Learn how to use the present tenses in English | Coffee Break English Podcast S1E01

0:00 coffee break english season 1 episode 1 [Music] hello

0:12 everyone and welcome to coffee break english my name's josie

0:18 and my name is mark and we are very happy

0:21 to be here josie tell us a little about coffee

0:25 break english coffee break english is a podcast which

0:29 will help you improve your english if you're learning english

0:34 each week we listen to a text from somewhere

0:39 in the english speaking world and we focus on a language

0:44 point something about grammar or maybe vocabulary and what

0:51 level is coffee break english for well we'll be starting

0:57 off quite basic to start with we'll review some

1:02 basic grammar so i would say the level is about

1:07 a2 or pre-intermediate so if you already know some

1:12 english and you want to get even better this podcast

1:17 is for you we are going to be listening

1:21 to texts from all over the english-speaking world but mark

1:26 and i are both scottish and we live in scotland

1:30 we'll be hearing lots of different accents in the episodes

1:35 of coffee break english so this will help you

1:38 understand lots of people that's right mark so let's

1:43 get started [Music] okay josie tell us about today's

1:53 text today we're listening to katrina who is also scottish

2:00 but she lives in manchester in the uk at the moment

2:05 she's on holiday in italy and she's telling us

2:09 all about what she's doing there okay and what

2:14 language point are we learning about we are learning about

2:19 the difference between the present continuous tense and the present

2:24 simple tense that sounds good let's listen to the text

2:30 this week i'm on holiday with my family

2:33 in italy i'm with my husband our son my sister

2:37 and her three children we are staying in a small

2:41 house in the countryside on the amalfi coast we live

2:45 in manchester which is a busy city in the uk

2:50 so it's very quiet for us here the weather

2:54 is beautiful today the sun is shining and it's very

2:59 hot in manchester it isn't usually warm it's usually rainy

3:06 and cloudy the children are enjoying the sun because

3:10 they love playing outside and swimming in the pool back

3:15 home we often go swimming in the local pool

3:18 but we never swim outside it's too cold at the moment

3:24 we are having breakfast in the garden the adults

3:28 are drinking coffee and the children are drinking fresh orange

3:32 juice and we are all eating some chocolate pastries

3:37 at home we hardly ever have pastries for breakfast we

3:41 normally have cereal and toast we are enjoying

3:46 the cool morning weather and planning what to do today

3:51 this morning we are going to the beach and then

3:54 later we are having lunch in a little pizza restaurant

3:58 the food here is delicious especially the ice cream

4:03 in the uk we rarely have ice cream but at the moment

4:07 we are buying it every day oh well we're

4:11 on holiday sounds like katrina's having a lovely time

4:17 she's very lucky okay now let's read the text

4:23 again more slowly and we'll explain about the vocabulary

4:29 and the language that we hear mark would you like

4:33 to start reading the text again okay katrina said this week

4:39 i'm on holiday with my family in italy good

4:45 remember holiday in british english and we can say vacation

4:51 in american english i'm on vacation with my family i'm

4:56 with my husband her son my sister and her three

5:01 children we are staying in a small house

5:06 in the countryside on the amalfi coast good so they're staying

5:12 in the countryside the countryside is not the city

5:18 so where the mountains and the green spaces are not

5:22 in the city so katrina says we are staying

5:28 in a small house here she uses the present continuous

5:33 tense we are staying why do you think she

5:39 says we are staying instead of we stay mark because

5:46 she's seeing what she is doing at the moment

5:50 exactly we use the present continuous tense to say what

5:55 we are doing at the time of speaking so it's

5:59 for actions in progress or temporary actions josie how do

6:05 we form the present continuous good question to make

6:10 the present continuous we take a part of the verb

6:14 be in the present tense in this case the subject is we so we use we are next we

6:25 take the main verb so the verb with the meaning

6:28 in this sentence and we add ing to the end

6:34 staying this is also known as the gerund staying

6:42 doing making playing they are all the gerund okay shall

6:48 we continue let's go we live in manchester which

6:54 is a busy city in the uk so it's very

6:59 quiet for us here good so here katrina says we

7:05 live in manchester in this case she uses the present

7:10 simple tense because she lives in manchester all the time

7:16 in general so when we talk about something which

7:20 is generally true like a routine or a habit

7:25 we use the present simple tense but when we talk

7:30 about an action in progress or a temporary action

7:34 we use the present continuous we are staying we live

7:41 okay the weather is beautiful today the sun is shining

7:48 and it's very hot okay today the sun is shining

7:54 here we have another example of the present continuous katrina

7:59 says this is happening today so we use the present

8:04 continuous is shining in this case we use the third

8:10 person form of the verb be is the sun

8:15 is it so we use is the sun is shining but katrina said it is very hot why is

8:26 that the case good question the present continuous doesn't

8:31 work for all verbs so for the verb to be

8:38 we don't use that in the present continuous we

8:42 can't say it is being very hot for example that's

8:48 right it sounds a bit funny yes it does so

8:53 even if we're talking about an action in progress we

8:58 just use the present simple form of to be

9:02 it is very hot okay in manchester it isn't usually

9:09 warm it's usually rainy and cloudy yes this is

9:16 typical uk weather isn't it rainy and cloudy absolutely yes

9:23 but warm that's somewhere in between hot and cold

9:28 the perfect temperature i think and in this sentence it

9:34 isn't usually warm katrina uses the present simple again because

9:40 she's talking about something in general in manchester in general

9:46 it isn't usually warm this word usually this tells

9:52 us that we should use the present simple it's called

9:56 an adverb of frequency and we'll see more adverbs

10:00 of frequency later in the text the children are enjoying

10:06 the sun because they love playing outside and swimming

10:10 in the pool yes so the children are enjoying the sun

10:18 again this is an action in progress with the present

10:21 continuous because they love playing outside this means not

10:28 in a building not in a house so outside

10:32 in this case in the pool outside back home we

10:37 often go swimming in the local pool but we

10:40 never swim outside it's too cold yes so here we

10:46 have more examples of the present simple we often go

10:52 and we never swim katrina also uses adverbs of frequency

10:58 here often and never okay you said often and i

11:06 said often that's right i didn't make a mistake

11:11 and you didn't make a mistake either we can

11:15 say often or often they're exactly the same that sounds

11:21 good okay we're going to take a short break

11:24 now and we'll be back soon to find out more

11:27 about katrina's holiday on the amalfi coast [Music] each episode

11:38 of the coffee break english podcast is free and you

11:42 can use our podcast to help you improve your english

11:46 but there's more that's right we have a full

11:49 course available on our website which will help you

11:52 make faster progress and understand everything much better for every

11:58 lesson we offer videos bonus audio recordings lesson notes

12:03 with exercises and vocabulary lists in lots of languages all

12:09 this is available on the coffee break academy so

12:12 visit coffee break academy dot com [Music] welcome back let's

12:28 continue with the text at the moment we are having

12:33 breakfast in the garden good that sounds nice doesn't it

12:39 breakfast in the garden absolutely yeah we rarely do

12:43 that in scotland but katrina is doing this at the moment

12:48 in italy so she uses this phrase at the moment

12:52 to say that it's happening at the time

12:56 that she's speaking is at the moment an adverb

13:01 of frequency a good question it's not an adverb of frequency

13:07 adverbs of frequency always go before the verb

13:12 in the phrase so for example we often go we never

13:18 swim however when the verb is to be the adverb

13:25 of frequency goes after for example it is usually

13:31 rainy so to return to your question at the moment

13:37 is not an adverb of frequency it's just a short

13:41 phrase that we put at the beginning of the sentence

13:44 to tell us when the action is happening so

13:49 usually when we use at the moment we use

13:53 the present continuous that's right okay the adults are drinking

14:00 coffee and the children are drinking fresh orange juice

14:05 and we are all eating some chocolate pastries good so

14:12 all of these actions are happening as katrina is

14:15 speaking so they are all in the present continuous are

14:20 drinking our drinking and we're eating some chocolate pastries

14:27 that sounds delicious i'm feeling hungry at the moment and good

14:33 use of the present continuous there mark thank you

14:37 okay at home we hardly ever have pastries for breakfast

14:43 we normally have cereal and toast good so katrina

14:49 is comparing her breakfast in italy to her breakfast

14:54 at home so she uses the present simple to talk

14:59 about the breakfast at home we hardly ever have pastries

15:04 we normally have cereal and toast this is what

15:08 she does every day it's a routine for her so

15:12 we use the present simple so hardly ever and normally

15:19 are these adverbs of frequency yes they are hardly ever

15:25 means almost never nearly never and normally well that's

15:31 the same as usually generally okay let's continue we are

15:38 enjoying the cool morning weather and planning what to do

15:44 today good so katrina is back to the present

15:49 continuous we are enjoying and planning that's also the present

15:55 continuous we are planning this morning we are going

16:01 to the beach and then later we are having lunch

16:06 in a little pizza restaurant good so here we're using

16:12 the present continuous again this morning we are going

16:16 to the beach but katrina already told us that at the moment

16:24 she is having breakfast right mark yes she can't

16:28 do both things at the same time no exactly

16:33 so here we have a different use of the present

16:37 continuous we can use it to talk about our future

16:43 plans or arrangements when we are very sure about

16:48 what we're going to do in the future so katrina

16:54 knows that soon they are going to the beach

16:58 and later they're having lunch that's right these are

17:03 their plans so they use the present continuous so mark

17:09 i could ask you what are you doing this evening

17:15 this evening i am watching a film with my family

17:20 that sounds lovely what are you doing this evening

17:25 hmm this evening i'm not watching a film i'm reading

17:32 a book i think okay that sounds good too let's

17:38 continue with our text the food here is delicious

17:43 especially the ice cream good so the food here is

17:49 delicious delicious means very good very tasty food i

17:58 agree with katrina italian food is delicious yes i love

18:03 it too okay let's continue in the uk we

18:08 rarely have ice cream but at the moment we're buying

18:13 it every day good so in the uk we rarely

18:20 have ice cream so present simple here talking about katrina's

18:25 normal life we rarely we almost never have ice

18:30 cream but at the moment present continuous we are buying

18:36 it every day oh well we are on holiday

18:41 and here katrina says we are on holiday so remember

18:47 no present continuous with the verb to be we are

18:51 on holiday even though she's on holiday at the moment

18:58 that's right okay shall we listen to the text

19:01 again that sounds like a good idea so we can

19:05 listen and listen out for everything we have talked

19:09 about today sounds good this week i'm on holiday

19:15 with my family in italy i'm with my husband

19:19 our son my sister and her three children we are staying

19:24 in a small house in the countryside on the amalfi

19:27 coast we live in manchester which is a busy

19:31 city in the uk so it's very quiet for us

19:35 here the weather is beautiful today the sun is shining

19:41 and it's very hot in manchester it isn't usually

19:47 warm it's usually rainy and cloudy the children are

19:52 enjoying the sun because they love playing outside and swimming

19:56 in the pool back home we often go swimming

20:00 in the local pool but we never swim outside

20:03 it's too cold at the moment we are having breakfast

20:09 in the garden the adults are drinking coffee and the children

20:13 are drinking fresh orange juice and we are all eating

20:17 some chocolate pastries at home we hardly ever have

20:23 pastries for breakfast we normally have cereal and toast we

20:28 are enjoying the cool morning weather and planning what

20:32 to do today this morning we are going to the beach

20:37 and then later we're having lunch in a little

20:40 pizza restaurant the food here is delicious especially the ice

20:45 cream in the uk we rarely have ice cream

20:49 but at the moment we are buying it every day

20:53 oh well we're on holiday [Music] that's all

21:02 for this episode now don't forget you can improve your english

21:07 even more with the coffee break english course we provide

21:11 extra materials for each lesson and you can find out

21:14 more about this at coffee break academy dot com that's

21:20 right mark and if you'd like to practice your english

21:24 you can also do so on social media just

21:28 search for coffee break english on facebook and on instagram

21:34 where we post regular language challenges and cultural information we'll

21:41 be back next time with another text what's the topic

21:46 for the next lesson josie next time we'll be

21:50 talking about cinema that sounds great thank you for listening

21:55 to coffee break english we'll be back soon bye

21:59 for now goodbye you have been listening to a coffee

22:13 break languages production for the radiolingua network copyright 2021

22:18 radiolingual limited recording copyright 2021

22:22 radiolingual limited all rights reserved