Transcript of Lesson 4.1 - The Simple Aspect

Lesson 4.1 - The Simple Aspect.

'The simple aspect' is the simplest of the bunch. Hence the name, I guess.

'Simple' forms of verbs are those that appear in any construction that isn't marked by the perfect, progressive, or perfect progressive aspects.

It's the default aspect.

'The Simple Aspect' is used to express:.

1. A fact.

For example, "Pete likes chocolate" - Simple Present.

2. A single action.

"Pete ate the bickie." - the Simple Past.

3. A repeated action.

"Pete goes to work." - Simple Present.

And 4. A relatively permanent state.

"Pete lives in Melbourne." - Simple Present.

You'll see 'Simple' combined with different verb tenses in order to indicate that a single action, repeated action, or relatively permanent state takes place in either the past, present, or future, or is conditional.

So, we can combine 'the Simple Aspect' with any tense in order to place it in the past, present, or future.

The Simple Present: "I go."

The Simple Past: "I went."

The Simple Future: "I will go.", etc.

And we can also use the 'Simple' with other modal verbs.

For example: I should go. I would go. I could go. I might go.

See the notes in this lesson for the tables on how to form 'the Simple Aspect' in the different tenses.

To be honest, you'll almost certainly already have a good grasp of 'the Simple Aspect' and how to use it, so I'm not going to go into it much more here.

To sum up 'the Simple Aspect':

'The Simple Aspect' is the most common aspect in English.

It's used to express a fact, a single action, a repeated action, or a relatively permanent state.

And 'the Simple Aspect' can be combined with the present, past, and future tenses to express itself at different times, as well as the different modal verbs like should, would, could, and might, etc.