PRESENT SIMPLE/CONTINUOUS

Present Simple and Present Continuous

Present Simple	Present Continuous
Things which are always true: ·    Water boils at 100 degrees.	Things which are happening at the moment of speaking: ·    The water is boiling now, so you can put in the pasta.
Permanent situations (or nearly permanent; true for a few years at least): ·    Julie lives in London.	Temporary situations: ·    Julie is living in Paris for a few months (usually she lives in London). Situations which are slowly changing: ·    I'm getting better and better at speaking English.
Habits or things we do regularly: ·    I drink coffee every morning.	Temporary or new habits: ·    I'm drinking too much coffee these days because I'm so busy at work. Annoying habits (usually with 'always'): ·    My flatmate is always leaving the kitchen in a mess!
Future events which are part of a timetable: ·    My plane leaves at eight tonight. To talk about the future after certain words ('when' 'until' 'after' 'before' 'as soon as'): ·    I'll call you when I get home.	Definite future plans: ·    I'm meeting John after class today.
To talk about what happens in books, plays and films: ·    At the end of the book, the detective catches the killer.	To talk about people in pictures and photos: ·    In this photo, my mother is walking beside a lake.

Remember:

• We use the present simple with stative verbs. We can't use any continuous tense (including the present continuous tense, of course) with stative verbs.