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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:
I'm just leaving work. I'll be home in an hour.
Please be quiet. The children are sleeping.
Mary is going to a new school next term.
What are you doing next week?
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
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?
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.)
We do not normally use the continuous with stative verbs. Stative verbs include:
believe dislike know like |
love hate prefer realise |
recognise remember suppose think (= believe) |
understand want wish |
appear feel |
look seem |
smell sound |
taste |
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:
At eight o'clock we are usually having breakfast.
When I get home the children are doing their homework.
Michael is at university. He's studying history.
I'm working in London for the next two weeks.
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?
The children are growing up quickly.
The climate is changing rapidly.
Your English is improving.
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.
Level: advanced
We can use the present continuous to talk about the past when we are:
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 …
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 omar123,
'Perfect' and 'continuous' are aspects rather than separate tenses. Each adds another layer of meaning to the verb and a verb form can have neither, one or both of these aspects. For example, all of the forms below are present forms:
You can find information on the perfective aspect here and the continuous aspect here.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Asarhaddon,
'doing' and 'working' in your three example sentences are -ing forms (which are not the same as the present continuous). When we use a verb after another verb, the first verb often determines what form the second verb goes in. In the case of 'remember', 'love' and 'hate', the second verb often goes in the -ing form. Other verbs require a bare infinitive (e.g. 'let' or 'make') and others require a to + infinitive (e.g. 'want'). If you follow the links you can read more about this.
'look forward to' is a little bit different. In this case, 'to' is a preposition (not part of an infinitive). Verbs that come after prepositions always go in the -ing form, which is why we say 'look forward to doing' and not 'look forward to do'.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team