We will learn about how to use simple present tense by describing their daily activities and telling about general truth in this lesson. It is important to know how to use simple present tense. Telling about someone’s daily activities or routines is in simple present tense. In a conversation, people can talk and share about his/her daily activities. You need to know how to use the correct sentences so that the communication runs well and to avoid misunderstanding.
Read the following dialogue and pay attention to the words in bold.
Teacher : What do you usually do in the morning?
Yuyun : I usually make my bed when I get up at 4 o’clock in the morning. Then, I cook something for my breakfast. After cooking, I have a shower and dress up to go to school.
Teacher : What do you have for breakfast?
Yuyun : I have rice and fried egg. I sometimes have fish.
Yamin : Do you like vegetables?
Yuyun : Yes, I do.
Teacher : (Asks Yamin) What does she like?
Yamin : She likes vegetables.
The dialogue is about daily routines. It means that, the questions and the answers are in the simple present tense. How do we use it and how to make sentences in this tense? Read the explanation below.
Simple Present Tense (Subject and Verb Agreement)
Simple present tense is used to express routine actions the example is in the above dialogue. The verb in simple present tense is verb 1 (basic form of verb). To form negative or interrogative statements, you need to add do, or does to verbs. Since the verbs have auxiliary verbs (do/does), the verb forms become bare.
Let’s see how to form negative and interrogative forms.
(+) She likes vegetables. Subj + Verb 1 + Obj/Compl
(-) She does not like vegetables. Subj + do/does + not + Verb 1 +Obj/Compl
(?) Does she like vegetables? Do/does + Subj + Verb 1 + Obj/Compl
• As you can see, the verb in the examples ends in –s because the subject is it (a pronoun for the third singular persons). Other third singular pronouns are he and she.
• To change the statement (+) into negative form (-), the verb needs do/does and not after the subject. To form an interrogative sentence (?), the auxiliary do/does comes before the subject.
• Verb forms of third singular person subjects always end in –s or –es that the choice depends on the end of the basic form of the verbs.
You just learned about personal pronouns for the third singular persons. Other pronouns that we can use in simple present sentences are I, you, we, they. To make negative or interrogative statements, an auxiliary verb do is needed.
To make it clear, have a look at the following table.
| PRONOUN | AUXIALARY | VERB 1 | OBJECT/COMPLEMENT | |
| I | I | get up | At 4 in the morning | |
| We | get up | At 4 in the morning | ||
| II | You | get up | At 4 in the morning | |
| III | He | gets up | At 4 in the morning | |
| She | gets up | At 4 in the morning | ||
| It | gets up | At 4 in the morning | ||
| They | get up | At 4 in the morning |
| PRONOUN | AUXIALARY | VERB 1 | OBJECT/COMPLEMENT | |
| I | I | do not | get up | At 4 in the morning |
| We | do not | get up | At 4 in the morning | |
| II | You | do not | get up | At 4 in the morning |
| III | He | does not | gets p | At 4 in the morning |
| She | does not | get up | At 4 in the morning | |
| It | does not | get up | At 4 in the morning | |
| They | do not | get up | At 4 in the morning | |
| AUXIALARY | PRONOUN | VERB 1 | OBJECT/COMPLEMENT | |
| I | Do | I | get up | At 4 in the morning |
| Do | We | get up | At 4 in the morning | |
| II | Do | You | get up | At 4 in the morning |
| III | Does | He | get up | At 4 in the morning |
| Does | She | get up | At 4 in the morning | |
| Does | It | get up | At 4 in the morning | |
| Do | They | get up | At 4 in the morning |
Besides daily routines or habitual actions, we can use simple present tense to tell about general truth.
Examples:Fish live in the water.
Anoa is from Sulawesi.
Lore Lindu National Park is located in Central Sulawesi Province.
Watu Mohai National Park is one of the national parks in Indonesia.
My friend does not eat meat because she is a vegetarian.
We will talk more about simple present tense using copula or be am, is, are in the next lesson.
In this lesson, we can conclude that simple present tense is a tense that is used to express the following points:
- habitual actions or routines,
- general truth
DESCRIPTION: This lesson is aimed to explain about the use of simple present tense especially copula verbs, am, is, are including how to form negative and interrogative sentences.
LESSON
Key Points
In this lesson, students will learn how to use copula verbs in simple present tense by writing down their daily activities or general truth around them. English sentences have to have verbs, unlike in Bahasa Indonesia. The verb that functions as a connector (link) between the subject and its complement is named copula verb. In this lesson, we are going to discuss about how to use am, is and are as copula verbs.
Examples:
I am a kind person.
Alo is an endemic bird to Central Sulawesi Province.
Kaledo is a typical food from Palu.
Palu, Kendari, Makassar and Manado are capital cities of provinces in Sulawesi.
Dero and lulo are traditional dances from an island next to Kalimantan.
Simple Present Tense with is, am and are
In the previous lesson, you learned that we use the simple present tense to express habitual actions or routines and general truth. Now, we will learn about how to form sentences in simple present tense using copula verbs. am, is and are have a special function as linking verbs, part of verb be. When we use personal pronouns, there are separate personal pronouns to use with these linking verbs respectively that will form three pairs. These pairs must always stay together. What does it mean? Let’s go on to the following charts.
Positive Sentence ( + )
am I singular, the first person
(the first, because it is the person speaking)
he
is she singular, the third persons
it (the third, because they do not speak directly to I)
you singular and plural, the second person(s)
(people directly talking to I)
are we plural, the first person
they plural, the third person
Those three pairs must never be changed. Please have a look at the following examples in the table. The correct examples show right ways to use is, am, and are. The incorrect examples show wrong ways in using is, am and are. Read and learn carefully.
Correct Examples Incorrect Examples
I am an English-Indonesian translator. *I is an English-Indonesian translator.
or
*I are an English-Indonesian translator.
My husband is Simon. *My husband am Simon.
or
*My husband are Simon.
Earth, Pluto, Venus, Mars are planets in the universe. *Earth, Pluto, Venus, Mars am planets in the universe.
or
*Earth, Pluto, Venus, Mars is planets in the universe.
Negative (-) and Interrogative (?) Sentences
• To make a negative sentence, we add not, AFTER the be form (is not; am not, are not).
Example: She is not obedient.
• Then, the be form moves to the beginning of the sentence when we want to make an interrogative sentence.
Example: Is she obedient?
Am, is, and are are usually known as to be or be. In simple present tense, they are copula verbs that are used to express:
- general truth
- something that is true in the current situation
Let’s continue to the table. Here, you will learn how to create negative and interrogative sentences.
Pronouns Examples & Forms
I (+) - I am - a subtitler
(-) - I am not a subtitler
(?) Am I - - a subtitler?
You, We, They (+) You/We/They are - brilliant
(-) - You/We/They are not brilliant
(?) Are you/we/they - - brilliant?
He, She, It (+) - He/She /It is obedient
(-) - He/She/It is not obedient
(?) Is he/she/it - - obedient?
As you can see, it is rather similar to the previous lesson about the ways to form negative and interrogative sentences. However, it is simpler here.
Note: An asterisk sign (*) before a sentence means that the sentence is incorrect.
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