Present Continuous · Exercises
A1Beginner practice
First steps: am / is / are + -ing for things happening now.
Play
- Practice10 exercises at your own pace
- Time Attack60 seconds, as many as you can
- Survival3 lives, harder as you go
- Tense SortDrag sentences into their tense — 60 seconds
- Timelines10 sentences to match to their timelines
- A1 Boss12 hits before you lose 3 lives
- Irregular MatchPair verbs with their past forms — 60 seconds
Want to mix tenses, go endless or pick exercise types? Set up your own session.
What you’ll practise at A1
- am / is / are + -ing
- Spelling: making, running, lying
- Negatives: isn’t / aren’t / ’m not
- Questions: Are you…?
- Short answers
- Timelines: what the tense means
Need a refresher? Learn the present continuous: rules, tables and audio examples.
Sample exercises
A taste of what’s inside. In practice mode every exercise is freshly generated.
Write the verb in the present continuous.
Emma _____ (talk) to her friends right now.
Show answer
Emma is talking to her friends right now.
Present continuous: am / is / are + verb-ing. I am, he/she/it is, you/we/they are. Just add -ing: talk → talking.
Write the verb in the present continuous.
Chloe _____ (listen) to a podcast right now.
Show answer
Chloe is listening to a podcast right now.
Present continuous: am / is / are + verb-ing. I am, he/she/it is, you/we/they are. Just add -ing: listen → listening.
Is this sentence correct?
Is Theo swimming in the sea? — Yes, he is.
Show answer
Is Theo swimming in the sea? — Yes, he is.
Yes, it’s correct. Short answers repeat am / is / are: Yes, I am. / No, she isn’t. Don’t contract a positive short answer (“Yes, I’m” is wrong): a contraction can’t come at the end.
Choose the correct short answer.
Is Maya studying English? — Yes, _____.
Show answer
Is Maya studying English? — Yes, she is.
Short answers repeat am / is / are: Yes, I am. / No, she isn’t. Don’t contract a positive short answer (“Yes, I’m” is wrong): a contraction can’t come at the end.
Is this sentence correct?
My grandfather is makeing a cake.
Show answer
My grandfather is making a cake.
“makeing” should be “making”. Drop the final -e before -ing: make → making.
Choose the present continuous form that fits.
Look! It _____ (snow).
Show answer
Look! It is snowing.
“Look!” tells you it’s happening right now, so use the present continuous: am / is / are + -ing.