We use present continuous for the following reasons:
- Actions happening now – I am writing an email
- Definite future plans – He is flying to Spain tomorrow.
- Actions happening around now – I’m doing an English course.
We also use Present Continuous for:
a. Describing actions in photographs
b. As part of the zero conditional or the first conditional, instead of Present Simple
– If he isn’t working, he doesn’t get paid.
– If it is raining this evening, I won’t go for a run.
c. As part of the future continuous tense – see future tenses.
– “We will be sitting on a beach in Jamaica this time next week!”
See the chart below for the form, most common uses (1-3 above), key words and more examples of how we use the Present Continuous Tense.
Stative Verbs
When using continuous tenses, it is important to be aware of stative verbs because we cannot use these verbs in the continuous form.
Some stative verbs fall into the following categories and are quite easy to remember with some practice, see the following link for a detailed overview and their categories.
Future Plans
The Present Continuous is a very common way to discuss future plans. We generally use it for definite future plans, that is something where arrangements have been made already (a table in a restaurant booked, a location and/ or time agreed to meet, a ticket booked).
- We’re spending two weeks in Florida for our summer holiday.
- I’m not coming to the party tonight as I have to work late.
- John is coming over and help me paint the house tomorrow.
- He is arriving at 3 p.m. tomorrow.
This way to talk about future plans is very similar to (be) going to, for example:
John is going to come over and help me paint the house tomorrow.
See the Future Tenses section for more information.
However, we often use when plans are not necessarily definite, for example asking people about their weekend/ summer holidays,
“Hey Tina, what are you doing this weekend?”
“Are you coming to the staff party?”
Present Continuous or Simple?
Stative verbs are very important in choosing which tense to use, but there are other reasons to choose Present CONTINUOUS or SIMPLE: