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 such forms with
auxiliary verbs, such as ''was going'' and ''would have gone''
The uses considered include expression of
tense (time reference),
aspect,
mood and
modality
Modality may refer to:
Humanities
* Modality (theology), the organization and structure of the church, as distinct from sodality or parachurch organizations
* Modality (music), in music, the subject concerning certain diatonic scales
* Modalitie ...
, in various configurations.
For details of how inflected forms of verbs are produced in English, see
English verbs. For the grammatical structure of clauses, including word order, 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 ...
. For certain other particular topics, see the articles listed in the adjacent box. For non-standard dialect forms and antique forms, see individual dialect articles and the article,
thou.
Inflected forms of verbs
A typical English verb may have five different
inflected forms:
*The base form or plain form (''go'', ''write'', ''climb''), which has several uses—as an
infinitive,
imperative, present
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 ...
, and present
indicative except