1. Sri Lanka Institute of
Skills Development
Diploma Course in
Teaching English as a Second
Language
2. Simple Present Tense
Subject + Verb + Object
I eat rice
She goes to school
We play cricket
The British speak English
3. If the SUBJECT is “he, she, it, Nimal
(or any name), our dog, computer” etc., add
“s” or “es” to the VERB
Eg:- She speaks English
Ajith plays cricket
My sister goes to school
BUT
I / We go to school (NOT “goes”)
4. Subject - Person
Person - mqreIh
First Person - W;a;u mqreI
Second Person - uOHu mqreI
Third Person - m%:u mqreI
5. First person - I, we
Second person - In front of the speaker(s)
Third person - Not in front of the speaker. In distance
Singular Plural
First Person I We
Second Person You You
He, She, It, That boy,
Third Person Nimal (or any name), My They
father, Our dog etc.
7. If the subject is third person singular, add
“s” or “es” to the verb.
(Only in this tense)
She goes to temple on every poya day.
Mala works hard.
My computer works faster.
8. General Truths
We use the Simple Present Tense to talk about
General Truths.
Things that generally / habitually / usually
happen
Eg:- Sri Lankans eat rice
A cricketer plays cricket
Dogs bark
I collect stamps
9. Introducing Someone
Usually, this tense is used to introduce
someone.
Mr. Perera is my neighbour. He works at
Peoples’ Bank, Kandy. He has two sons and
they play cricket everyday. His wife is a
teacher. She teaches English. They are very
good people. They visit us twice a week. I
really like them.
10. Where to Use?
These are some of the cases where the Simple
Present Tense is used:
Something happens repeatedly (I study English)
Things in general (Teachers work 8 hours per day)
With some verbs like “to love”, “to hate”, “to
think” etc.
Eg:- She loves me / I love her
My friend hates music
I think that he is a good person
11. Signal Words
Remember, the following words are usually
used in this tense.
Everyday - yeuodu
Sometimes - iuyr úg
Always - yeuúgu
Usually - fndfydaúg
Often - ks;ru
Never - ljodj;a lrka kE
12. I study English everyday
We sometimes do foolish things
She always likes to read novels
My father often eats bread for dinner.
Seetha never plays tennis
13. Negative
If the subject is singular, use “does not” just
after the subject:
When we use “does not” in this tense, the
verb does not take “s” or “es” even if it is
third person singular.
She likes music (positive)
She does not/ doesn’t like music
14. Negative
If the subject is plural, use “do not” (or
don’t) just after the subject:
We play cricket
We do not/don’t play cricket
They study English
They do not study English
15. Questions
You can ask negative questions too. Just add
“not” to “do” or “does”.
Do not = don’t
Does not = doesn’t
She likes us
Does not she like us?
16. Questions
Use “does” or “do” in the beginning of the
sentence. Remember, we do not add “s” or
“es” to the verb in asking questions:
She speaks English
Does she speak English?
They play chess
Do they play chess?
17. Example Sentences
Affirmative : She reads novels
Negative : She does not read novels
Questions (p) : Does she read novels?
Question (n) : Does not she read novels?
