• I’m Paul, I live in the USA and I work at the movie theater. I love playing Basketball and reading books in my spare time. I sometimes go hiking but only when the weather is nice. I get up quite late as I work in the evenings, so I go to bed quite late also. I have a girlfriend who is currently at college. She studies Economics and wants to be work in business. I live with my parents in a small house, but we get along very well.

So, you can see from the example above that when you are talking about your life you should use the present simple tense. We also use it to talk about facts, such as:

• The earth goes round the sun.
• Brazil is in South America.
• People speak Spanish in Ecuador.

This is something that is always true.

So, let’s talk about how you can practice the present simple. The best way to practice is to talk about yourself, your family and your friends. Try and introduce yourself to as many people as possible and just talk about yourself. In addition, you should also ask other people questions about their life. For example:

• What do you do?
• Where do you live?
• Do you have any brothers and sisters?

This helps you practice the present simple tense in the question form. Another way to practice is to talk about your daily routine. What time do you get up? What do you normally do on Mondays?

Remember that practice is the key to learning a tense, once you understand how to do it. Exposing yourself to as much English as possible will help with both your understanding and will give you lots of practice to progress.

Bonus Use

As an addition, we also use the present simple when we talk about something on a timetable or schedule in the future, for example:

• We leave for New York tomorrow.
• I start my new job on Thursday.

Good luck with your learning!

The main thing to take away when thinking about will vs going to is to think about  when the decision to do a future action was made: If it was made before the time of speaking – use going to. If it was made in the moment of speaking, use will. Most students find this quite strange at first, but after some explanation and lots of practice, it should start becoming more natural.

From my experience, English learners want to use will more than going to. So if you’re learning English take a look at the link above, follow the explanation, do the exercises and then practice using the conversation link.

Good luck!

I’ve been in Spain – I’ve been to Spain.
I’ve been in London – I’ve been to London.

I am a nurse for three years – I’ve been a nurse for three years.
I am here for six weeks – I’ve been here for six weeks. (The first one is talking about a how long I am in a place for, while the second one talks about the amount of time I have been there up to that point).

I drank three beers this week – I’ve drunk three beers this week.
I’ve watched twenty films last year – I watched twenty films last year. (We can’t use specific time expressions in the past with the present perfect tense).

Luckily for English learners, a lot of the irregular verbs are also some of the most common verbs. Let’s look at some examples using both the past simple tense and the present perfect simple:

• I went to the park yesterday.
• I have been to France two times.
• I said that she was there.
• I have said that she has been there.
• I sold my car last year.
• I have just sold my car.

These examples tell us that some of the most common verbs are irregular. This is good because the more common the verb, the more we use it. And the more we use it, the easier we remember.

A better way to practise English irregular verbs

Whenever you come across an irregular verb it is important to make a note of it. Depending on your learning style this could be to simple make a mental note or it could involve you writing it down and repeating it. Knowing your learning style is key here and if you need lots of repetition (you’re not alone), then this is what you should do. It’s always a good idea to verbally repeat the sentence that contains the irregular verb. After all, this is what English speakers do in everyday conversation.

Most students will have experience learning irregular verbs from lists. This helps as familiarity with these verbs will help the learning process. But putting the verb into context, realizing that if you study English then you will see these irregular verbs all the time, and not being overwhelmed with the verb table list will mean that you will soon remember, and more importantly, use English irregular verbs.

So here are some examples to help you:

• How long have you worked here? – not, how long do you work here?
• How long have you been working here?

• I’ve worked here for six years.
• I’ve been working here for six years.

• How long have you been here? – not, how long are you here?
• I’ve been here for three years.

This is a very common mistake made by English language learners.

We hope this will help you with your English learning, and please get involved through the comment section.