Verbs & Present Tense Conjugation

to be: am / is / are

I am happy / He is tall / They are here — most common verb

am / iz / ar

to have: have / has

I have a car / She has two cats — have for I/you/we/they; has for he/she/it

hav / haz

Present simple: I/you/we/they play

I play, you play, we play, they play — no change to base verb

Present simple: he/she/it plays

He plays, she reads, it works — add -s or -es

Present continuous: am/is/are + -ing

I am eating / She is sleeping — happening right now

Spelling: drop -e before -ing

make→making, write→writing, take→taking

Spelling: double consonant + -ing

run→running, sit→sitting, swim→swimming — short vowel + single consonant

do / does — auxiliary

Do you like tea? / Does she work here? — for questions and negatives

doo / duz

Frequency adverbs: always / usually / often / never

I always eat breakfast / She never drinks coffee — before main verb

Common verbs

eat, drink, go, see, know, want, like, need, have, make, say, get