There are 12 basic tenses in English. We have the present tenses,
the past tenses, and the future tenses. I'm sure you've seen all of these before.
In today's lesson we are going to focus on the simple tenses.
Present simple, past simple, and future simple. By focusing on the simple tenses, and just the simple
tenses, we can compare them. And you can see how similar they are which makes them easier to learn.
Keep your eyes peeled for my upcoming videos on the other tenses. And if you subscribe to my
channel and turn on those notifications, you won't miss a lesson. Anyway, my name's Arnel, let's start.
First let's start with the grammatical structures. Present simple, past simple, future simple.
Present simple. Subject plus the bare infinitive, the base verb.
Remember the bear infinitive is verb number one. For example: Eat, ate, eaten. Eat is verb number one. remember for he,
she, or it. You need to add s, or es to your verb. If I choose a different verb, watch. Again for that
third person you need to add s or es. In this case he, she, or it watches. Keep that in mind.
I wake up at 6am every day. The negative? I do not, I do not wake up at 6am every morning.
Question: Do you, do you wake up at 6 00 a.m. every morning?
Past simple. Subject plus the past simple verb. The past simple verb is verb number two.
Again, eat, ate, eaten. Verb number two, ate. And you can see it's the same for all subjects.
That makes a past simple easy.
I woke up at six am every morning. Negative, I did not wake up at 6 a.m. every day.
Question: Did you, did you wake up at 6am every day?
Future. Subject, will plus base verb. We already looked at the base verb. The good news is we use
will plus base verb with all subjects, that makes things easy. I will wake up at 6am every morning.
I will not wake up at 6am every morning. Will you, will you wake up at 6am every morning? And it's
really important to remember, be is an exception. Be is the most common verb in English, so let's take a
look at a mini reminder. Be in the present. I am, you are. He, she, it is. We are, they are. Be in the past. I
was, you were. He, she, it was. We were, they were. And in the future it's the same. I will be, you will be,
etc... So the grammatical structures for the simple tenses are pretty simple. And of course, in this
lesson I will keep all the structures highlighted for you. Let's look at these tenses on a timeline.
We use the simple tenses for habits, repeated actions, and for things that are always true, like facts.
Do habits change often? No. Do repeated actions change often? Not really. Do facts change often?
No. A fact is a fact. Look at my timelines. The actions are the same, but they are either in the
present, the past, or the future. Now in the present, I wake up at 6am every day. This is normal for me.
I woke up at 6am every day, it was normal for me. Future, I will wake up at 6am every day.
Do we need to give a specific time with the simple tenses? With the present simple it's
already clear we mean now, in the present. Do we need a specific time with the past simple?
In the context of the conversation or text, yes. So to make this example complete I will give
you a specific time. When I was in high school I woke up at 6am every day. For the future simple,
yes, we also need a specific time. It can be in the same sentence, or somewhere in the conversation, or
text. It needs to be clear somewhere. Starting the 15th of January I will wake up at 6am every day.
Let's do another example. Students do their homework online, they don't use pen and paper,
they do their homework online. Here's clear we're talking about now, the present period. Students did
their homework online. This would mean now they don't. Students will do their homework online.
Again for the past simple and the future simple, let's give a specific time, we need a bit more
detail. Students did their homework online. When? During the pandemic. But now, they don't need to.
Students will do their homework online beginning May.
Okay. We've looked at repeated actions like waking up or doing homework.
But these tenses can also be used to describe States.
What is a state? A state is a situation, or an opinion, or a Feeling. Do states change often?
No. Present simple, I have long hair. Is this a repeated action? No, it's a state. I have long hair.
I had long hair until I turned 18. Past state, and I'm giving you a specific time, until I turned 18.
I had long hair and now I have short hair... for example. Future simple, in a few years I will
have long hair. Imagine now I have short hair, in a few years I will have long hair. That will be
my future state. Here's another state. Doug is our team leader. Last year Doug was our team leader.
Specific time, last year. Next week Doug will be our new team leader.
Your turn, here's your homework. Try to think of personal examples. Repeated actions, present
simple. What is something you do every day, every month, every week, or every year?
I cook every day. That's not a really exciting example but it's true, I cook every day.
Past simple, what is something you did or didn't do, every day, every month, every year in the past?
When I was a kid I never ate the crust on toast. I hated crust. Yeah now, now I eat crust...
Future simple. What is something you will do, what do you think will become one of your habits?
In the future I will, next year, I will floss more. Okay, these are repeated actions/habits. Let's look
at states. Again, think of your own personal examples. Present simple, what is something
you enjoy? I enjoy pop music. Past state. What is something you had when you were a little kid?
When I was a little kid, specific time, I had a Yorkie. A Yorkie is a short
name for a Yorkshire Terrier, they're cute little dogs aren't they? So I had a Yorkie.
Future state, what will Earth be like in one thousand years?
Earth will be different. So, use these questions here to practice. If you want, even give me a few
examples down below, I would love to see your examples. Are we done with the simple tenses?
Not yet! It's clear we use all three of these tenses again for repeated actions,
habits, and states. But the past simple and the future simple can also be used
for single actions. Not repeated actions, not states.
I made an omelette for breakfast. One action. The chef will prepare something nice for us. Single
action. I bought a new phone yesterday. Single action. I will buy a new phone after my birthday.
Do we always know what will happen in the future? No. So we often use the future
simple for those single actions, for promises, or predictions. Common mistake: I buy a new phone today.
Can we use the present simple for a single action? No, not in this case. But, there's always a but,
this is special. We can use the present simple for a scheduled future event. Yes, future.
Our train leaves at nine. The movie starts in 30 minutes.
I want to show you another example, let's look at a little clip.
Here we have two strangers on a train and we see a nice mix of tenses.
So where are you headed? Well, back to Paris. Um, my classes start next week. Oh, you're still in
school? Where do you go? Okay, where are you headed means where are you going.
And here we see the present simple used for a scheduled future event.
We've looked at three scheduled future events. Are these events something you have control over?
We can't control when our train leaves, we can't control when the movie starts, and
we can't control when our classes start. So that present simple can be used for a
single future action, but it's something that's scheduled, it's not something we can control.
Simple tenses review. We can use the simple tenses for habits, repeated actions, and states. I live in
an apartment, I lived in an apartment, I will live in an apartment. With the past simple and the
future simple you do want to include a specific time, somewhere in the conversation or context.
The past simple and the future simple can also be used for a single action. I arrived on time for
the meeting. I will arrive on time for the meeting. But because we don't always know what's going to
happen in the future, that future simple is often used for predictions and promises. And finally the
present simple can be used for a future scheduled event, like my bus leaves in 10 minutes, bye!
Simple tenses, done. You can watch my next video in the series continuous tenses,
here. Thank you so much for watching this lesson and I can't wait to see you next time. Bye!!