You help vs. You are helping?

[Jenni Jolly]

On this page: http://www.french-linguistics.co.uk/grammar/presenttensepractice.shtml there is an option at the bottom to practice the present tense of -er verbs. 

For you're helping (plural), they say the correct answer is vous aidez. I thought that you're helping is vous êtes aidez.

Can someone please tell me what I'm missing? Thanks!

[Dinah38]

There's only one present tense in French - vous aidez - and it corresponds to 3 present tenses in English - you help, you are helping, you do help. Much easier to learn French than English!

[Jenni Jolly]

Okay, thanks! So I am eating would simply be je mange, correct? But I would use je suis with an adjective? Again, thank you for all of the help. I'm learning on my own with the free resources on the internet, so I appreciate you taking the time to help me muddle through!

[Charles D]

There is one other way, but it is really only used when the action is in progress.  For instance, if the phone rang and interrupted your dinner, you could say "je mange" but you could also say "je suis en train de manger"--it is very emphatic and indicates that you are in the process of eating.  I find it comes in handy when telling a story, as in "Il etait en train de danser quand il a tombe" --"he was dancing when he fell" "He was in the process of dancing when he fell."

(Please forgive my lack of accents and other markings, etc.  I haven't figured it out how to add them yet on my Mac)

[Jenni Jolly]

See if this helps you, Charles: http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/international/accents/codemac.html

And thank you for replying!

[Charles D]

Most helpful.  Merci, Jenni.

[Dinah38]

Correct - I am eating is je mange. The difficulty is for French learning English when they have to learn the difference between I eat, I do eat, I am eating. Yes use je suis with an adjective: Je suis belle

[Jenni Jolly]

Merci beaucoup! Je comprends. (at least I understand for now... :o)