In Part 1 of this series, you learned to use the Present Continuous + Always to express frequency. Now, you’re going to learn to use the Present Simple vs Future Simple for typical behaviors.
A behavior is a repeated action that is a specific characteristic of a person. As creatures of habit, we often perform these actions under specific situations (conditions). We can also express the timing or frequency that we find ourselves in these conditions. Therefore, we can use the First Conditional to express frequently repeated actions and behaviors.
Below, you will find a direct link to watch the YouTube video lesson connected to this series of posts. You can watch the video, or just scroll past to continue reading the lesson here.
The Present Simple vs Future Simple: express frequency in limited situations
At the top point of the pyramid, we have the First Conditional or Future Simple. The Conditional is used for Repeated Actions instead of the Present Simple when the repeated result occurs in limited situations.
To understand the First Conditional for typical behaviors, we must first look at the base conditional – the Zero Conditional. We use the Zero Conditional for an action that is always or generally true. When talking about our routines, there are regular, every-day conditions we face. If we always behave or act in the same way, we use the Present Simple as part of the Zero Conditional.
The Conditional Present (Not the Future)
The answer to that question is to use the First Conditional. I call it the Conditional Present or sometimes, jokingly, I call it the Half-Conditional because it’s about the present, not the future, with the way we use it here. The below graphic illustrates how you could have a near identical sentence in the First Conditional. Yet, one describes the future, and the other describes a typically recurring present situation.
Broad vs. Narrow Conditions
Earlier, I mentioned that the First Conditional is used for limited conditions. That means situations where your action depends on the context. This can be defined as a behavior, and we use the First Conditional for typical behaviors. Before we get into examples from the My Day presentation, let me just show you what I mean by limited situations.
Present Simple vs Future Simple when there are Lots of Choices
Another aspect of the Future Simple/First Conditional for typical behaviors is that we use it when we have a lot of options. Furthermore, our choices depend on different conditions (such as our mood). In the My Day presentation, I described my typical evening behaviors. Here are those examples to illustrate the use of the Future Simple.
As you can see, I have a lot of options for what I’ll do in the evening after work. And my choice of action depends on my mood, so I’ll use the conditional to convey that fact.
With that, now you have the full picture of how to express Frequency like a Native Speaker.
To Sum Up
Mastery of The First Conditional and Present Continuous are crucial to improving your speaking and conversational skills. That’s because when you’re conversing with a friend or getting to know someone new, we ask each other these conversational questions; and to be conversational we don’t just give one answer. We try to be descriptive about the different situations along with how we behave and react. Therefore, we use these three tenses/structures to express different things:
- Present Simple for frequency without any extra context
- Present Continuous to show emotional connection to the frequent action (what we think about it) or when we add context to it such as the reason, we do this action frequently.
- First Conditional for typical behaviors where are actions depend on the situation or choices available to us.
Get your study Guide for free!
The Study Guide contains graphical explanations of the 2 more advanced aspects of Repetition and Frequency. Additionally, you can find the expressions used in this video to help improve your vocabulary.
Learn All the Conditionals with my Course!
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