What is the present tense?
The present tense is used to talk about what is true at the moment, what happens regularly and what is happening now, for example, I’m a student, I travel to college by train, I’m studying languages.
- You use a verb in the present tense to talk about:
- things that are happening now
- It’s raining.
- The phone’s ringing.
- things that happen all the time or at certain intervals, or things that you do as a habit
- It always snows in January.
- I play football on Saturdays.
- things that are true at the present time:
- She’s not very well.
- It’s a beautiful house.
- There is more than one way to express the present tense in English. For example, you can say either I give, I am giving, or occasionally I do give. In French you use the same form (je donne) for all of these.
- In English you can also use the present tense to talk about something that is going to happen in the near future. You can do the same in French.
| Je vais en France le mois prochain. | I’m going to France next month. |
| Nous prenons le train de dix heures. | We’re getting the ten o’clock train. |
TipAlthough English sometimes uses parts of the verb to be to form the present tense of other verbs (for example, I am listening, she’s talking), French NEVER uses the verb être in this way.