Level: beginner
The present continuous is made from the present tense of the verb be and the –ing form of a verb:
| I am | working |
| You are | playing |
| He is | talking |
| She is | living |
| It is | eating |
| We are | staying |
| They are | sleeping |
We use the present continuous to talk about:
- activities at the moment of speaking:
I'm just leaving work. I'll be home in an hour.
Please be quiet. The children are sleeping.
- Present continuous 1
- Present continuous 2
- future plans or arrangements:
Mary is going to a new school next term.
What are you doing next week?
- Present continuous 3
-
Plans for next month
2nd (Sat.) – my birthday. Party!
4th – day off
10th (Sun.) – flight OS462 15.40
11th, 12th, 13th – conference, Vienna
15th – dentist 3 p.m.
22nd – Mum & Dad arrive, evening
23rd – Toni's Restaurant (make reservation!)
25th – Mum & Dad > home
29th – payday - Present continuous 4
Present continuous questions
We make questions by putting am, is or are in front of the subject:
Are you listening?
Are they coming to your party?
When is she going home?
What am I doing here?
- Present continuous questions 1
- Present continuous questions 2
Present continuous negatives
We make negatives by putting not (or n't) after am, is or are:
I'm not doing that.
You aren't listening. (or You're not listening.)
They aren't coming to the party. (or They're not coming to the party.)
She isn't going home until Monday. (or She's not going home until Monday.)
- Present continuous negatives 1
- Present continuous negatives 2
Stative verbs
We do not normally use the continuous with stative verbs. Stative verbs include:
- verbs of thinking and feeling:
| believe dislike know like |
love hate prefer realise |
recognise remember suppose think (= believe) |
understand want wish |
- verbs of the senses:
| appear feel |
look seem |
smell sound |
taste |
- others:
| agree be |
belong disagree |
need owe |
own possess |
We normally use the simple instead:
I understand you. (NOT I
am understandingyou.)
This cake tastes wonderful. (NOT This cakeis tastingwonderful.)
Level: intermediate
We also use the present continuous to talk about:
- something which is happening before and after a specific time:
At eight o'clock we are usually having breakfast.
When I get home the children are doing their homework.
- something which we think is temporary:
Michael is at university. He's studying history.
I'm working in London for the next two weeks.
- something which is new and contrasts with a previous state:
These days most people are using email instead of writing letters.
What sort of clothes are teenagers wearing nowadays?
What sort of music are they listening to?
- something which is changing, growing or developing:
The children are growing up quickly.
The climate is changing rapidly.
Your English is improving.
- something which happens again and again:
It's always raining in London.
They are always arguing.
George is great. He's always laughing.
Note that we normally use always with this use.
- Present continuous 5
Level: advanced
We can use the present continuous to talk about the past when we are:
- telling a story:
The other day I'm just walking down the street when suddenly this man comes up to me and asks me to lend him some money. Well, he's carrying a big stick and he looks a bit dangerous, so I'm wondering what to do …
- summarising a book, film or play:
Harry Potter is a pupil at Hogwarts school. One day when he is playing Quidditch he sees a strange object in the sky. He wonders what is happening …
Hello AsahiYo20,
1. The simple present is also correct here. I'm not familiar with the writer's reasons for using the present continuous, but I suppose it's to speak about something developing and changing.
2. Both of the alternatives you suggest are possible, though they all describe the action in different ways. I suppose the idea behind the present continuous is that it's something new (which you can also find on the page I previously linked to).
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Alibel,
Generally, when we use the present continuous with an adverb of frequency such as always, forever or continually, it suggests that we find the habit irritating. For example:
However, we can also use the present continuous with an adverb of frequency when we want to emphasise or make clear that the action is in progress:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello message100,
When something is a regular action then the present simple is appropriate. The continuous would suggest something that is not part of a regular pattern. For example:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello cherly chia mei ying
The two sentences in the future continuous that you propose could also be correct. It depends on how the speaker sees the future event. We often use the future continuous when we are imagining a particular point in time or a situation in the future, but we can also refer to that same time with a form like 'be going to'.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello cherly chia mei ying
Regarding your first question, as it says at the end of the explanation above, you can use present tenses to speak about the past, particularly when telling a story. This can have the effect of making the story more present.
Regarding your second question, you could also say that. The present continuous form would be better in, for example, a news report in which the reporter is on the scene at the time the report is made.
As you can see, verb tenses can be used in a variety of ways!
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Shilpa Dutta,
The correct spelling is plucking, but I think for flowers a better verb is picking.
Both people and children are plural nouns so you need to say are smoking and are running.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Pats,
The correct sentences would be as follows:
The difference is how the speaker sees the situation. The first sentence (present continuous) sees living as a temporary thing which will change. You might ask this if a person is studying in a city but will at some point leave, or is working on a short-term contract. The second sentence (present simple) sees living as a permanant thing. You might ask this if you think London is the person's home.
Stative verbs are usually not used with continuous forms. The correct form here is understands.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello atya,
Getting here is a present participle. We can use these to join sentences which have the same subject:
You can read more about this use of participles on this page:
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/intermediate-to-upper-intermediate/participle-clauses
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ridg Wick
I'm afraid that is not correct. When we use 'make' in this way, it is followed by an infinitive without 'to': 'Hot water makes me feel tired'.
You can read more about how to use 'make' this way on our Verbs followed by the infinitive page (see the section called make and let).
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Risa warysha
Most of the time, we don't use stative verbs in a continuous form, but it is possible to do this. It usually depends on the specific context and meaning. For example, when we use a continuous form to talk about a temporary situation, it's OK to do this with a stative verb: 'I'm being stubborn because I really don't want to go'.
There's a fuller explanation in the State and action verbs section of this page ('state verb' is another way of saying 'stative verb'). Please have a look and then if you have any questions about a specific sentence or two, please feel free to ask us.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ivan
Natural languages develop from the way people use them over time and I'm sure that is also the case with the continuous forms in English. You could read a little more about this in the Wikipedia or consult an expert in historical linguistics to find out more.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Lal,
'What do you do?' is a question about a person's occupation which we generally use when meeting them for the first time.
If we are meeting someone we know or once knew then we would say one of these:
If we could not remember what they used to do then we could say:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Maimaitiyiming,
English has many ways to talk about the future and all of the following are possible:
Which you use depends upon the context and the speaker's intention. We have several pages which explain the various forms and when they can be used:
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/english-grammar/talking-about-future
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/intermediate-grammar/future-plans
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Maimaitiyiming,
I'm afraid I don't understand what rule you are suggesting here. If you want to post another example we'll be happy to comment on it for you.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Devesh Raj,
In that sentence, 'has' is in the present simple tense, not the present continuous.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Vivian888999,
Both sentences describe things that happen frequently. The present continuous form (the first example) is generally used in such cases when we want to emphasise that the situation is irritating and that we wish it would stop.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Lal,
'look' has many different uses. One is as a verb of perception, as in the two examples you have written here. In these cases, it's perfectly normal to use them in continuous tenses.
When 'look' is used as a stative verb, it's unusual (though not impossible) to use it in a continuous tense. For example, in 'She looks like her brother', 'look' is a stative verb and it would be wrong outside of a specific context to say 'She is looking like her brother'.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Lal,
Yes, 1 is the correct one.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Lal,
You can find explanations of the difference between the present continuous and going to form for future reference on our page on the topic: Talking about the Future.
The difference between the present continuous and the going to form is the speaker's perspective: how the speaker sees the action.
If you use is landing then you see the action as something previously arranged.
If you use going to then you have some reason to think this is going to happen. This may be something you see or hear, for example: the pilot makes an announcement, the plane starts to go down or the engines change tone.
If you use the present simple and say lands then you see the action as part of a regular timetable.
There is no difference in certainty or in reality; the difference is in the speaker's view of the action.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Lal,
The first sentence describes a period of time continuing up to the present. it is an unfinished time period (it goes up to the moment of speaking and may continue) and so the present perfect is appropriate:
How long have you been waiting (for)? [we usually omit the 'for' but it can be included]
The other two sentences are dependent on context. Both describe past finished time and so use past forms, but you could use a range of alternatives, depending on the context. Past simple and continuous forms are both possible (simple views the wait as a single historical event; continuous as a process whose duration is emphasised) and past perfect forms (if the waiting was interrupted by another event in the past) are all possible. As I said, the context and speaker's intention will determine which of these forms is chosen.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team