Form
Affirmative
I am playing
You are playing
He/she/it is playing
We are playing
You are playing (plural)
They are playing
Negative
I am not playing
You are not playing
He/she/it is not playing
We are not playing
You are not playing
They are not playing
Question
Am I playing?
Are you playing?
Is he/she/it playing?
Are we playing?
Are you playing?
Are they playing?
Functions and examples
We use the present continuous to talk about something that is happening at the time of speaking. The action is not finished.
He is speaking to John.
What is she doing?
We use the present continuous to talk about temporary situations.
I am living in London at the moment.
Why is she moving house?
We use the present continuous to talk about changing situations.
You're getting taller and taller every day.
The weather's getting warmer.
We use the present continuous to talk about repeated actions around the time of speaking.
I'm seeing Jane a lot these days.
We use the present continuous with words such as "always" to talk about things that happen repeatedly (sometimes to say that something is irritating or annoying).
She's always complaining about how difficult her life is.
We use the present continuous to talk about future arrangements.
I'm meeting my father at the airport at 5 o'clock tomorrow.
Important points
When we are talking about how someone looks or feels, we can use the present continuous or present simple.
How are you feeling? / How do you feel?
Jenny is looking really good today? / Jenny looks really good today.
We do not normally use some verbs in the past continuous tense, because these verbs are not normally action verbs. These verbs include: believe, belong, depend, hate, know, like, love, mean, need, prefer, realise, suppose, want, understand.
They know each other very well.
They are knowing each other very well. x