Sri Lanka Institute of

Skills Development

Diploma Course in

Teaching English as a Second

Language

Simple Present Tense

Subject + Verb + Object

I eat rice

She goes to school

We play cricket

The British speak English

If the SUBJECT is “he, she, it, Nimal

(or any name), our dog, computer” etc., add

“s” or “es” to the VERB

Eg:- She speaks English

Ajith plays cricket

My sister goes to school

BUT

I / We go to school (NOT “goes”)

Subject - Person

Person - mqreIh

First Person - W;a;u mqreI

Second Person - uOHu mqreI

Third Person - m%:u mqreI

Singular Plural

First Person I We

Second Person You You

Third Person

He, She, It, That boy,

Nimal (or any name), My

father, Our dog etc.

They

First person - I, we

Second person - In front of the speaker(s)

Third person - Not in front of the speaker. In distance

Third Person Singular

He, She, It, That boy,

Nimal (or any name),

My father, Our dog

etc.

If the subject is third person singular, add

“s” or “es” to the verb.

(Only in this tense)

She goes to temple on every poya day.

Mala works hard.

My computer works faster.

General Truths

We use the Simple Present Tense to talk about General Truths.

Things that generally / habitually / usually happen

Eg:- Sri Lankans eat rice

A cricketer plays cricket

Dogs bark

I collect stamps

Introducing Someone

Usually, this tense is used to introduce

someone.

Mr. Perera is my neighbour. He works at

Peoples’ Bank, Kandy. He has two sons and

they play cricket everyday. His wife is a

teacher. She teaches English. They are very

good people. They visit us twice a week. I

really like them.

Where to Use?

These are some of the cases where the Simple Present Tense is used:

Something happens repeatedly (I study English)

Things in general (Teachers work 8 hours per day)

With some verbs like “to love”, “to hate”, “to think” etc.

Eg:- She loves me / I love her

My friend hates music

I think that he is a good person

Signal Words

Remember, the following words are usually used in this tense.

Everyday - yeuodu

Sometimes - iuyr úg

Always - yeuúgu

Usually - fndfydaúg

Often - ks;ru

Never - ljodj;a lrka kE

I study English everyday

We sometimes do foolish things

She always likes to read novels

My father often eats bread for dinner.

Seetha never plays tennis

Negative

If the subject is singular, use “does not” just after the subject:

When we use “does not” in this tense, the verb does not take “s” or “es” even if it is third person singular.

She likes music (positive)

She does not/ doesn’t like music

Negative

If the subject is plural, use “do not” (or

don’t) just after the subject:

We play cricket

We do not/don’t play cricket

They study English

They do not study English

Questions

You can ask negative questions too. Just add

“not” to “do” or “does”.

Do not = don’t

Does not = doesn’t

She likes us

Does not she like us?

Questions

Use “does” or “do” in the beginning of the sentence. Remember, we do not add “s” or “es” to the verb in asking questions:

She speaks English

Does she speak English?

They play chess

Do they play chess?

Example Sentences

Affirmative : She reads novels

Negative : She does not read novels

Questions (p) : Does she read novels?

Question (n) : Does not she read novels?