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Verb A verb () is a word ( part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descr ...
s constitute one of the main
parts of speech In grammar, a part of speech or part-of-speech (abbreviated as POS or PoS, also known as word class or grammatical category) is a category of words (or, more generally, of lexical items) that have similar grammatical properties. Words that are as ...
(word classes) in the
English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...
. Like other types of words in the language, English verbs are not heavily
inflected In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and de ...
. Most combinations of tense, aspect, mood and
voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound producti ...
are expressed periphrastically, using constructions with auxiliary verbs. Generally, the only inflected forms of an English verb are a third person singular
present tense The present tense ( abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense whose principal function is to locate a situation or event in the present time. The present tense is used for actions which are happening now. In order to explain and understand present ...
form ending in ''-s'', a
past tense The past tense is a grammatical tense whose function is to place an action or situation in the past. Examples of verbs in the past tense include the English verbs ''sang'', ''went'' and ''washed''. Most languages have a past tense, with some ha ...
(also called
preterite The preterite or preterit (; abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense or verb form serving to denote events that took place or were completed in the past; in some languages, such as Spanish, French, and English, it is equivalent to the simple ...
), a
past participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
(which may be the same as the past tense), and a form ending in '' -ing'' that serves as a
present participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived fro ...
and
gerund In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, one that functions as a noun. In English, it has the properties of both verb and noun, such as being modifiab ...
. Most verbs inflect in a simple regular fashion, although there are about 200
irregular verbs A regular verb is any verb whose conjugation follows the typical pattern, or one of the typical patterns, of the language to which it belongs. A verb whose conjugation follows a different pattern is called an irregular verb. This is one instance ...
; the irregularity in nearly all cases concerns the past tense and past participle forms. The copula verb ''be'' has a larger number of different inflected forms, and is highly irregular. For details of the uses of particular verb tenses and other forms, see the article Uses of English verb forms. For certain other specific topics, see the articles listed in the adjacent box.


Inflected forms


Principal parts

A regular English verb has only one
principal part In mathematics, the principal part has several independent meanings, but usually refers to the negative-power portion of the Laurent series of a function. Laurent series definition The principal part at z=a of a function : f(z) = \sum_^\infty a_ ...
, from which all the forms of the verb can be derived. This is the base form or dictionary form. For example, from the base form ''exist'', all the inflected forms of the verb (''exist'', ''exists'', ''existed'', ''existing'') can be predictably derived. The base form is also called the bare
infinitive Infinitive ( abbreviated ) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all languages. The word is de ...
; that is, the infinitive without the ''to''. Most
irregular verbs A regular verb is any verb whose conjugation follows the typical pattern, or one of the typical patterns, of the language to which it belongs. A verb whose conjugation follows a different pattern is called an irregular verb. This is one instance ...
have three principal parts, since the simple past and
past participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
are unpredictable. For example, the verb ''write'' has the principal parts ''write'' (base form), ''wrote'' (past), and ''written'' (past participle); the remaining inflected forms (''writes'', ''writing'') are derived regularly from the base form. Note that some irregular verbs have identical past tense and past participle forms (as the regular verbs do), as with ''send–sent–sent''. The infinitive, simple past and past participle are sometimes referred to as First (V1), Second (V2) and Third (V3) form of a verb, respectively. This naming convention has all but disappeared from American and British usage, but still can be found in textbooks and teaching materials used in other countries. Some speakers have only two forms, collapsing the distinction between V2 and V3, though this is considered non-standard. For most verbs the forms are V1 and V2 (''have they went yet?'', with 'gone' never being used, or ''a corporate-ran company'' rather than ''corporate-run''), but for a few verbs they are V1 and V3 (''I seen it, he done it'', with 'saw' and 'did' not being used). The verbs ''do'', ''say'' and ''have'' additionally have irregular third person singular present tense forms (see
below Below may refer to: *Earth * Ground (disambiguation) *Soil *Floor * Bottom (disambiguation) *Less than *Temperatures below freezing *Hell or underworld People with the surname *Ernst von Below (1863–1955), German World War I general *Fred Below ...
). The copular verb ''be'' is highly irregular, with the forms ''be'', ''am'', ''is'', ''are'', ''was'', ''were'', ''been'' and ''being''. On the other hand, modal verbs (such as ''can'' and ''must'') are defective verbs, being used only in a limited number of forms. For details on the forms of verbs of these types, see below.


Base form

The base form or ''plain form'' of an English verb is not marked by any inflectional ending. Certain derivational
suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carr ...
es are frequently used to form verbs, such as ''-en'' (''sharpen''), ''-ate'' (''formulate''), ''-fy'' (''electrify''), and ''-ise/ize'' (''realise/realize''), but verbs with those suffixes are nonetheless considered to be base-form verbs. Also, many base-form verbs contain
prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy''. Particul ...
es, such ''un-'' (''unmask''), ''out-'' (''outlast''), ''over-'' (''overtake''), and ''under-'' (''undervalue''). Some verbs are formed from nouns and
adjectives In linguistics, an adjective (abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ...
by
conversion Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series * "The Conversion" ...
, as with the verbs ''snare'', ''nose'', ''dry'', and ''calm''. The base form is used in the following ways: *It serves as the bare
infinitive Infinitive ( abbreviated ) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all languages. The word is de ...
, and is used in the ''to''-infinitive (e.g. ''to write''); for uses see below. *It serves as the simple present tense, except in the third person singular: ''I/you/we/they write regularly'' (and except for the copula). *It is used as an imperative: ''Write these words.'' *It is used as a
subjunctive The subjunctive (also known as conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of the utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude towards it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality s ...
: ''I suggested that he write a novel.'' For the verb ''be'', which uses different forms for the simple present, and modal verbs, which are not used in the infinitive, imperative or subjunctive, see below.


Third person singular present

Almost all verbs have a third person singular present indicative form with the
suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carr ...
''- ''. In terms of
spelling Spelling is a set of conventions that regulate the way of using graphemes (writing system) to represent a language in its written form. In other words, spelling is the rendering of speech sound (phoneme) into writing (grapheme). Spelling is on ...
, it is formed in most cases by adding ''-s'' to the verb's base form: ''run'' → ''runs''. However if the base form ends in one of the
sibilant Sibilants are fricative consonants of higher amplitude and pitch, made by directing a stream of air with the tongue towards the teeth. Examples of sibilants are the consonants at the beginning of the English words ''sip'', ''zip'', ''ship'', and ...
sounds (, , , , , ) and its spelling does not end in a silent ''e'', then ''-es'' is added: ''buzz'' → ''buzzes''; ''catch'' → ''catches''. Verbs ending in a consonant plus ''o'' also typically add ''-es'': ''veto'' → ''vetoes''. Verbs ending in a consonant plus ''y'' add ''-es'' after changing the ''y'' to an ''i'': ''cry'' → ''cries''. In terms of
pronunciation Pronunciation is the way in which a word or a language is spoken. This may refer to generally agreed-upon sequences of sounds used in speaking a given word or language in a specific dialect ("correct pronunciation") or simply the way a particular ...
, the ending is pronounced as after
sibilant Sibilants are fricative consonants of higher amplitude and pitch, made by directing a stream of air with the tongue towards the teeth. Examples of sibilants are the consonants at the beginning of the English words ''sip'', ''zip'', ''ship'', and ...
s (as in ''lurches''), as after
voiceless consonant In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, it is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word phonation implies v ...
s other than sibilants (as in ''makes''), and as otherwise (as in ''adds''). These are the same rules that apply to the pronunciation of the regular noun plural suffix ''- '' and the
possessive A possessive or ktetic form ( abbreviated or ; from la, possessivus; grc, κτητικός, translit=ktētikós) is a word or grammatical construction used to indicate a relationship of possession in a broad sense. This can include strict ow ...
''-'s''. The spelling rules given above are also very similar to those for the plural of nouns. The third person singular present of ''have'' is irregular: ''has'' (with the weak form when used as an auxiliary, also contractable to ''-'s''). The verbs ''do'' and ''say'' also have irregular forms, ''does'' and ''says'' , which however look like regular forms in writing. For the verb ''be'', modal verbs and other auxiliaries, see below. The form described in this section is used with third person singular subjects as the simple present tense (in the indicative mood): ''He writes novels all the time.'' (This tense has other uses besides referring to present time; for example, in ''I'll be glad if he writes'', it refers to future time.)


Past tense

The past tense, or
preterite The preterite or preterit (; abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense or verb form serving to denote events that took place or were completed in the past; in some languages, such as Spanish, French, and English, it is equivalent to the simple ...
, may be formed regularly or irregularly. With regular verbs, the past tense is formed (in terms of spelling) by adding ''-ed'' to the base form (''play'' → ''played''). Normal rules for adding suffixes beginning with a vowel apply: If the base form ends in ''e'' then only ''d'' is added (''like'' → ''liked''); if the base form ends in a consonant followed by ''y'' then the ''y'' is changed to ''i'' before adding the ending (''try'' → ''tried''; an exception is the verb '' sky'' (a ball), which can form ''skied'' or ''skyed''). Three words ending in ''-ay'' (''lay'', ''pay'' and ''say'') change ''y'' to ''i'' and add ''-d'' (''laid'', ''paid'', ''said''). Various rules apply for doubling final consonants. If the base form ends in a single vowel followed by a single consonant (except ''h'', silent ''t'', ''w'', ''x'' or ''y''), then unless the final syllable is completely
unstressed In linguistics, and particularly phonology, stress or accent is the relative emphasis or prominence given to a certain syllable in a word or to a certain word in a phrase or sentence. That emphasis is typically caused by such properties as i ...
the consonant is doubled before adding the ''-ed'' (''ship'' → ''shipped'', but ''fathom'' → ''fathomed''). In general this is considered something to keep the vowel before the final consonant short (i.e. if the word were spelled ''shiped'' it would have a long i.) However, there are 2 words, ''control'' and ''patrol'', which follow this rule even though the vowel before the final consonant is long. For most base forms ending in ''c'', the doubled form used is ''ck'', used regardless of stress (''panic'' → ''panicked''; exceptions include ''zinc'' → ''zincked'' or ''zinced'', ''arc'' → usually ''arced'', ''spec'' → ''specced'' or ''spec'ed'', ''sync'' → sometimes ''synched''). In
British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Oxford Dictionaries, "English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadl ...
, the doubling of ''l'' occurs regardless of stress (''travel'' → ''travelled''; but ''paralleled'' is an exception), and when two separately pronounced vowels precede the ''l'' (''dial'' → ''dialled'', ''fuel'' → ''fuelled''). If the final syllable has some partial stress, especially for compound words, the consonant is usually doubled: ''backflip'' → ''backflipped'', ''hobnob'' → ''hobnobbed'', ''kidnap'' → ''kidnapped'' etc. In some cases both alternatives are acceptable, e.g. ''dialog'' → ''dialogued'' or ''dialogged''†, ''hiccup'' → ''hiccupped'' or ''hiccuped'', ''program'' → ''programed''† or ''programmed''. Note however ''catalog'' → ''cataloged''†, ''pyramid'' → ''pyramided'', ''format'' → ''formatted'' (but ''combat'' → ''combat(t)ed''). Other variations not entirely consistent with these rules include ''bus'' → ''bused''† or ''bussed'', ''bias'' → ''biased'' or ''biassed''† and ''focus'' → ''focused'' or ''focussed''. (The forms marked † are not used in British English, and the doubled consonant is not used for many words of non-Anglo-Saxon origin.) The pronunciation of the past tense ending follows similar rules to those for the third person present tense ending described above: if the base form ends in or then a new syllable or is added (as in ''drifted'', ''exceeded''); if the base form ends in an
unvoiced consonant In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, it is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word phonation implies v ...
sound other than then the ending is pronounced (as in ''capped'', ''passed''); otherwise the ending is pronounced (as in ''buzzed'', ''tangoed''). Consequently, in the 17th and 18th centuries, the latter two pronunciations were routinely spelled ''-'d'', but ''-ed'' was later restored. For the past tense of irregular verbs, see
English irregular verbs The English language has many irregular verbs, approaching 200 in normal use—and significantly more if prefixed forms are counted. In most cases, the irregularity concerns the past tense (also called '' preterite'') or the past participle. ...
. Some of these can be classed as
Germanic strong verb In the Germanic languages, a strong verb is a verb that marks its past tense by means of changes to the stem vowel ( ablaut). The majority of the remaining verbs form the past tense by means of a dental suffix (e.g. ''-ed'' in English), and are k ...
s, such as ''sing'' (past ''sang''), while others are weak verbs with irregularly pronounced or irregularly spelt past forms, such as ''say'' (past tense ''said'' ). The verb ''be'' has two past tense forms: ''was'' (first and third person singular) and ''were'' (plural and second person). The past tense (preterite) form is used in what is called the simple past, in sentences such as ''We lit the fire'' and ''He liked to dance''. One of the uses of this tense is to refer not to a past situation, but to a hypothetical (present or future) situation in a
dependent clause A subordinate clause, dependent clause, subclause, or embedded clause is a clause that is embedded within a complex sentence. For instance, in the English sentence "I know that Bette is a dolphin", the clause "that Bette is a dolphin" occurs as th ...
: ''If I knew that, I wouldn't have to ask.'' This is sometimes called the "past subjunctive", particularly in the case of ''were'', which can replace ''was'' in such sentences; see
English subjunctive While the English language lacks distinct inflections for mood, an English subjunctive is recognized in most grammars. Definition and scope of the concept vary widely across the literature, but it is generally associated with the description ...
.


Past participle

The
past participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
of regular verbs is identical to the preterite (past tense) form, described in the previous section. For irregular verbs, see
English irregular verbs The English language has many irregular verbs, approaching 200 in normal use—and significantly more if prefixed forms are counted. In most cases, the irregularity concerns the past tense (also called '' preterite'') or the past participle. ...
. Some of these have different past tense and past participle forms (like ''sing–sang–sung''); others have the same form for both (like ''make–made–made''). In some cases the past tense is regular but the past participle is not, as with ''show–showed–shown''. For uses of the past participle, see below.


Present participle

The
present participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived fro ...
form, which is also used for the
gerund In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, one that functions as a noun. In English, it has the properties of both verb and noun, such as being modifiab ...
, is formed by adding the suffix '' -ing'' to the base form: ''go'' → ''going''. A final silent ''e'' is dropped (''believe'' → ''believing''); final ''ie'' changes to ''y'' (''lie'' → ''lying''), and consonant doubling applies as for the past tense (see above): ''run'' → ''running'', ''panic'' → ''panicking''. Some exceptions include forms such as ''singeing'', ''dyeing'', ''ageing'', ''rueing'', ''cacheing'' and ''whingeing'', where the ''e'' may be retained to avoid confusion with otherwise identical words (e.g. ''singing''), to clarify pronunciation (for example to show that a word has a soft '' g'' or ''ch''), or for aesthetic reasons. In standard English the ending is pronounced , although in many regional dialects the final consonant sound is pronounced , sometimes represented in eye dialect by spellings such as ''huntin (see ''g''-dropping). For uses of the present participle and gerund, see below.


Copular, auxiliary and defective verbs

The copular verb ''be'' has multiple irregular forms in the present tense: ''am'' for first person singular (which together with the subject pronoun is often contracted to ''I'm''), ''is'' for third person singular (often contracted to '' 's''), and ''are'' for plural and second person (often contracted to '' 're'' chiefly after the pronouns ''you'', ''we'', ''they''). It also has two past tense forms: ''was'' for first and third person singular, and ''were'' for plural and second person (also used as a past subjunctive with all persons; see
English subjunctive While the English language lacks distinct inflections for mood, an English subjunctive is recognized in most grammars. Definition and scope of the concept vary widely across the literature, but it is generally associated with the description ...
). The past participle is ''been'', and the present participle and gerund is the regular ''being''. The base form ''be'' is used regularly as an infinitive, imperative and (present) subjunctive. For archaic forms, see the next section. English has a number of
modal verbs A modal verb is a type of verb that contextually indicates a modality such as a ''likelihood'', ''ability'', ''permission'', ''request'', ''capacity'', ''suggestion'', ''order'', ''obligation'', or ''advice''. Modal verbs generally accompany the b ...
which generally do not inflect (most of them are surviving
preterite-present verb The Germanic language family is one of the language groups that resulted from the breakup of Proto-Indo-European (PIE). It in turn divided into North, West and East Germanic groups, and ultimately produced a large group of mediaeval and modern ...
s), and so have only a single form, used as a
finite verb Traditionally, a finite verb (from la, fīnītus, past participle of to put an end to, bound, limit) is the form "to which number and person appertain", in other words, those inflected for number and person. Verbs were originally said to be ''fin ...
with subjects of all persons and numbers. These verbs are ''can'' and ''could'', ''may'' and ''might'', ''shall'' and ''should'', ''will'' and ''would'', as well as ''must'', ''ought (to)'', ''need'' and ''dare'' (when used with a bare infinitive), and in some analyses ''used (to)'' and ''had better''. (The modals ''could'', ''might'', ''should'' and ''would'' are historically the past tense forms of ''can'', ''may'', ''shall'' and ''will'' respectively, though they are not always used as such.) These verbs do not have infinitive, imperative or participle forms, although in some cases there exists a synonymous phrase that can be used to produce such forms, such as ''be able to'' in the case of ''can'' and ''could''. The negation of ''can'' is spelled as a single word, ''cannot''. There are contracted forms '' 'll'' and '' 'd'' for ''will'' and ''would'' (in some cases possibly from ''shall'' and ''should''). Other verbs used as
auxiliaries Auxiliaries are support personnel that assist the military or police but are organised differently from regular forces. Auxiliary may be military volunteers undertaking support functions or performing certain duties such as garrison troops, ...
include ''have'', chiefly in perfect constructions (the forms ''has'', ''have'' and ''had'' can contract to '' 's'', '' 've'' and '' 'd''), and ''do'' (''does'', ''did'') in emphatic, inverted and negated constructions (see ''do''-support). For more detail of the above, including contractions of negated forms (''isn't'', ''won't'', etc.), see
English auxiliaries and contractions English auxiliary verbs are a small set of English verbs, which include the English modal verbs and a few others. Although definitions vary, as generally conceived an auxiliary lacks inherent semantic meaning but instead modifies the meaning of ...
. Another example of a defective verb is ''beware'', which is used only in those forms in which ''be'' remains unchanged, namely the infinitive, subjunctive and imperative.


Archaic forms

Formerly, particularly in the
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...
period, the English language had a far greater degree of verb inflection than it does now (some other
Germanic languages The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, ...
retain a greater variety of inflected forms than English does). Some of the forms used in
Early Modern English Early Modern English or Early New English (sometimes abbreviated EModE, EMnE, or ENE) is the stage of the English language from the beginning of the Tudor period to the English Interregnum and Restoration, or from the transition from Middle E ...
have now fallen out of use, but are still encountered in old writers and texts (e.g.
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
, the
King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of ...
) and in
archaism In language, an archaism (from the grc, ἀρχαϊκός, ''archaïkós'', 'old-fashioned, antiquated', ultimately , ''archaîos'', 'from the beginning, ancient') is a word, a sense of a word, or a style of speech or writing that belongs to a hi ...
s. One such form was the third person singular form with the suffix ''-eth'' , pronounced as a full syllable. This was used in some dialects rather than the modern ''-s'', e.g. ''he maketh'' ("he makes"), ''he runneth'' ("he runs"), ''he goeth'' ("he goes"). In some verbs, a shortened form ''-th'' appears: ''he hath'' ("he has"), ''he doth'' ("he does"; pronounced as if written ''duth''), ''he saith'' or ''he sayeth'' ("he says"). The forms ''hath'' and ''doth'' are found in some proverbs ("
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned ''The Mourning Bride'' is a tragedy written by British playwright William Congreve. It premiered in 1697 at Betterton's Co., Lincoln's Inn Fields. The play centers on Zara, a queen held captive by Manuel, King of Granada, and a web of love and ...
", " The lady doth protest too much"). Another set of forms are associated with the archaic second person singular pronoun '' thou'', which often have the ending ''-est'', pronounced as a full syllable, e.g. ''thou makest'' ("you make"), ''thou leadest'' ("you lead"). In some verbs, a shortened form ''-st'' appears: ''thou hast'' ("you have"), ''thou dost'' ("you do"; rhymes with ''must''). In the case of the verb ''be'', such forms included ''art'' (present tense), ''wast'' (past), ''wert'' (past subjunctive) and ''beest'' (present subjunctive; pronounced as two syllables). In all other verbs, the past tense is formed by the base past tense form of the word (e.g. ''had'', ''did'', ''listened'') plus''-'st'', not pronounced as a full syllable, e.g. ''thou had'st'' ("you had"), ''thou did'st'' ("you did"), ''thou listened'st'' ("you listened"). Modal verbs except ''must'' also have ''-t'' or ''-st'' added to their form, e.g. ''thou canst'' ("you can"), ''thou wilt'' ("you will"), ''thou wouldst'' ("you would"), ''thou mightst'' ("you might"), except ''may'', which is ''thou mayest'' ("you may"). For example, several such forms (as well as other archaic forms such as ''yea'' for "yes", ''thy'' for "your", and ''mine enemies'' for "my enemies") appear in Psalm 23 from the
King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of ...
: : The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. : He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. : He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. : Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. : Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. : Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. For more information see Old English verbs,
English subjunctive While the English language lacks distinct inflections for mood, an English subjunctive is recognized in most grammars. Definition and scope of the concept vary widely across the literature, but it is generally associated with the description ...
, and
Indo-European copula A feature common to all Indo-European languages is the presence of a verb corresponding to the English verb ''to be''. General features This verb has two basic meanings: *In a less marked context it is a simple copula (''I’m tired''; ''That ...
(for the history of the verb ''be'').


Syntactic constructions


Expressing tenses, aspects and moods

Apart from the simple past tense described above, English verbs do not have synthetic (
inflected In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and de ...
) forms for particular tenses, aspects or moods. However, there are a number of periphrastic (multi-word) constructions with verb forms that serve to express tense-like or aspect-like meanings; these constructions are commonly described as representing certain verb tenses or aspects (in English language teaching they are often simply called tenses). For the usage of these forms, see below. More detail can be found in the article Uses of English verb forms.


Simple and progressive

The progressive (or continuous) aspect is expressed with a form of ''be'' together with the present participle of the verb. Thus
present progressive The present continuous, also called the present progressive or present imperfect, is a verb form used in modern English that combines the present tense with the continuous aspect. It is formed by the present tense form of be and the present part ...
(present continuous) constructions take forms like ''am writing'', ''is writing'', ''are writing'', while the past progressive (past continuous, also called '' imperfect'') forms are ''was writing'', ''were writing''. There is a progressive infinitive ''(to) be writing'' and a progressive
subjunctive The subjunctive (also known as conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of the utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude towards it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality s ...
''be writing''. Other progressive forms, made with compound forms of ''be'', are described below. The basic present and past tenses of the verb are called simple present (present simple) and simple past (past simple), to distinguish them from progressive or other compound forms. Thus the simple present of the above verb is ''write'' or ''writes'', and the simple past (also called
preterite The preterite or preterit (; abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense or verb form serving to denote events that took place or were completed in the past; in some languages, such as Spanish, French, and English, it is equivalent to the simple ...
) is ''wrote''.


Perfect

The perfect aspect is expressed with a form of the auxiliary ''have'' together with the past participle of the verb. Thus the present perfect is ''have written'' or ''has written'', and the past perfect (pluperfect) is ''had written''. The perfect can combine with the progressive aspect (see above) to produce the
present perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
(continuous) ''have/has been writing'' and the
past perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
(continuous) ''had been writing''. There is a perfect infinitive ''(to) have written'' and a perfect progressive infinitive ''(to) have been writing'', and corresponding present participle/gerund forms ''having written'' and ''having been writing''. A perfect
subjunctive The subjunctive (also known as conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of the utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude towards it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality s ...
(''have written'') is also sometimes used. Future and conditional perfect forms are given below.


Future and conditional

What is often called the
future tense In grammar, a future tense ( abbreviated ) is a verb form that generally marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future. An example of a future tense form is the French ''aimera'', meaning ...
of English is formed using the auxiliary ''will''. The simple future is ''will write'', the future progressive (continuous) is ''will be writing'', the future perfect is ''will have written'', and the future perfect progressive (continuous) is ''will have been writing''. Traditionally (though now usually in formal English only) ''shall'' is used rather than ''will'' in the first person singular and plural; see ''shall'' and ''will''. The
conditional Conditional (if then) may refer to: *Causal conditional, if X then Y, where X is a cause of Y *Conditional probability, the probability of an event A given that another event B has occurred *Conditional proof, in logic: a proof that asserts a co ...
, or " future-in-the-past", forms are made analogously to these future forms, using ''would'' (and ''should'') in place of ''will'' (and ''shall'').


Expressing passive voice

The
passive voice A passive voice construction is a grammatical voice construction that is found in many languages. In a clause with passive voice, the grammatical subject expresses the ''theme'' or '' patient'' of the main verb – that is, the person or thing ...
in English is normally expressed with a form of the copula verb ''be'' (or sometimes ''get'') together with the past participle of the main verb. In this context ''be'' is not a stative verb, so it may occur in progressive forms. Examples: *''The house was built last year.'' *''The house is being built at the moment.'' *''The house will be built by our firm.'' (a prepositional phrase with ''by'' expresses the performer of the action) *''I was given a blueprint.'' (here the subject of the passive corresponds to the indirect object of the active) *''He was said to know the house's dimensions.'' (special construction related to
indirect speech In linguistics, indirect speech (also reported speech or indirect discourse) is a grammatical mechanism for reporting the content of another utterance without directly quoting it. For example, the English sentence ''Jill said she was coming' ...
) For details, see English passive voice.


Imperatives

Imperatives are expressed with the base form of the verb, normally with no subject: ''Take this outside! Be good!'' It is possible to add the second person pronoun ''you'' for emphasis: ''You be good!'' More details can be found in the article
Imperative mood The imperative mood is a grammatical mood that forms a command or request. The imperative mood is used to demand or require that an action be performed. It is usually found only in the present tense, second person. To form the imperative mood, ...
.


Questions, negation, inversion and emphasis

Questions are formed by
subject–auxiliary inversion Subject–auxiliary inversion (SAI; also called subject–operator inversion) is a frequently occurring type of inversion in English, whereby a finite auxiliary verb – taken here to include finite forms of the copula ''be'' – appears to "inv ...
(unless the interrogative word is part of the subject). If there is otherwise no auxiliary, the verb ''do'' (''does'', ''did'') is used as an auxiliary, enabling the inversion. This also applies to negation: the negating word ''not'' must follow an auxiliary, so ''do'' is used if there is no other auxiliary. Inversion is also required in certain other types of sentences, mainly after negative adverbial phrases; here too ''do'' is used if there is no other auxiliary. The construction with ''do'' as auxiliary is also used to enable emphasis to be added to a sentence. For details of the above constructions, see ''do''-support.


Use of verb forms

This section describes how the verb forms introduced in the preceding sections are used. More detail can be found in the article Uses of English verb forms and in the articles on the individual tenses and aspects.


Finite forms

In referring to an action taking place regularly (and not limited to the future or to the past), the simple present is used: ''He brushes his teeth every morning''. For an action taking place at the present time, the
present progressive The present continuous, also called the present progressive or present imperfect, is a verb form used in modern English that combines the present tense with the continuous aspect. It is formed by the present tense form of be and the present part ...
construction is used: ''He is brushing his teeth now''. With some verbs expressing a present state, particularly the copula ''be'' and verbs expressing a mental state, the present simple is generally used: ''They are here''; ''I know that''. However other state verbs use the present progressive or present simple depending on whether the state is considered temporary or permanent: ''The pen is lying on the table''; ''Paris lies on the Seine''. For past actions or states, the simple past is generally used: ''He went out an hour ago''; ''Columbus knew the shape of the world''. However, for completed actions for which no past time frame is implied or expressed, the present perfect is normally used: ''I have made the dinner'' (i.e. the dinner is now ready). For an action in the course of taking place, or a temporary state existing, at the past time being referred to (compare uses of the present progressive above), the past progressive is used: ''We were sitting on the beach when...'' For an action that was completed before the past time being referred to, the past perfect is used: ''We had sat down on the blanket when...'' For actions or events expected to take place in the future, the construction with ''will'' can be used: ''The president will arrive tomorrow.'' Future events are also often expressed using the '' be going to'' construction: ''She is going to arrive tomorrow.'' Planned events can also be referred to using the present progressive (''She is arriving tomorrow'') or, if precisely scheduled, the simple present (''She arrives tomorrow''). The future progressive and future perfect can be used analogously to the past equivalents: ''We will be sitting on the beach this afternoon''; ''We will have left the house by 4 o'clock''. However, in subordinate clauses expressing a condition or a time reference, present forms are used rather than the forms with ''will'': ''If/When you get'' (not ''will get'') ''there...'' When expressing actions or events lasting up to a specified time, the appropriate perfect construction is used (with the progressive if expressing a temporary state that would generally be expressed with a progressive form): ''We have been having some problems lately''; ''I have lived here for six years''; ''We had been working since the previous evening''; ''We will have been working for twelve hours by the time you arrive''. The use of tense and aspectual forms in condition and conditional clauses follows special patterns; see conditional mood. For use of tenses in
indirect speech In linguistics, indirect speech (also reported speech or indirect discourse) is a grammatical mechanism for reporting the content of another utterance without directly quoting it. For example, the English sentence ''Jill said she was coming' ...
, see
sequence of tenses The sequence of tenses (known in Latin as ''consecutio temporum'', and also known as agreement of tenses, succession of tenses and tense harmony) is a set of grammatical rules of a particular language, governing the agreement between the tenses o ...
. For the use of subjunctive forms, see
English subjunctive While the English language lacks distinct inflections for mood, an English subjunctive is recognized in most grammars. Definition and scope of the concept vary widely across the literature, but it is generally associated with the description ...
.


Non-finite forms

The bare
infinitive Infinitive ( abbreviated ) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all languages. The word is de ...
, identical to the base form of the verb, is used as a complement of most modal verbs and certain other verbs (''I can write''; ''They made him write''; ''I saw you write''), including in negated and inverted sentences formed using ''do''-support (''He doesn't write''; ''Did you write?''). Preceded by ''to'', it forms the ''to''-infinitive, which has a variety of uses, including as a noun phrase (''To write is to learn'') and as the complement of many verbs (''I want to write''), as well as with certain adjectives and nouns (''easy to ride''; ''his decision to leave''), and in expressions of purpose (''You did it to spite me). The past participle has the following uses: *It is used with the auxiliary ''have'' in perfect constructions: ''They have written''; ''We had written before we heard the news''. (With verbs of motion, an archaic form with ''be'' may be found in older texts: ''he is come''.) *It is used as a
passive participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
, with ''be'' or ''get'', to form the
passive voice A passive voice construction is a grammatical voice construction that is found in many languages. In a clause with passive voice, the grammatical subject expresses the ''theme'' or '' patient'' of the main verb – that is, the person or thing ...
: ''This book was written last year''; ''Trees sometimes get gnawed down by beavers.'' *It is used to form passive
participial phrase In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
s, which can be used adjectivally or adverbially (''a letter written on his computer''; ''Beaten to a pulp, he was carried away'') and as complements of certain verbs (''I got my car mended''; ''They had me placed on a list''). *It may be used as a simple
adjective In linguistics, an adjective ( abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ...
: as a passive participle in the case of
transitive verb A transitive verb is a verb that accepts one or more objects, for example, 'cleaned' in ''Donald cleaned the window''. This contrasts with intransitive verbs, which do not have objects, for example, 'panicked' in ''Donald panicked''. Transiti ...
s (''the written word'', i.e. "the word that is written"), and as a perfect active participle in the case of some intransitive ones (''a fallen tree'', i.e. "a tree that has fallen"). The present participle has the following uses: *It is used with forms of ''be'', in progressive (
continuous Continuity or continuous may refer to: Mathematics * Continuity (mathematics), the opposing concept to discreteness; common examples include ** Continuous probability distribution or random variable in probability and statistics ** Continuous g ...
) constructions: ''He is writing another book''; ''I intend to be sitting on the beach''. *It can form
participial phrase In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
s, which can be used adjectivally or adverbially: ''The man sitting over there is drunk''; ''Being a lawyer, I can understand this''; ''I saw her sitting by the tree''. *It can serve as a simple adjective: ''It is a thrilling book.'' The same form used as a gerund has the following uses: *It forms verbal phrases that are then used as nouns: ''Lying in bed is my favorite hobby.'' *It forms similar phrases used as a complement of certain verbs: ''He tried writing novels''. The logical subject of a phrase formed with a gerund can be expressed by a
possessive A possessive or ktetic form ( abbreviated or ; from la, possessivus; grc, κτητικός, translit=ktētikós) is a word or grammatical construction used to indicate a relationship of possession in a broad sense. This can include strict ow ...
, as in ''I do not like'' ''your/Jim's'' ''drinking wine'', although a non-possessive noun or pronoun is often used instead, especially in informal English: ''I do not like'' ''you/Jim'' ''drinking wine''. The latter usage, though common, is sometimes considered ungrammatical or stylistically poor; it is given names like ''fused participle''H.W. Fowler, ''
A Dictionary of Modern English Usage ''A Dictionary of Modern English Usage'' (1926), by Henry Watson Fowler (1858–1933), is a style guide to British English usage, pronunciation, and writing. Covering topics such as plurals and literary technique, distinctions among like word ...
'', 1926
and ''geriple''''Penguin guide to plain English'', Harry Blamires (Penguin Books Ltd., 2000) pp.144-146 since it is seen to confuse a participle with a gerund. For more information see
fused participle In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, one that functions as a noun. In English, it has the properties of both verb and noun, such as being modifiable ...
. Gerund forms are often used as plain verbal nouns, which function grammatically like common nouns (in particular, by being qualified by adjectives rather than adverbs): ''He did some excellent writing'' (compare the gerund: ''He is known for writing excellently''). Such verbal nouns can function, for instance, as
noun adjunct In grammar, a noun adjunct, attributive noun, qualifying noun, noun (pre)modifier, or apposite noun is an optional noun that modifies another noun; functioning similarly to an adjective, it is, more specifically, a noun functioning as a pre-modif ...
s, as in ''a writing desk''.


Objects and complements

Verbs are used in certain patterns which require the presence of specific
argument An argument is a statement or group of statements called premises intended to determine the degree of truth or acceptability of another statement called conclusion. Arguments can be studied from three main perspectives: the logical, the dialecti ...
s in the form of
object Object may refer to: General meanings * Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept ** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place ** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter * Goal, an ...
s and other complements of particular types. (A given verb may be usable in one or more of these patterns.) A verb with a direct object is called a
transitive verb A transitive verb is a verb that accepts one or more objects, for example, 'cleaned' in ''Donald cleaned the window''. This contrasts with intransitive verbs, which do not have objects, for example, 'panicked' in ''Donald panicked''. Transiti ...
. Some transitive verbs have an indirect object in addition to the direct object. Verbs used without objects are called intransitive. Both transitive and intransitive verbs may also have additional complements that are not considered objects. A single (direct) object generally follows the verb: ''I love you''. If there is an indirect object, it precedes the direct object (''I gave him the book''), although an indirect object can also be expressed with a
prepositional phrase An adpositional phrase, in linguistics, is a syntactic category that includes ''prepositional phrases'', ''postpositional phrases'', and ''circumpositional phrases''. Adpositional phrases contain an adposition (preposition, postposition, or ci ...
following the direct object (and this method is usual when the direct object is a personal pronoun): ''I gave the book to John''; ''I bought them for you. Other complements may include prepositional phrases,
non-finite clause In linguistics, a non-finite clause is a dependent or embedded clause that represents a state or event in the same way no matter whether it takes place before, during, or after text production. In this sense, a non-finite dependent clause represe ...
s and
content clause In grammar, a content clause is a dependent clause that provides content implied or commented upon by an independent clause. The term was coined by Danish linguist Otto Jespersen. They are also known as noun clauses. English In English, there ...
s, depending on the applicable verb pattern. These complements normally follow any objects. For example: *''I insist on coming.'' (this use of the verb ''insist'' involves a prepositional phrase with ''on'') *''I expect to arrive tomorrow.'' (this use of ''expect'' involves a to-infinitive phrase) *''I asked him whether he was coming.'' (this use of ''ask'' involves a direct object ''(him)'' and an interrogative content clause) More examples can be found at Verb patterns with the gerund. English has a number of ergative verbs: verbs which can be used either intransitively or transitively, where in the intransitive use it is the subject that is receiving the action, and in the transitive use the direct object is receiving the action while the subject is causing it. An example is ''sink'': ''The ship sank'' (intransitive use); ''The explosion sank the ship'' (transitive use). Other common examples include ''open, sink, wake, melt, boil, collapse, explode, freeze, start, sell''. For more details on how verbs are built up into clauses, see
English clause syntax This article describes the syntax of clauses in the English language, chiefly in Modern English. A clause is often said to be the smallest grammatical unit that can express a complete proposition. But this semantic idea of a clause leaves out ...
.


Phrasal verbs

Many English verbs are used in particular combinations with adverbial modifiers such as ''on'', ''away'', ''out'', etc. Often these combinations take on independent meanings. They are referred to as
phrasal verb In the traditional grammar of Modern English, a phrasal verb typically constitutes a single semantic unit composed of a verb followed by a particle (examples: ''turn down'', ''run into'' or ''sit up''), sometimes combined with a preposition (e ...
s. (This term may also include verbs used with a complement introduced by a particular preposition that gives it a special meaning, as in ''take to (someone)''.) The adverbial particle in a phrasal verb generally appears close after the verb, though it may follow the object, particularly when the object is a pronoun: ''Hand over the money'' or ''Hand the money over'', but ''Hand it over''.


See also

* Conditional sentence *
English grammar English grammar is the set of structural rules of the English language. This includes the structure of words, phrases, clauses, sentences, and whole texts. This article describes a generalized, present-day Standard English – a form of spee ...
*
English irregular verbs The English language has many irregular verbs, approaching 200 in normal use—and significantly more if prefixed forms are counted. In most cases, the irregularity concerns the past tense (also called '' preterite'') or the past participle. ...
*
English modal verbs The English modal verbs are a subset of the English auxiliary verbs used mostly to express modality (properties such as possibility, obligation, etc.). They can be distinguished from other verbs by their defectiveness (they do not have participle ...
* English passive voice * Wiktionary appendix: Irregular English verbs * Northern subject rule * Conversion (word formation) * Uses of English verb forms


Notes


References

*Gilman, E. Ward (editor in chief) ''Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage'' (Merriam-Webster, 1989) * Greenbaum, Sidney. ''The Oxford English Grammar''. (Oxford, 1996) * McArthur, Tom, ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (Oxford, 1992) * * English Verb Forms With Search Bar all verb V1 V2 V3 listed here
Verb Forms

Sequence of Tenses
at the Online Writing Lab at
Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and ...

Modals and auxiliary verbs in EnglishThe English Verb Tense System: A dynamic presentation using the Cuisenaire Rods
*writer williom
Verb Forms
{{DEFAULTSORT:English Verbs English verbs