Hi everyone, and welcome to MosaLingua’s series of English grammar hacks! I’m Abbe, and I’m here to show you tips and tricks to make learning English grammar a breeze. Today’s topic is the present in English.
The Present in English | English Grammar Hacks (Video)
The Present in English | English Grammar Hacks (Transcript)
There are two main forms that you need to begin: the simple present and the present continuous. The simple present in particular is very easy to form. In general, all you have to do is add an “S” to the end of the base form for the he and she forms. The rest of the forms of this verb remain unchanged. Easy, right?
Of course there are irregular verbs but you’ll only need a few to get started. To help you, here are a couple of the most common English irregular verbs with their conjugations. Jot them down somewhere handy in case you ever need a reference. Got it? Now I’m going to let you in on a secret hack. You can actually use the present tense to talk about the future and the past. Let’s see how that works! For example: “I’m playing soccer tomorrow.” This is technically the present continuous but it’s a completely correct way of talking about an event that is planned for the future.
You can also use the present continuous when telling a story about something that happened in the past like this: “I’m driving along and all of a sudden, I run out of gas!” Which present tenses did I use there? The present tenses are all you need when you’re getting started because communication is your goal at this point.
Even if your sentences are very basic and maybe not even completely correct, you’ll still be able to get your message across with the present tense and the right vocabulary. A sentence like “Tomorrow I go to the cinema” may not be totally correct, but it does the job, especially when you’re an absolute beginner. After all, your main goal is to communicate, right?
You will be able to fine-tune your English, little by little, but don’t wait to start speaking. Just use whatever tools you have!
Thanks for watching our video about English grammar hacks for the present! Make sure you subscribe to our channel to get the latest English grammar hacks and other great videos for language lovers. Happy learning, and see you next time!
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