Present Continuous Tense

In the Present Continuous tense, the action is on-going/ still going on and hence continuous. The present continuous tense is used to talk about actions that are happening at this current moment.

POSITIVE STATEMENTS

SUBJECT	AM / ARE / IS	VERB + ing	REST OF THE SENTENCE
I	am	watching	television.
You	are	watching	television.
He	is	watching	television.
Mohan	is	watching	television
The boy	is	watching	television.
She	is	watching	television.
Pooja	is	watching	television.
The girl	is	watching	television.
We	are	watching	television.
You	are	watching	television.
They	are	watching	television.
The children	are	watching	television.

Notice that we use

‘am’ with ‘I’,

‘is’ with ‘He’ and ‘She’

‘are’ with ‘You’, ‘We’ and ‘They’

The verb form remains the same for all subjects.

NEGATIVE STATEMENTS

SUBJECT	AM NOT / ARE NOT / IS NOT	VERB + ing	REST OF THE SENTENCE
I	am not	playing	chess.
You	are not	playing	chess.
He	is not	playing	chess.
Mohan	is not	playing	chess.
The boy	is not	playing	chess.
She	is not	playing	chess.
Pooja	is not	playing	chess.
The girl	is not	playing	chess.
We	are not	playing	chess.
You	are not	playing	chess.
They	are not	playing	chess.
The men	are not	playing	chess.

Notice that we use

‘am not’ with ‘I’,

‘is not’ with ‘He’ and ‘She’

‘are not’ with ‘You’, ‘We’ and ‘They’

The verb form remains the same for all subjects.

INTERROGATIVE STATEMENTS / QUESTIONS

AM / ARE / IS	SUBJECT	VERB	REST OF THE SENTENCE
Am	I	reading	a book?
Are	you	reading	a book?
Is	he	reading	a book?
Is	Mohan	reading	a book?
Is	the boy	reading	a book?
Is	she	reading	a book?
Is	Pooja	reading	a book?
Is	the girl	reading	a book?
Are	we	reading	a book?
Are	you	reading	a book?
Are	they	reading	a book?
Are	the men	reading	a book?

Notice the structure of the interrogative statements. We use

‘am’ with ‘I’,

‘is’ with ‘He’ and ‘She’

‘are’ with ‘You’, ‘We’ and ‘They’

The verb form remains the same for all subjects.

What is Present Continuous Tense?

USE: We use PRESENT CONTINUOUS to talk about:

1) MOMENT OF SPEAKING: An activity that is taking place right now.

Example:

- They are reading newspaper.

- She is writing a letter to her friend.

- I am listening to the radio.

2) TEMPORARY SITUATION: An action which is occurring temporarily or around now.

Example:

- John is staying in Cambodia.

- I am studying at Phnom Penh International University.

- Dara and Kanitha are building a new house.

3) FUTURE PLAN: An action that we have already arranged to do in the future.

Example:

- I am flying to the USA this afternoon.

- Kanha is visiting her homeland next week.

- They are having a party tonight.

FORMULA

Positive Sentence:

Subject + be + verb-ing + (object/complement)

Example:

- I am laughing.

- He is speaking English.

- We are feeling bored.

Negative Sentence:

Sub + be + not + verb-ing + (obj/comp)

Example:

- The car is not running properly.

- They are not sleeping.

- I am not going to the market.

Question:

Be + sub + verb-ing + (obj/comp) ?

Example:

- Am I listening to music?

- Is that man talking to Jame?

- Are those people playing sport?

Related page

What is Tense? Definition of Tense.

What is the type of tense?

What Is the Past Tense?

What Is the Present Tense?

What is the Future Tense?

Structure of All Tense

Simple Present Tense

Present Continuous Tense

Present Perfect Tense

Present Perfect Continuous Tense

Simple Past Tense

Past Continuous Tense

Past Perfect Tense

Past Perfect Continuous Tense

Simple Future Tense

Future Continuous Tense

Future Perfect Tense

Future Perfect Continuous Tense

All Tense with example

Table of English Tenses with example

TENSE CHART