Third-person agreement

In the Simple Present, I, you, we, and they use the base verb: I work. They play. He, she, it, and one singular noun usually add -s: He works. Anna plays.

Add -es after verbs ending in -s, -sh, -ch, -x, or -o: watches, washes, fixes, and goes. When a verb ends in consonant + y, change y to i and add -es: study becomes studies.

Two very common verbs are irregular. Have becomes has, and do becomes does. Be has its own forms: he is, she is, and it is.

The agreement belongs to the subject, not to a nearby plural word: My brother studies English. The shop near the houses opens at nine.

This ending is small but important. Listen for it, say it aloud, and check every present-tense statement whose subject can be replaced by he, she, or it.