Distinguishing the Present Tenses: Simple Present Tense, Present Progressive, Present

Perfect

Prof. Myrna MonllorEnglish 112

When do you use the present tense?

It is used for habitual actions; actions that happen every day or that sometimes happen.

It is also used when the speaker or writer believesthat a fact was true before, is true now, and will betrue in the future.

It is also used to make generalizations about people or things.

Important things to remember about the present tense

• To form the negative and the question, you need to use the auxiliary verbs DO and DOES.

• To form the negative use Don’t/Do not for the subjects I, We, You, They and Doesn’t /Does not with the subjects He, She, It

Don’t and Doesn’t mean “No” inSpanish.

When do you use the Present Progressive?

It is used for actions that are still happening.

The present progressive is a two-word verb.

Am + -ing I am dancing.Is + -ing He is finishing his work.Are + -ing We aren’t working this evening.

To form the negative, simply add not to the firstverb form.

When do you use the Present Perfect?

We use the Present Perfect to say that an actionhappened at an unspecified time before now.The exact time is not important. The PresentPerfect tense consist of two verb forms. It isformed with the auxiliary verb Have and thePast Participle of a Verb.

When have is used as an auxiliary verb, it means“haber” in Spanish.

Example for the Present Perfect

I have finished my work.You have applied for a job.We have discussed the present tenses.They have seen a good movie.He has gone to all his classes.She has taken the bus.It has ended.

* Notice that when the subject is He, She, or It, you need to use “has”.