It is commonly referred to as a tense, although it also encodes certain information about aspect in addition to the present time.
[2] For details of how to make this inflected form, see English verbs § Third person singular present.
(The defective verb beware has no simple present indicative, although it can be used in the subjunctive.)
The simple present is used to refer to an action or event that takes place habitually, to remark habits, facts and general realities, repeated actions or unchanging situations, emotions, and wishes.
It is also used with stative verbs in senses that do not use progressive aspect (see Uses of English verb forms § Progressive), to refer to a present or general state, whether temporary, permanent or habitual: The simple present is also used to state facts: It can similarly be used when quoting someone or something, even if the words were spoken in the past: It can be used to refer to a single completed action, as in recounting the events of a story in the present tense (see historical present), and in such contexts as newspaper headlines, where it replaces the present perfect: Simple present is sometimes used to refer to an arranged future event, usually with a reference to time: It is used when providing a commentary on events as they occur: Similarly, it is also used when describing events in some theoretical or planned situation that is under consideration: It is used in many dependent clauses referring to the future, particularly condition clauses, clauses expressing place and time, and many relative clauses (see Uses of English verb forms § Dependent clauses): Simple present is also used in zero conditional sentences in both parts of the sentence.