Study materials
Two sentences about the same person and the same walk. The difference is when it is happening.
She walks to work every day.
She is walking to work now.
The Present Continuous shows an action you could watch right now. It has started and has not finished.
Habits and facts belong to another tense, the Present Simple, which comes with every day, usually or on Mondays. The two tenses can even meet in one sentence.
Dad usually drinks coffee, but right now he's drinking tea.
How the Present Continuous is formed
The tense is made of a form of be and a verb with the ing ending. Both parts are compulsory.
| Subject | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| I | am plus ing | I am reading. |
| he, she, it | is plus ing | She is cooking. |
| you, we, they | are plus ing | They are playing. |
The form of be depends on the subject, the one who acts. One person or thing takes is. Several people or things make they, so are.
Your phone is ringing!
The kids are building a snowman.
Without be, only the word with ing is left, and on its own it is not the verb of a sentence. Without ing, be is left next to the base form, and English does not say that either.
He is eat an apple. → He is eating an apple.
Words like now, right now or at the moment often sit nearby. In speech the form of be is contracted: I'm reading, he's cooking, we're playing.
Look! and Listen! point to this tense too, because they call you to see or hear something happening right now.
Listen! The birds are singing.
The short form they're means they are. It is easy to mix up with their and there, because all three sound the same.
They're playing chess.
How to spell the ing ending
Usually the ending is simply added. Only two cases change the spelling.
work → working, read → reading
make → making, write → writing
sit → sitting, run → running
Doubling happens in short words that end in one consonant after one short vowel, like sit, swim, run or cut. Write ends in a silent e, so the e simply drops and the t stays single. When a verb ends in y, nothing changes.
swim → swimming, cut → cutting
study → studying, play → playing
How to make negatives and questions
Be is at work here, so everything is familiar. Not follows it, and in a question the form moves to the front.
He isn't working today.
Are you listening?
What is she writing?
Do and does are not needed here, because be is already the helper, the word that builds negatives and questions. English has no contraction amn't, so with I you say I'm not.
I don't sleeping. → I'm not sleeping.
The lift isn't working.
A question word always comes first, and be comes right after it, before the subject.
Why is the baby crying?
What are you eating?
Short answers repeat the form of be: Yes, I am. No, she isn't.
In a yes answer be stands at the end in full, with no contraction, so Yes, they're is wrong. A no answer uses the same form of be with not, not doesn't.
Are the boys playing outside? Yes, they are.
Is Mum working today? No, she isn't.
Temporary situations and plans
The second use is a little wider. It is a temporary situation running around the present moment, even if at this exact minute you are doing something else.
I'm staying with my aunt this week.
He's learning Spanish.
Words like this week, this month or this summer are typical here. At this very minute the person may be asleep or drinking coffee, and the situation still goes on.
My sister is working in a café this summer.
The same tense also talks about an arranged event in the near future.
We're meeting Tom tomorrow.
A time usually comes with it, such as tomorrow, on Friday or next week.
My grandparents are coming on Sunday.
Verbs not used in this tense
Some words name not an action but a state: to know, to like, to want, to need. A state cannot be watched from outside, so it does not go into this tense.
I am knowing the answer. → I know the answer.
She is wanting tea. → She wants tea.
Such words are called state verbs. Questions with them are built in the Present Simple too, with do.
Do you know this song?
Have behaves in two ways. When it means owning something, it is a state and takes no ing. When it is part of an action, like have lunch or have a shower, ing is fine.
He is having a big dog. → He has a big dog.
We're having dinner now.
Common mistakes
The first is losing the form of be.
She working now. → She is working now.
The second is adding ing to the helper.
Being he working? → Is he working?
The third is taking the Present Simple for something happening right now.
Look, it rains! → Look, it's raining!
The first two show in the structure itself. It needs two parts, a plain am, is or are and the main verb with ing. The third is caught by asking yourself whether this can be seen right now or is true in general. What is seen now takes the Continuous, and what is true in general takes the Simple.