Table of Contents Negative sentence in Present Simple tense Created:29 Nov 2019 14:49:38 , in elementary Pattern It is very useful to know how to build a negative sentence in the Present Simple tense. There is a pattern for it. The pattern consists of four parts and relies on the auxiliary verb do followed by the adverb not. Subject + auxiliary verb + main verb + rest of sentence Examples I + do not + like to cycle. We + do not + dine together. They + prefer + to do shopping on Monday. For third person singular ( he , she, it ), does not is used in place of do not. Eve + does not + go to sleep until 9 p.m. This tree + does not + grow + fast. Tommy + does not + enjoy + cycling much. To be and modal verbs The above pattern covers most of the cases apart from ones when to be or a modal verb (can, may, should etc. ) is the main verb in the sentence. For such sentences we drop the auxiliary verb do: Subject + main verb + not + rest of sentence Examples for to be and a modal verb based sentences I + cannot + swim. I + am + not + a great swimmer. She + should + not + underestimate her employees. They + are + not + friends of ours. The building + is + not that old. If you are not sure about Subject + main verb + rest of sentence pattern, you might want to see Affirmative sentence in Present Simple Tense article first. This post was updated on 29 Nov 2019 20:46:05 Tags: present simple tense , tense Did you find this content useful? Why not share it ... Facebook Twitter Google+