English for Beginners — The First Structures That Let You Say Anything

Beginners are usually handed vocabulary: colours, animals, food, numbers. Then they try to say something and can't, because knowing cat, sofa and black doesn't tell you how to say that there's a black cat on the sofa.

Words are the contents. Structures are the containers. Six containers cover most of what a beginner needs, and each one works with any vocabulary you pour into it.

1. There is / there are — saying what exists

The first genuinely powerful structure, because it lets you describe any place at all.

• There's a cat on the sofa.
• There's a problem.
• There are two bedrooms.
• Is there a bank near here?
• There isn't any milk.

Singular takes "is", plural takes "are". In speech it's almost always shortened: there's (singular) and there're or just there are (plural).

The question form inverts: Is there…? / Are there…? — and Is there a bank near here? is one of the most useful sentences a traveller owns.

This one structure plus a room's worth of nouns lets you describe your home, a photo, a street or a problem. There's a Cat on the Sofa is the A1 course built entirely on it.

2. Possessives — saying whose it is

Two separate systems, and learners mix them constantly.

Before a noun (my, your, his…):

Standing alone (mine, yours, his…):

• Is this yours? — No, it's mine.
• That's not his, it's hers.
• Whose is this?

The trap: its (belonging to it) has no apostrophe. It's with an apostrophe means it is. This is the single most common written mistake in English, made constantly by native speakers, and getting it right quietly marks you as careful.

The other trap: adding 's to a person — Anna's bag, my brother's car. For plurals ending in s, the apostrophe goes after: my parents' house.

Mine or Yours? — Possessives drills both systems at A1.

3. Present continuous — saying what's happening now

• I'm working.
• She's cooking dinner.
• They're waiting outside.
• What are you doing?
• I'm not listening.

Form: am/is/are + verb-ing. That's it.

This is the structure that makes you sound like you're in the moment rather than reciting facts, and it's the answer to what are you doing? — probably the question you'll be asked most often. Say What You're Doing Right Now covers it at A1.

Careful: some verbs don't take this form because they describe states, not actions — know, want, need, like, understand. Say I know, never I'm knowing.

4. Questions — the word order that trips everyone

English inverts for questions, and beginners keep statement order because that's what most languages do.

With most other verbs you need do / does / did:

• You like coffee. → Do you like coffee?
• He works here. → Does he work here?
• They left. → Did they leave?

The rule everyone breaks: after does and did, the main verb goes back to its plain form. Does he works and Did they left are wrong. Once does or did has taken the tense, the other verb drops it.

Question words go in front: What do you want? Where does she live? When did you arrive?

Ask Questions Like a Native is the A1 course on this, and it matters more than it looks — questions are how you keep a conversation alive when your own vocabulary runs out.

5. Have got — saying what you have

British English overwhelmingly uses have got in speech:

• I've got a question.
• Have you got a minute?
• She's got two brothers.
• We haven't got any milk.

Americans prefer plain have: I have a question, Do you have a minute? Both are correct everywhere; have got just sounds more natural in British conversation.

6. Can — ability, permission and requests

One small word doing three jobs:

• Ability: I can swim. / I can't drive.
• Permission: Can I sit here?
• Requests: Can you help me? / Could you say that again?

Could is the polite version, and worth adopting early — Could you help me? is softer than Can you help me? and never sounds wrong.

Putting them together

Here's the point. With these six structures and about two hundred words, you can say:

Excuse me, is there a supermarket near here? … Sorry, I don't understand — could you say that again? … Is this yours? … I'm looking for my phone. I've got a black one. … Can you help me?

That's a functioning person in a foreign country. No tenses beyond the present, no conditionals, nothing advanced. The containers are doing the work.

What to learn next, and what to leave

Next: past simple (I went, I saw, I did), because talking about yesterday is most of conversation.

Leave for later: perfect tenses, conditionals, passive voice, reported speech. They're all real, and none of them will help you order a coffee or ask for directions. Learners who chase them early end up knowing more grammar and speaking less English.

Common questions

What should I learn first as an English beginner?

Structures before vocabulary. "There is / there are", possessives, present continuous, question word order, "have got" and "can" cover most beginner situations — and every word you learn afterwards slots into them.

When do I use "is" and when "are" with there?

"There is" for one thing, "there are" for more than one: "There's a cat on the sofa", "There are two bedrooms". In questions they invert: "Is there a bank near here?"

What's the difference between "its" and "it's"?

"Its" means belonging to it and has no apostrophe. "It's" means "it is". It's the most common written mistake in English — native speakers make it constantly — so getting it right quietly marks you as careful.

Why is "Did they left" wrong?

Because "did" already carries the past tense, so the main verb returns to its plain form: "Did they leave?" The same applies to "does": "Does he work here?", not "does he works".

Should I learn "have got" or "have"?

Both are correct. British English uses "have got" far more in speech — "I've got a question", "Have you got a minute?" — while American English prefers plain "have". Pick whichever matches the English you hear most.

Where to start

Take them in order. There's a Cat on the Sofa covers "there is / there are" at A1, Mine or Yours? — Possessives covers whose-is-what, Say What You're Doing Right Now handles the present continuous, and Ask Questions Like a Native fixes the word order that lets you ask for anything.