| Hi, everybody. My name is Alisha. In this lesson, I'm going to talk about the present progressive tense in English. Let's get started. |
| First, I want to talk about the primary uses, the main ways we use the present progressive tense or the present continuous tense. You might also hear it called that. First, we use present progressive tense to express temporary actions and conditions. So, a temporary action, or a temporary condition, is something that happens or is a condition that is true for a short period of time. With present progressive tense, it's something temporary, something that is true now, at this point in time. So, not in the past. That's what we use past progressive to talk about, and we don't use it to talk about the future either. Present progressive refers to temporary actions and the conditions that are true now, and that are going to like finish at some point in time. |
| We also use present progressive to express a future planned action. We use this in exactly the same way as we use "going to" or "not going to." So, if you want some more information about point two, I recommend you check the simple future tense video on our channel or on our website. You'll find some more information about future tense with "going to," and a little bit about this use of present progressive tense, too. In this lesson, I'm going to focus on use number one. So, talking about temporary actions. Let's talk about how we make sentences and questions with this grammar point. |
| First, let's look at making statements. So, making simple statements. When we make positive statements, the pattern we use is this. We use subject, then next is the "be" verb, next is the verb, our present progressive tense verb, and we add -ing to the end of the verb. So, the verb in the -ing form. Please keep in mind that depending on your subject, the form of "be" will change. Let's look at some examples. |
| First, "I am teaching." A very basic sentence. My subject is "I," my "be" verb is "am." So, when the subject is "I," my "be" verb needs to be "am" to match this subject. Then, "teaching." So, here, the verb is "teach." The -ing form, the present progressive form, is "teaching." So, "I am teaching," refers to my actions now. My actions that are true now. In this moment, "I am teaching." Soon, after this lesson, "I will not be teaching." So, this is a temporary situation. A temporary action. |
| Let's look at another example. "You are watching." So, watching this video. "You" is my subject, "are" is the form of the "be" verb I need to use. So, because my subject is "you," the "be" verb has to be "are." "You are," we use these as a pair. It's a set phrase. Finally, "watching." So, my verb here is "watch." In the -ing form, it's "watching." "You are watching." So, again, this is a temporary condition, a temporary action. It's true now. So, in this moment, your current state, or your current action is watching this video. So, when this video finishes, you will not be watching this video. It is a temporary action. |
| Okay. So, let's compare this to negative statements. To make a negative statement, we follow a very similar pattern to the positive pattern. We use subject, plus "be," and then, we use "not" before the verb in the -ing form. So, some examples. "He is not listening." "He is not listening." Here, my subject is "he." My "be" verb is "is," is. So, when the subject of the sentence is he or she or it, the "be" verb changes to "is." I've used "not." So, this makes the negative form of the sentence. And, my verb is "listen." I've used "listening," in the -ing form. "He is not listening." So, maybe someone in your house or someone nearby you watching this video, or maybe not watching this video, is not listening to the video, or she is not listening. So, this is an action that is not happening now. So, sometimes, we want to talk about that. For example, "I am not sitting." I am standing right now. So, if we want to talk about something that is not true and that is temporary, we can do it with the sentence pattern like this. |
| One more example. "They are not helping." So, my subject is "they." My "be" verb is "are." So, just as we used with "you are," "they are." We also use "are" when the subject is "they," "not helping." So, "help" is my verb. The -ing form is "helping." "They are not helping." So, again, this is a temporary situation. In this moment, they -- those people over there, are not helping. So, maybe we want them to help. So, we might ask them, "Please help us," or something. We want to express this current negative condition. So, this is how we do it by using a negative sentence pattern. |
| Let's now look at how to make some questions. So, first, I want to look at how we make information questions. So, we use Wh- questions at the beginning of this pattern. Like who, what, where, when, why, how, and so on. So, we're trying to get some information. So, we use our Wh- question. We use the "be" verb. Then our subject, and our verb in the -ing form. For example, "What are you doing?" A very common question. A very common question and good to know. "What are you doing?" So, again, our subject is "you," this matches with "are." "Be" verb must be "are" to match with the subject, "you." And, "do" is my verb in the –ing form, "doing." "What are you doing?" at native speed. You might also hear this part become very short. So, instead of "What are you doing?" You might hear "Wa'choo doin'?" "Wa'choo doin'?" Wa'choo doin'? This is a very natural way to express this. Especially, in American English. |
| Okay. One more example. "Where are they going?" "Where are they going?" So, again, my subject here is "they." Again, the "be" verb is "are." Here, "where." So, this is a question about a place. In this case, a destination. "Where are they going?" This means the action is happening now. They are traveling in some way. Maybe walking, or driving, or flying. So, the action is happening now. That's what this progressive form shows us. So, here, the listener is doing something. There's an action happening now. The speaker wants to know what it is. In this example sentence, "they." So, some people are traveling somewhere. The speaker wants to know where the destination is. |
| Okay. Let's compare this to yes or no questions. So, these are questions we can answer with a simple yes or no response. When we want to make a yes or no question, we begin with "is" or "are." Again, this depends on the subject. So, we need to think about the subject of the sentence and choose the correct form of the "be" verb to match. We then follow it with a verb in the -ing form, and as you'll see, some extra information often, too. For example, "Is he working right now?" "Is he working right now?" And, "Are you listening to me?" So, we can answer both of these with yes or no to answer. So, "Is he working right now?" Yes. You can make a full sentence and say, "Yes. He's working right now." But, in most cases, we just say "yes." With this question, "Are you listening to me?" You can again answer with "yes," or probably not, "no." Because if you are not listening to me, you probably won't hear the question. |
| Please note in some cases, when we're talking to ourselves, like there's no other person in the room, we might ask ourselves a yes or no question. And, in that case, we would use, "Am I," and the -ing form. Like, "Hmm. Am I doing this correctly?" You might think if you're using your computer, "Am I doing this correctly? Am I doing this right?" So, in those cases, you can use "Am I?" yes, when you're talking to yourself. But, when you're making questions with yes or no answers for other people, you'll probably use this "is" or "are" pattern, not the "am I" pattern. So, I'll add it to the board. But, just keep in mind in most cases, you'll probably use the "is" or "are" pattern when talking to other people. |
| Okay. So, let's finish this lesson by looking at a very common mistake related to the present progressive tense. Something I hear learners do a lot is they use present progressive, this grammar point, to express an action or to express a condition that is always true. So, a key point with this present progressive tense is that it's a temporary action. It's not something that's true forever. It's not something that's always true. Sometimes, I hear a student say this, for example, "I am working in LA." I am working in LA. So, when the speaker wants to share their regular workplace, this is an incorrect way to do it. The reason this is incorrect is because "working" expresses a temporary action. But, if your regular workplace is in LA, you shouldn't use present progressive tense to express that. Instead, you should say, "I work in LA." "I work in LA." Simple present tense. |
| For more about the simple present tense, you can take a look at these simple present tense video on our YouTube channel or our website. |
| Then you can use present progressive tense to describe a temporary situation. So, these two sentences are okay. "I am working in LA this week." So, the reason this sentence is correct is because this sentence expresses a time period, a fixed time period, "this week." "I'm working in LA this week." It's temporary. In a case like that, it's fine. Another example. "She is working in LA for the summer." So, that means for this time period, the action is going to continue. The action is continuing. So, we can use present progressive tense to describe this. In these cases, it's fine because we understand the time period for the action. In this case, "I am working in LA," no, we cannot use it in this way. Please use simple present tense to describe regular actions and things that are always true. |
| Thanks very much for watching this lesson, and I will see you again soon. Bye-bye. |
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