Appendix:English verbs

For detailed information about English verbs, see English verbs on WikipediaWikipedia . This appendix entry provides a simple summary.

Regular verbs in English have four forms:

• The base form, for example, listen.
• The third-person singular (he/she/it) present form, for example, listens.
• The present participle (gerund), for example, listening.
• The past form, for example, listened.

Wiktionary entries display these forms in the headword line, for example:

listen (third-person singular simple present listens, present participle listening, simple past and past participle listened)

Many irregular verbs distinguish the past tense (simple past or preterite) from the past participle. See Appendix:English irregular verbs for more information about irregular verbs.

Conjugation of regular verbs in English

English regular verbs follow one of the five rules listed in this table:

Rule	Special inflection	Example verb	Modern forms	Archaic forms
The base form ends with silent e	The -e is omitted when the suffix begins with a vowel	love	loves, loving, loved	lovest, loveth
The base form ends with -y not preceded by a vowel	The -y becomes -ie- when the suffix begins with a consonant or -e-	cry	cries, crying, cried	criest, crieth
The base form ends with a sibilant without silent e	An -e- is inserted if the suffix begins with a sibilant	latch	latches, latching, latched	latchest, latcheth
The base form ends with a single vowel followed by a single consonant	The consonant is often doubled when the suffix begins with a vowel (depending on a complex set of rules)	strut	struts, strutting, strutted	struttest, strutteth
		fathom	fathoms, fathoming, fathomed	fathomest, fathometh
		travel	British: travels, travelling, travelled	travellest, travelleth
			American: travels, traveling, traveled	travelest, traveleth
The base form is not covered by these criteria	none	listen	listens, listening, listened	listenest, listeneth

Example: walk

• Infinitive: to walk
• Present:

  Singular

  First person: I walk

  Second person: you walk (archaic thou walkest or thou walkst)

  Third person: he/she/it/one walks (archaic walketh)

  Plural

  First person: we walk

  Second person: you walk

  Third person: they walk

• Present participle: walking (colloquial walkin' or walkin)
• Simple past: I, you, etc. walked (archaic or poetic walk'd)
• Future: I, you, etc. will walk (formal, dated, emphatic I, you, etc. shall walk)

  Note: In the first person, the form using "shall" at one time was considered the ordinary form, and the form using "will" was considered emphatic, but this distinction is now lost.

• Conditional: I, you, etc. would walk (formal, dated, emphatic I, you, etc. should walk)

  Note: In the first person, the form using "should" at one time was considered the ordinary form, and the form using "would" was considered emphatic, but this distinction is now lost.

• Past participle: walked
• Present subjunctive: I, you, etc. walk (especially in U.S. English), I, you, etc. should walk (especially in British English)
• Imperfective subjunctive: I, you, etc. walked
• Present perfect: I, you, etc. have walked
• Past perfect: I, you, etc. had walked
• Future perfect: I, you, etc. will have walked, (formal, dated, emphatic I, you, etc. shall have walked)
• Conditional perfect: I, you, etc. would have walked, (formal, dated, emphatic I, you, etc. should have walked)
• Imperative:

  First-person plural: let's walk

  Second-person: walk

  Other: let + noun or pronoun + walk

Tense and aspect

Perfect tenses

English forms the perfect tenses with a verb phrase made up of the auxiliary verb have plus the past participle of the main verb (e.g., love).

Verb	Present perfect	Past perfect	Future perfect
love	has/have loved	had loved	will/shall have loved
go	has/have gone	had gone	will/shall have gone

In addition to the regular perfect tenses, English can create other variations with various other auxiliary verbs. The verb phrase in the main clause of the first example could be called a conditional perfect tense:

• "He would have ridden his bicycle if it had not rained."
• "She was about to have gone home." (Or "She was going to have gone home.")
• "They had been going for a swim every Thursday."

Overview of tenses for the verb walk:

infinitive				walk
present participle				walking
past participle				walked
	simple			progressive			perfect			perfect progressive
present	I walk	we walk		I am walking	we are walking		I have walked	we have walked		I have been walking	we have been walking
	you walk	you walk		you are walking	you are walking		you have walked	you have walked		you have been walking	you have been walking
	he walks	they walk		he is walking	they are walking		he has walked	they have walked		he has been walking	they have been walking
past	I walked	we walked		I was walking	we were walking		I had walked	we had walked		I had been walking	we had been walking
	you walked	you walked		you were walking	you were walking		you had walked	you had walked		you had been walking	you had been walking
	he walked	they walked		he was walking	they were walking		he had walked	they had walked		he had been walking	they had been walking
future	I will walk	we will walk		I will be walking	we will be walking		I will have walked	we will have walked		I will have been walking	we will have been walking
	you will walk	you will walk		you will be walking	you will be walking		you will have walked	you will have walked		you will have been walking	you will have been walking
	he will walk	they will walk		he will be walking	they will be walking		he will have walked	they will have walked		he will have been walking	they will have been walking
conditional	I would walk	we would walk		I would be walking	we would be walking		I would have walked	we would have walked		I would have been walking	we would have been walking
	you would walk	you would walk		you would be walking	you would be walking		you would have walked	you would have walked		you would have been walking	you would have been walking
	he would walk	they would walk		he would be walking	they would be walking		he would have walked	they would have walked		he would have been walking	they would have been walking

Irregular verbs

For irregular verbs, see Appendix:English irregular verbs.

Auxiliaries and modal verbs

The auxiliary verb have plus a following past participle indicates the perfect aspect.

I have walked a lot today.

The auxiliary verb be plus a following present participle indicates the continuous aspect

I am walking right now

Modal verbs (such as can, must, would, etc.) occur only once per verb in most varieties of English. Each has a different meaning and they go before have and be, in that order.

He must have been [past participle] walking [present participle] for ages.