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."

Table

Overview of tenses for the verb draw:

present participle				drawing
past participle				drew
infinitive	active						passive
	simple			perfect			simple			perfect
	(to) draw			(to) have drawn			(to) be drawn			(to) have been drawn
	progressive			perfect progressive			progressive			perfect progressive
	(to) be drawing			(to) have been drawing			(to) be being drawn			(to) have been being drawn
present	active						passive
	simple			perfect			simple			perfect
	I draw	we draw		I have drawn	we have drawn		I am drawn	we are drawn		I have been drawn	we have been drawn
	you draw	you draw		you have drawn	you have drawn		you are drawn	you are drawn		you have been drawn	you have been drawn
	he draws	they draw		he has drawn	they have drawn		he is drawn	they are drawn		he has been drawn	they have been drawn
	progressive			perfect progressive			progressive			perfect progressive
	I am drawing	we are drawing		I have been drawing	we have been drawing		I am being drawn	we are being drawn		I have been being drawn	we have been being drawn
	you are drawing	you are drawing		you have been drawing	you have been drawing		you are being drawn	you are being drawn		you have been being drawn	you have been being drawn
	he is drawing	they are drawing		he has been drawing	they have been drawing		he is being drawn	they are being drawn		he has been being drawn	they have been being drawn
past	active						passive
	simple			perfect			simple			perfect
	I drew	we drew		I had drawn	we had drawn		I was drawn	we were drawn		I had been drawn	we had been drawn
	you drew	you drew		you had drawn	you had drawn		you were drawn	you were drawn		you had been drawn	you had been drawn
	he drew	they drew		he had drawn	they had drawn		he was drawn	they were drawn		he had been drawn	they had been drawn
	progressive			perfect progressive			progressive			perfect progressive
	I was drawing	we were drawing		I had been drawing	we had been drawing		I was being drawn	we were being drawn		I had been being drawn	we had been being drawn
	you were drawing	you were drawing		you had been drawing	you had been drawing		you were being drawn	you were being drawn		you had been being drawn	you had been being drawn
	he was drawing	they were drawing		he had been drawing	they had been drawing		he was being drawn	they were being drawn		he had been being drawn	they had been being drawn
modal	active						passive
	simple			perfect			simple			perfect
	I will draw	we will draw		I will have drawn	we will have drawn		I will be drawn	we will be drawn		I will have been drawn	we will have been drawn
	you will draw	you will draw		you will have drawn	you will have drawn		you will be drawn	you will be drawn		you will have been drawn	you will have been drawn
	he will draw	they will draw		he will have drawn	they will have drawn		he will be drawn	they will be drawn		he will have been drawn	they will have been drawn
	progressive			perfect progressive			progressive			perfect progressive
	I will be drawing	we will be drawing		I will have been drawing	we will have been drawing		I will be being drawn	we will be being drawn		I will have been being drawn	we will have been being drawn
	you will be drawing	you will be drawing		you will have been drawing	you will have been drawing		you will be being drawn	you will be being drawn		you will have been being drawn	you will have been being drawn
	he will be drawing	they will be drawing		he will have been drawing	they will have been drawing		he will be being drawn	they will be being drawn		he will have been being drawn	they will have been being drawn

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.