Worked examples and guided exercises - Present Tenses
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Introducción
En esta lección vamos a practicar los dos tiempos de presente del inglés: el Present Simple y el Present Continuous. Aunque en español a veces los traducimos igual («trabajo» / «estoy trabajando»), en inglés se usan en situaciones distintas. Con ejemplos resueltos y ejercicios guiados aprenderás a elegir bien.
Explicación
1. Present Simple
Forma: sujeto + verbo en forma base. Con he/she/it se añade -s o -es: she works, he watches, it goes; si acaba en consonante + y: study → studies.
Negativa: don't / doesn't + forma base (She doesn't like fish). Pregunta: Do / Does + sujeto + forma base (Does she like fish?).
Usos: rutinas y hábitos (I get up at 7), hechos permanentes y verdades generales (My parents work in a hospital. Water boils at 100 °C) y gustos u opiniones.
Expresiones típicas: always, usually, often, sometimes, never, every day, on Mondays. Los adverbios de frecuencia van delante del verbo principal pero detrás de to be: I always walk to school / She is never late.
2. Present Continuous
Forma: am/is/are + verbo-ing: I am reading, she is studying, they are playing.
Ortografía de -ing: write → writing (se pierde la -e), swim → swimming (se dobla la consonante).
Usos: acciones que ocurren ahora mismo (Right now my sister is studying) y situaciones temporales (I'm reading a great book this week).
Expresiones típicas: now, right now, at the moment, today, this week, Look!, Listen!
3. Verbos de estado: algunos verbos no expresan acciones sino estados, y normalmente no se usan en Present Continuous aunque hablemos de ahora: know, like, love, hate, want, need, understand, believe, belong. Se dice I know the answer, no I am knowing the answer.
Truco para decidir: si la frase habla de algo que pasa habitualmente o siempre, usa Present Simple; si habla de algo que está pasando en este momento o durante un periodo temporal, usa Present Continuous (salvo con verbos de estado).
Recuerda que en las preguntas y negativas del Present Simple la -s de tercera persona pasa al auxiliar: She plays → She doesn't play / Does she play? (nunca doesn't plays).
Ejemplo
Ejemplo 1.My parents ___ (work) in a hospital.
Paso 1: es un hecho permanente (su trabajo habitual) → Present Simple.
Paso 2: sujeto my parents = they → sin -s.
Resultado: My parents work in a hospital.
Ejemplo 2.Right now, my sister ___ (study) for her exam.
Paso 1: la pista right now indica una acción en este momento → Present Continuous.
Paso 2: sujeto my sister = she → is + studying.
Resultado: Right now, my sister is studying for her exam.
Ejemplo 3. Elige: Tom usually ___ (go) to school by bus, but today he ___ (walk). → usually indica hábito: goes; today indica algo temporal: is walking.
Ejercicios
Listen! Somebody ___ at the door.
I ___ the answer to this question.
Material adicional
Past Simple: verbos irregulares
Muchos de los verbos más comunes en inglés son irregulares: no siguen la regla de añadir -ed para formar el pasado. Cada verbo irregular tiene su propia forma de pasado que hay que memorizar.
La buena noticia es que, igual que con los regulares, la forma es la misma para todas las personas.
Los verbos irregulares más importantes
Infinitivo
Past Simple
Significado
be
was / were
ser / estar
have
had
tener
do
did
hacer
go
went
ir
come
came
venir
see
saw
ver
make
made
hacer / fabricar
take
took
coger / tomar
get
got
obtener / llegar
give
gave
dar
say
said
decir
tell
told
decir / contar
think
thought
pensar
know
knew
saber / conocer
find
found
encontrar
eat
ate
comer
drink
drank
beber
write
wrote
escribir
read
read (/red/)
leer
run
ran
correr
swim
swam
nadar
sing
sang
cantar
speak
spoke
hablar
buy
bought
comprar
bring
brought
traer
catch
caught
coger / atrapar
teach
taught
enseñar
sit
sat
sentarse
stand
stood
estar de pie
sleep
slept
dormir
wake
woke
despertar(se)
leave
left
irse / salir
meet
met
conocer / encontrarse
begin
began
empezar
break
broke
romper
wear
wore
llevar puesto
win
won
ganar
lose
lost
perder
send
sent
enviar
put
put
poner
cut
cut
cortar
📌 Recuerda
El verbo to be es el único que tiene dos formas en Past Simple: • I / he / she / it → was • you / we / they → were
La negativa y la interrogativa se forman exactamente igual que con los regulares: con didn't y Did + verbo en forma base:
Afirmativa
Negativa
Interrogativa
I went to the park.
I didn't go to the park.
Did you go to the park?
She ate pizza.
She didn't eat pizza.
Did she eat pizza?
They saw a film.
They didn't see a film.
Did they see a film?
He bought a book.
He didn't buy a book.
Did he buy a book?
⚠️ Importante
Con didn't y Did, el verbo vuelve al infinitivo: • ✅ She didn't go. ❌ She didn't went. • ✅ Did he eat? ❌ Did he ate?
WH- Questions en Past Simple
Pregunta
Traducción
What did you do yesterday?
¿Qué hiciste ayer?
Where did she go last weekend?
¿Adónde fue ella el fin de semana pasado?
When did they arrive?
¿Cuándo llegaron?
Who did you meet?
¿A quién conociste?
Why did he leave early?
¿Por qué se fue pronto?
How did you get there?
¿Cómo llegaste allí?
📖 Reading comprehension
Read about a school trip:
Last Friday, our class went on a school trip to the Natural Science Museum. We left school at 9 o'clock and took the bus to the city centre. When we got there, we saw many interesting things. First, we went to the dinosaur room. I saw a huge T-Rex skeleton! Then we ate lunch in the museum café. I had a sandwich and some juice. My friend Carlos bought a book about animals in the gift shop. In the afternoon, we met a scientist who told us about fossils. She showed us some real fossils that were millions of years old! We left the museum at 4 o'clock and came back to school by bus. I was very tired but I had a fantastic day. I wrote about it in my diary that night.
Questions: 1. Where did the class go? ___ 2. How did they get there? ___ 3. What did the narrator see in the dinosaur room? ___ 4. What did Carlos buy? ___ 5. Who did they meet in the afternoon? ___ 6. What time did they leave the museum? ___ 7. What did the narrator do that night? ___
✏️ Ejercicios
1. Escribe el Past Simple de estos verbos irregulares: a) go → ___ b) eat → ___ c) see → ___ d) buy → ___ e) make → ___ f) write → ___ g) take → ___ h) drink → ___ i) run → ___ j) give → ___ k) know → ___ l) think → ___
2. Completa con el Past Simple: a) I ___ (go) to the cinema last night. b) She ___ (eat) a pizza for dinner. c) We ___ (see) a beautiful sunset. d) He ___ (buy) a new phone. e) They ___ (come) to my party. f) I ___ (write) an email to my friend.
3. Escribe en negativa: a) I went to school. → ___ b) She ate breakfast. → ___ c) They saw the film. → ___ d) He bought a car. → ___
4. Escribe preguntas con WH-: a) You went somewhere yesterday. (Where?) → ___ b) She ate something for lunch. (What?) → ___ c) They left at a certain time. (What time?) → ___ d) He bought something. (What?) → ___
5. Traduce al inglés: a) Ayer fui al cine con mis amigos. → ___ b) Ella no comió carne anoche. → ___ c) ¿Qué hiciste el fin de semana pasado? → ___ d) Nosotros vimos un partido de fútbol el domingo. → ___ e) Él compró un regalo para su madre. → ___
6. Escribe un relato en pasado sobre un viaje o excursión (mínimo 8 frases).
📋 Resumen de la lección
Los verbos irregulares no añaden -ed: tienen formas propias que hay que memorizar.
El verbo to be tiene dos formas: was (I/he/she/it) y were (you/we/they).
Negativa: didn't + infinitivo. Interrogativa: Did + sujeto + infinitivo?
Las WH- questions siguen el orden: WH- + did + sujeto + verbo base.
La forma pasada es igual para todas las personas (excepto was/were).
Publicidad
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