hello and welcome to the coffee break English show I'm Josie and I'm Mark in these weekly episodes we're going to help you improve your English you can subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts or if you're watching the video subscribe to our Channel on YouTube so Mark what's our topic for today today we are talking about the difference between the present simp simple and the present continuous sounds good let's get [Music] started so Josie when do we use the present simple tense what what is the present simple H so if we take the
example verb work the present simple is just I work you work he he she works Etc okay okay so I work for coffee break languages that's right exactly so we use the present simple when we talk about habits or routines or things that are always true in our lives okay so for example your career your job we've talked about work so I work I could say as a teacher that's right or I work work or he works as a doctor okay she works as a bus driver good or they work from home okay so I
work he works she works and so on this is the present simple tense that's right what about the present continuous the present continuous is the form again if we take work it would be I am working right so I am working you are working Josie is working and so on that's right so we take the form of be so that's going to be am is or are okay plus the verb in this case work plus ing ining at the end so I am working you are working but what's the difference in the situation here how
is this different from I work yeah so we use the present continuous I am working to talk about temporary actions or actions that are happening as we are speaking at this moment okay so for example if I called you on the phone but you were busy you could see I can't talk right now because I'm working so I'm working right now at the moment I am working okay what about another example yeah for example I could say she usually works in the office so this is present simple this is her her habit she usually works
in the office but she's working at home this week okay so there we have a specific example this week she is working or she's working from home that's right and it tells us that this is only temporary probably next week she'll go back to the office okay so the present simple is used when we are talking about habits routines and facts but the present continuous is used when we're talking about actions that are happening right now exactly why don't we take a couple more um example verbs just to really get this so what about uh
drink right now I am drinking my coffee exactly we can see you right now in this moment drinking your coffee okay and if you're watching the video version of this you'll see that I'm drinking in my coffee out of a lovely coffee break English mug you can get your own mug at coffeebreak gift shop.com but I am drinking at the moment out of my coffee break English mug that's present continuous that's right and I could ask you mark do you drink coffee every day I do drink coffee every day I drink coffee every day present
simple there a regular habit exactly yes what about another verb give us another example verb we could say um well right now we are speaking English we are speaking English at the moment you can hear me speaking English Josie is speaking English yes but Josie do you speak French yes I speak French so there we have a present simple telling us about a a fact a routine a habit in a sense but it's a fact that jie speaks French that's right it's something which is always true but I'm not speaking French right now I'm speaking
English exactly yes okay so that speak we've had drink we've had work let's have another example H what about uh go right so let's think about an example for go and this would use a present simple so I wonder if you can come up with an example for go have a think about it can you think of something Josie I think I can I could ask you mark how often do you go to the cinema I go to the cinema maybe once a month yes so you're telling us how often you go to the cinema
you're talking about your cinemao habits okay so let's stick with go and see if we can come up with an example using the present continuous this time so have a think about that pause the podcast if if you want Josie can you come up with an example for going yes I could say I think this podcast is going very well I do too and we hope you think is going well too so we use the present simple for habits routines and facts and we use the present continuous for ongoing actions actions that are happening as
we speak or temporary things that's right and can we use both the present simple and the present continuous for all verbs well unfortunately not there are some exceptions for example Mark where are you from I am from Scotland okay you are from Scotland present simple because this this doesn't change this is a fact and are you happy right now I am very happy right now good but you didn't say I am being happy did you no that would sound strange yeah it sounds strange but you are talking about right now the present moment mhm the
reason we don't use the present continuous is because the verb be is a state verb okay so I can't see I am being happy exactly that's right odd what about other verbs that work like this then for example no I could say we know each other yeah and that's always true present simple but Josie if I am asking you a question could you say I am knowing the answer no I can't because know again is a state verb so I am knowing the answer it doesn't work okay so there are some of these State verbs
that we need to remember that don't work with the present continuous to be to know anything else well there are lots of other state verbs of course but a good general rule to remember is that state verbs describe internal things things that we can't see for example senses or emotions or possession okay so for example I can't say I am having a dog exactly a dog is something that you own or possess so we say I have a dog okay so today we've been looking at the present continuous and the present simple is there anything
else we need to know I think we've covered all of the general rules but it's worth doing some more research about State verbs because there are quite a few excellent we hope that you've enjoyed this lesson from the coffee break English show if you'd like to see these examples and information about the present simple and present continuous written down you can look at our blog post about this lesson the link is in the description and if you'd like even more help with your English then you can access our regular free email lessons just visit coffee
Bri languages.com English we'll be back next week and until then look out for our next mini lesson in your inbox see you soon happy coffee breaking you have been listening to a coffee break languages production for the radio linga Network copyright 2023 radio lingua limited recording copyright 2023 radiol lingual limited All rights reserved
