Hello and welcome to this podcast brought to you by That's English!, the Spanish Ministry of Education's official distance learning English course. To find out more about That's English! go to www.thatsenglish.com or contact your local Official School of Languages. Today we would like to run through the different uses of the present tense in English to help you to avoid some common mistakes. So let's start with the present simple. As you know, we use the present simple to talk about things that are generally true or to refer to actions that happen repeatedly. So we say: Water boils at 100˚C or They work for a multinational company. Please don't forget the 's' in the third person singular, for example: He dances, she plays or it rains. Remember that when a noun or a verb ends in s or in a sound which is similar to an s, (like /z/ /ʃ/ /tʃ/ or /dʒ/), which usually correspond to the letters –s /-ss/ x/ -sh/-ch/-/ge/ you need to add -es /ɪz/. For example: She kisses, he teaches, it misses, she washes. We also add -es to go and do but they don't affect the pronunciation in the same way: Notice that we say I go and she goes, I do and he does. When you are writing the contracted form of the negative, I don't sing or she doesn't like, for example, remember that the apostrophe is placed where the 'o' from 'not' has been removed. As we use the present simple to talk about habits and repeated actions, we often use frequency adverbs like: never, occasionally, sometimes, often, usually and always. These frequency adverbs are placed before the main verb. For example: I usually play tennis in the summer. They don't often go to the cinema. Do you always finish work at the same time? Let's look now at the present continuous. As you know the present continuous is used for actions that are happening now or in the period of time in which we are speaking and that are not complete: So we can say: This year I am learning to drive. What is going on? I can't hear anything. We also use the present continuous for temporary situations. For example: I am doing voluntary work for an NGO until I find a new job. Although frequency adverbs are usually used with the present simple, always can be used with the present continuous. For example: I am always losing my keys. She is always complaining. The neighbours are always having noisy parties. Always is used in this way when we are talking about an action that we think happens too much, or for something that we find irritating: I am always making the same mistake! The neighbours are always having parties. However, there are some verbs that we do not usually use in the present continuous. For example, we do not normally say I am knowing or I am liking. This happens with the verbs like, love or hate. For example: I am reading a very interesting novel at the moment. I really like it. This year she is having lots of problems with her maths course. She hates it. It is also the case with verbs that are related to the senses, like see, hear or smell which we tend to use with can or can't. For example: We can't see the bank manager now because he is in a meeting. The music is so loud I can't hear anything. Can you smell the flowers? Other verbs that we don't usually use in the present continuous are verbs that refer to mental processes or opinions such as know, prefer, suppose, understand and mean. For example: He knows how to cook Japanese food. On Sundays they prefer to go out for lunch. I suppose the children are having a good time at the summer camp. I am listening to you but I don't understand what you mean. With other verbs there is sometimes a difference in meaning when they are used in the present simple or the present continuous. With think, for example, if we say: I think it's going to rain or What do you think about the elections? we are referring to our opinion or to what we believe. However, if we say: I am thinking of moving to the countryside, this means that I am considering this possibility. Now we would like to remind you of the different question structures that are used in the present simple: The main difficulty is the difference between object questions and subject questions with the words who and what. Object questions are when the question word - what or who - is the object of the verb, that is, we ask about the object of the verb: For example: What does she eat for breakfast? Subject questions are when what or who are the subject of the verb. In this case, we are asking what or who does the action. For example: What makes you happy? In the case of object questions, which are much more frequent, the structure is as follows: First the question word: what or who and then the auxiliary verb do or does, followed by the subject and then the main verb. For example: Who do you know at the tennis club? What do you do at the weekend? What does he wear for work? Notice that if there is a preposition associated to the verb, it goes at the end of the question: What sort of music do you listen to? Who do you work with? Subject questions are much easier, as you do not need to use the auxiliary verb 'do'. For example: What happens when the fire alarm goes off? Who supervises the IT department? Finally, remember that when answering a question, we do not tend to just reply 'yes' or 'no', but we use the auxiliary verb 'do', in the present simple and 'be' in the present continuous. For example: Do you like cats? Yes, I do or No, I don't. Does he work out in the local gym? Yes, he does or No, he doesn't. Is she playing tennis this morning? Yes, she is or No, she isn't. Are they working today? Yes, they are or No, they aren't. Well, we hope that this quick review of the present tenses has been useful for you. We hope you have enjoyed this podcast, brought to you by That's English! Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter. We look forward to hearing from you. Bye for now!