like	coffee.
	He, she, it	does	not	like	coffee.
?	Do	I, you, we, they		like	coffee?
	Does	he, she, it		like	coffee?

Look at these examples with the main verb be. Notice that there is no auxiliary:

	subject	main verb
+	I	am		French.
	You, we, they	are		French.
	He, she, it	is		French.
-	I	am	not	old.
	You, we, they	are	not	old.
	He, she, it		not	old.
?	Am	I		late?
	Are	you, we, they		late?
	Is	he, she, it		late?

=) EXAMPLE :

1.      I live in Palangka Raya.

2.    The Moon goes round the Earth.

3.     He does not drive a bus.

4.    We meet every Friday.

5.     We do not work at night.

6.     Do you play football.