What’s the present tense?

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The present tense is a tense that is typically used to indicate that a certain type of action is taking place; the simple form usually indicates that something is happening in the present and that it is an immutable or recurring action. The present progressive tense can be used to indicate that an action is currently in progress at the time it is expressed, although it need not indicate future or past actions. The perfect tense is used to indicate that an action started in the past and continued, and is still in progress or has just stopped. There is also a present perfect progressing form of the present tense, indicating that an action that began in the past, is ongoing, and is likely to continue into the future.

While the present tense itself isn’t very difficult to use, it can be a bit confusing in its many forms. The most basic type of this tense is referred to as the present simple tense. This is usually created in English by stating a subject with a verb, which may require an auxiliary verb and other components to form a complete predicate, depending on the verb used. “Io canto”, “Lui corre”, “Balliamo” and “Mangiano pizza” are all examples of this simple present tense, indicating something that is ongoing or happening repeatedly.

Present Progressive is a form of present tense which states that a particular action is happening in the moment. “Singing” can mean an ongoing action, like “Singing in the choir,” but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s happening at the moment. ‘I am singing’, on the other hand, is the present progressive form and means that the ‘I’ is singing at the time. This form usually includes an auxiliary verb, such as “am” or “are”, and the verb often ends in “-ing”, such as “He is running” or “We are dance”.

Similar in some respects to the present simple tense, the present perfect tense is used to indicate that an action started in the past, but has stopped or continues to occur in the present. “I sang,” for example, is in the present perfect and indicates that the action happened in the past but could still continue. “I’ve sung every day since I was a child” not only indicates a past action, but implies that the action is probably taking place in the present. “He ran every day this week” and “We danced for hours” are also examples of this form.

There is also a form of the present tense called the present perfect continuous, which indicates that an ongoing action has occurred in a similar way to the present perfect, but then extends that action more directly into the present and future. This form is usually created as a combination of the present progressive and present perfect forms, but with the word “state” used between the auxiliary and main verb. “I sang” is an example of this form, showing that the action started in the past, is ongoing, and is likely to continue. “He ran every day this week” and “We danced for hours” both indicate past and present action and anticipate that the action is likely to continue.

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