Am, is, are
The first verb a child needs: naming themselves, naming a thing, saying how they feel.
- From age 3
- Pre-A1
- 10 sentences
Grammar for young learners
31 structures, in the order a child meets them.
Every other part of this site is built from words — hundreds of them, nearly all things you can point at. This part is built from the sentences those words go into, which is the half of a lesson a word list cannot carry.
Each structure has the pattern as it goes on a whiteboard, 8–10 sentences a child can actually say, the mistakes you will genuinely hear, and 3–4 ways to teach it that do not involve a table of forms.
First words
Cambridge Pre-A1 Starters, explainedThe structures a child needs before they can say anything at all about themselves.
Have got
Owning something, and describing a body or a family — the structure that carries half of a young learner's speaking.
- From age 4
- Pre-A1
- 10 sentences
Can and can't
Ability, permission and the first polite request — one small word that unlocks three different lessons.
- From age 4
- Pre-A1
- 10 sentences
There is / there are
Describing a room, a picture or a scene — the structure that turns a word list into a description.
- From age 5
- Pre-A1
- 10 sentences
One and many (plurals)
Adding the -s, hearing the -s, and the handful of words that refuse to play along.
- From age 5
- Pre-A1
- 10 sentences
A and an
The two smallest words in English, and the first rule a child can own completely: an before a vowel sound.
- From age 4
- Pre-A1
- 8 sentences
My, your, his, her
Whose is it? The four little words that let a child claim a toy, share a crayon and introduce the whole family.
- From age 4
- Pre-A1
- 8 sentences
This, that, these, those
Near and far, one and many — the pointing words. The whole grammar fits in an arm gesture.
- From age 5
- Pre-A1
- 8 sentences
Stand up! Sit down! (imperatives)
The grammar of the classroom itself: commands need no subject, no ending, no age — a three-year-old obeys English before speaking it.
- From age 3
- Pre-A1
- 8 sentences
Let's play! (suggestions)
One word turns a command into an invitation. Let's is how English children start every game — and how yours will too.
- From age 4
- Pre-A1
- 8 sentences
Anna's cat (possessive 's)
The tiny hook that hangs anything on anyone: Anna's cat, Dad's car, the dog's ball. One sound, endless sentences.
- From age 5
- Pre-A1
- 8 sentences
Building sentences
Cambridge A1 Movers, explainedRoutines, opinions and describing where things are — the year speaking really starts.
Present simple
What a child does every day — routines, habits and the third-person -s that takes a year to stick.
- From age 6
- Pre-A1
- 10 sentences
Present continuous
What is happening right now — the easiest tense to demonstrate, because you can act every sentence out.
- From age 5
- Pre-A1
- 10 sentences
In, on, under — where things are
The words that put a thing somewhere. Three to start with, and a toy box is the only material you need.
- From age 4
- Pre-A1
- 10 sentences
What, where, who, how many
The words that start a real conversation — and the moment a lesson stops being the teacher talking.
- From age 5
- Pre-A1
- 10 sentences
Like and don't like
Opinions — the first thing a child genuinely wants to say in a new language, and the easiest to make real.
- From age 4
- Pre-A1
- 10 sentences
Past simple: -ed verbs
Yesterday's grammar: add -ed and any verb travels back in time. The regular half of the past, taught first because it is fair.
- From age 7
- A1
- 8 sentences
Went, saw, ate (irregular past)
The rebels of the past tense — and, unfairly, the most useful verbs of all. Went, saw, ate, had: collect them like dinosaurs.
- From age 7
- A1
- 8 sentences
Bigger, faster (comparatives)
An elephant is bigger than a cat — grammar children argue with. Add -er, add than, and every playground debate becomes English practice.
- From age 7
- A1
- 8 sentences
The biggest (superlatives)
The grammar of records and podiums: the biggest, the fastest, the best. Children are natural record-keepers — hand them the language for it.
- From age 8
- A1
- 8 sentences
Always, sometimes, never
How often? The five words that turn bare habits into honest ones — I always brush my teeth… well, usually.
- From age 8
- A1
- 8 sentences
Must and mustn't (rules)
The grammar of rules — and children adore rules they get to announce. You must listen. You mustn't run. Instant classroom law.
- From age 8
- A1
- 8 sentences
Me, him, her, us, them
Look at ME! The pronouns that receive the action — small words children need loudly and early, tidied into grammar later.
- From age 7
- Pre-A1
- 8 sentences
Some and any
Some cookies, any questions? The polite fog of quantity — some for yes-sentences, any for questions and noes. Snack time is the lesson.
- From age 8
- A1
- 8 sentences
Much, many, a lot of
How much water, how many apples — the grammar that splits the world into things you count and things you pour.
- From age 8
- A1
- 8 sentences
Going to (future plans)
Tomorrow's grammar: I'm going to build a rocket. Plans, dreams and five-year-old ambitions, all on one pattern the class already half-knows.
- From age 8
- A2
- 8 sentences
Beyond the here and now
Cambridge A2 Flyers, explainedYesterday, tomorrow, “Have you ever…?”, advice and duties — talk leaves the here and now.
Was and were
The first step into the past — describing yesterday before ever meeting a past-tense verb ending.
- From age 7
- A1
- 10 sentences
Will (predictions and promises)
The crystal-ball verb: it will rain, I will help you, robots will do homework. Guesses, promises and the whole future in one little word.
- From age 9
- A2
- 8 sentences
Have you ever…? (present perfect)
The experience question: Have you ever seen a whale? A first, friendly door into the scariest tense — opened with stories, not timelines.
- From age 10
- A2
- 8 sentences
Should and shouldn't (advice)
The kind modal: you should sleep more, you shouldn't worry. Advice is a life skill — this is its grammar, gentle by design.
- From age 9
- A2
- 8 sentences
Have to (what life demands)
I have to go to school, she has to feed the cat — the everyday twin of must, for duties that come from the world rather than the rule-maker.
- From age 10
- A1
- 8 sentences
B1–B2 · Teens & adults
12 intermediate structures for learners from about 12 to adult: tense contrasts, conditionals, the passive, reported speech. Examples from work, study, travel and tech, and the mistakes Arabic, Russian and Spanish speakers really make.
Present perfect vs past simple
Finished time or a period that is still open? The contrast teens and adults get wrong longest, and the time words that decide it.
- Teens · Adults
- B1
- 10 sentences
Present perfect continuous
How long something has been going on, and why your hands are covered in paint: duration with for and since, and the visible results of a recent activity.
- Teens · Adults
- B1
- 10 sentences
Past continuous vs past simple
The background and the event: I was cooking when the lights went out. The pair every story needs, from a bad day at work to a first date.
- Teens · Adults
- B1
- 10 sentences
Will, going to and present continuous
Three ways to talk about the future and what each says: a decision made now, a plan or a prediction from evidence, an arrangement already in the diary.
- Teens · Adults
- B1
- 10 sentences
First and second conditional
Real possibility or imagined situation? If it rains, we'll stay in. If I won the lottery, I'd quit. Form, meaning and the “if I would” trap.
- Teens · Adults
- B1
- 10 sentences
The passive (present and past)
When the action matters more than who did it: English is spoken here. The bridge was built in 1890. The form, when to use it, and when to add by.
- Teens · Adults
- B1
- 10 sentences
Used to and would
Past habits and old states: I used to live in Lisbon. We would stay up all night. When both work, when only used to does, and the be used to trap.
- Teens · Adults
- B2
- 10 sentences
Third conditional
Imagining a different past: If I had left earlier, I wouldn't have missed the flight. Regrets, criticism and lucky escapes, plus the mixed conditional.
- Teens · Adults
- B2
- 10 sentences
Reported speech
Passing on what someone said or asked: She said she was tired. He asked where I lived. Backshift, pronoun changes and the word order of reported questions.
- Teens · Adults
- B2
- 10 sentences
Must, might and can't (deduction)
Guessing from evidence: She must be at work. He might be stuck in traffic. That can't be right. How sure you are, in one small word, now and in the past.
- Teens · Adults
- B2
- 10 sentences
Relative clauses
Who, which, that, where, whose: adding information about a noun. Defining and non-defining clauses, when to drop the pronoun, and why commas matter.
- Teens · Adults
- B2
- 10 sentences
Gerunds and infinitives
Enjoy doing or want to do? Which verbs take -ing, which take to, and the verbs whose meaning changes: stop, remember, try, forget.
- Teens · Adults
- B2
- 10 sentences