I searched the whole internet but couldn't find anything else than the standard rules/guidelines as to how to use the simple present for future events. I understand that when something is scheduled, e.g. 'The train arrives at 10am,' the simple present is being used. I moved from Germany to California and since I'm here I hear people use the simple present all the time for non-scheduled events in the future or things they think are facts. I'll give you three example sentences I came across in conversations with native speakers:
We were in a furniture store and I sat on a fluffy white seat, the ones that look like huge pillows, and the person I was with said:
'Can you imagine how dirty it gets over time?'
…instead of:
'Can you imagine how dirty it will get over time?'
In another situation, I changed the headlight bulbs of my fiancee's car with her brother and since I'm not really familiar with cars I asked him why I should avoid touching the bulbs and he said:
'The grease from your fingers will burn into the bulb and then it breaks'
…instead of:
'The grease from your fingers will burn into the bulb and then it will break.'
Then, last evening my fiancee had a really bad stomachache and she said:
'I hope it goes away overnight'
…instead of:
'I hope it will go away overnight.'
Is there an exception to the rule here or is it just colloquialism? If so, could someone elaborate on this?
Best Answer
Addressing your specific questions:
When people talk informally, they are often a little sloppy. The present tense would be the perfect choice to state a generalization or natural law such as:
This idea was close enough for the speaker. Someone who likes to be more precise might say, instead, "Can you imagine how dirty it would get over time [if we bought the white pillow]?" But you might not enjoy living with someone who uses English precisely all the time. Such people tend to be nitpicky.
Here, two ideas have been spliced together into one sentence.
First idea: "[If you touch the bulb with your fingers] the grease from your fingers will burn into the bulb."
Second idea: "When that happens, i.e. when you touch the bulb with your fingers, the bulb breaks."
This is another example of the simple present being used for a generalization or natural law. And again, in a situation of informal speech you caught the speaker being a little sloppy.
I don't know how the English grammar experts would view this (if you want to know, you could ask over at ELU SE), but I will share how I see this example. My other primary language is Spanish, which has a subjunctive. English has one too, but people don't think about it much. In Spanish you really can't get away without thinking about it. In Spanish, this would be
I see the English sentence the same way -- I see goes away as the present subjunctive, which happens to be conjugated the same as the simple present.
Your questions were good, and you've done some careful listening and recording of what you've heard.
I would be remiss if I didn't point out a small but important misuse of the simple present tense in your question:
Expressions beginning with "since" are notoriously easy to get tripped up on.