When We Talk About Our Daily Lives

TEMA: GRAMÁTICA: PRESENT SIMPLE AND CONTINUOUS TENSES
VOCABULÁRIO: NACIONALIDADES.
Nome do estudante:
Lurdes António arnão
Nome do tutor:
Introduction:
When we talk about our daily lives, we use the Simple Present tense, which corresponds to the
present tense in Portuguese. However, the conjugation of verbs in the Simple Present in English
differs from what happens in our mother tongue, as they are not conjugated in all persons. Used
to describe things, the Simple Present is made up of the main verb in its base form, in affirmative
sentences, and the use of the auxiliary verb do, in negative and interrogative sentences.
The Present Continuous or Present Progressive is a verb tense used to indicate actions that are in
progress in the present; at the moment of speech. It is used to talk about temporary situations,
continuous actions that are taking place. As Present Continuous sentences refer to situations that
occur at the moment of speech, it is common to see the use of time adverbs in sentences. Some
commonly used adverbs of time are now, at the moment and at present.
Therefore, this work focuses on Present simple and continuous tenses vocabulary.
General Objective:
 Understand the present simple and continuous tenses vocabulary.
Specific Objectives:
 To talk about the present simple tense in its positive and negative forms, giving examples;
 To explain the present continuous in the positive and negative forms, giving examples;
 Differentiate between the present simple and present continuous.
Methodology:
When we talk about methodologies, we are referring to the paths, methods or routes used to carry
out the work. In this context, this work used the method of bibliographical consultations, articles
and electronic PDFs.
Present Simple
We use the Present Simple to talk about things that we do every day, usually, etc. Look at the
tables below.
Present Simple Present Simple Negative
I usually eat fish. I

don’t
You often
You
He/She/It never
He/She/It doesn’t
We sometimes eats eat fish.
You always We
They You don’t
They
Present Simple Question
Do I eat fish? Short Answer

You
I/you/we/they do
Does he/she/it Yes
he/she/it does
Do We
You I/you/we/they don’t

No
They he/she/it doesn’t
The Third Person (he/she/it)
In Portuguese verb endings are usually different for each person. In English they are the same for
all except the third person (he/she/it). This is true of all verbs in English except the verb TO BE.
(You can revise the verb TO BE in Unit 1).
For third person there are 3 groups of spelling, and irregular verbs.
1. Add “s” to the end of the verb. I play, you play, he plays.
2. For verbs that end with “consonant-y”. Change the “y” to “i” and add “es”.
Example:
I study, you study, she studies
I try, you try, he tries.
3. For verbs that end with “ch”, “sh”, “x”, “z”, “s”, we add “es”.
Example
I watch, you watch, he watches
I wash, you wash, he washes
Some examples of common irregular verbs are:
be (I am, you are, he is)
have (I have, you have, she has)
do (I do, you do, it does)
There are many irregular verbs in English. For a full list
check the appendix at the back of the book
Present Continuous
The Present Simple talks about what we do every day, usually do, and so on.
The Present Continuous talks about what we are doing now, at the moment.
We always make the Present Continuous using the verb TO BE + GERUND. The gerund is the –
ing form of the verb (eating, drinking, etc).
Forms of The Present Continuous
Present Negative Question
I am eating I am not eating Am I eating?

You are eating You are not eating You are eating?
He/She/It is eating He/She/It is not eating Is he/she/it eating?
We are eating We are not eating Are we eating?
You are eating You are not eating Are You eating?
They are eating They are not eating Are they eating?
Note
We often use short forms.
I’m, You’re, He’s, She’s, It’s, We’re, They’re
Aren’t, isn’t
Maybe we started the action a long time ago, but it is still continuing now.
Example: I am studying at UNISCED.
It’s possible that you started studying two years ago, but you are continuing to study now.
There are some variations in spelling when we make the gerund. These variations are common in
English.
Most verbs simply use –ing (eating, drinking, etc).
Verbs that end with –e, lose the –e (phone → phoning, live → living).
Verbs of one syllable that end with a single vowel and a single consonant have the final
consonant doubled (cut → cutting, hit → hitting, run → running).
When the final consonant has 2 vowels before it, we do not double the consonant
(shoot → shooting, keep → keeping - no double consonant before –ing).
Conclusion
Having reached this stage, we have concluded that the Simple Present is used in situations related
to our daily lives: to describe truths and/or facts, to specify physical characteristics or emotional
states, to tell stories and events, to quantify how often we do something, to describe our routine
and habits, etc. You can see that the use of the present simple is wide-ranging.
We also concluded that The present continuous is used in English when we want to talk about an
action or situation that is happening at the same time as the speech, i.e. that is happening now.
The continuity of the action can also have a longer period, because the action needs to have a
beginning and an end, whether it will end today or in a fortnight' time makes no difference
compared to the present simple, whose actions are routine and habitual. In this way, the present
continuous is used for temporary actions too. Thus, the duration of an action in the present
continuous is subjective, because it can be momentary, short or long. The present continuous is
used in addition to the future when we talk about plans that we have already made and organised,
for example, trips that have already been scheduled, the people who will take part in the trip, the
means of transport that will make the journey, etc.
Bibliographical References

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TEMA: GRAMÁTICA: PRESENT SIMPLE AND CONTINUOUS TENSES

Lurdes António arnão

 Understand the present simple and continuous tenses vocabulary.

Present Simple Present Simple Negative

I usually eat fish. I

They You don’t

Present Simple Question

Do I eat fish? Short Answer

You I/you/we/they don’t

The Third Person (he/she/it)

I study, you study, she studies

I try, you try, he tries.

I watch, you watch, he watches

I wash, you wash, he washes

Some examples of common irregular verbs are:

be (I am, you are, he is)

have (I have, you have, she has)

do (I do, you do, it does)

There are many irregular verbs in English. For a full list

check the appendix at the back of the book

Forms of The Present Continuous

Present Negative Question

I am eating I am not eating Am I eating?

He/She/It is eating He/She/It is not eating Is he/she/it eating?

We are eating We are not eating Are we eating?

We often use short forms.

I’m, You’re, He’s, She’s, It’s, We’re, They’re

Example: I am studying at UNISCED.

Most verbs simply use –ing (eating, drinking, etc).

(shoot → shooting, keep → keeping - no double consonant before –ing).

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