Verbs in English have up to five forms: the base form, the third-person singular present form, the simple past form, the present participle, and the past participle. These forms are used in verb conjugation—the way verbs show the properties of voice, mood, tense, person, and number. Regular verbs change form following a predictable pattern, while irregular verb forms have unique patterns.
What are the five verb forms?
Base form (infinitive without “to”)
This is the simplest form of a verb, used in commands, the simple present tense, and infinitives.
Examples: write, walk, eat
Sentence: I like to write every day.
Third-person singular present
For he, she, or it in the simple present tense, -s or -es is added to the base form.
Examples: writes, walks, eats
Sentence: She writes a blog every week.
Simple past
This form describes actions that happened at a specific time in the past. Regular verbs form the simple past by adding -ed. Irregular verbs form the simple past in a variety of ways.
Examples: wrote, walked, ate
Sentence: She wrote a story yesterday.
Present participle (gerund form)
Present participles, formed by adding -ing to a verb’s base form, are used in the continuous tenses and as gerunds (verbs functioning as nouns).
Examples: writing, walking, eating
Sentence: She is writing an article now.
Past participle
The past participle is used in the perfect tenses with a form of the auxiliary verb to have, and in the passive voice with a form of the auxiliary verb to be. For regular verbs, the past participle is identical to the simple past form (the base form with –ed).
Examples: written, walked, eaten
Sentence: She has written three essays this week.
