Forming and Using Verb Tenses

Previous Page Next Page

English verb tenses are formed by combining one of the principal forms of a main verb with one or more auxiliary verbs. There are four principal forms: basic or root, present participle, past and past participle.

The basic form (or root) is the form listed in the dictionary, which is generally the first-person singular of the simple present tense (except in the case of the verb to be):

• walk
• paint
• accompany
• drop
• think
• grow
• sing

The infinitive form is a compound verb made up of the preposition to and the basic form:

• to walk
• to paint
• to accompany
• to drop
• to think
• to grow
• to sing

To form the present participle, the suffix ing is generally added to the basic form:

• walking
• painting
• accompanying
• dropping
• thinking
• growing
• singing

Note that the present participle cannot function as a predicate unless it has an auxiliary verb. For example, the word group I walking to the store is an incomplete and ungrammatical sentence, while the word group I am walking to the store is a complete sentence. The present participle is often used as a modifier.

The past tense is a little trickier. If the verb is regular (or weak) add ed, d, or t to the present form. When a basic form ends in y, it is generally changed to i. In many cases the terminal consonant is doubled before adding ed (see Spelling Words with Double Consonants). For example:

• walked
• painted
• accompanied
• dropped
• thought
• grew
• sang

The past participle of regular verbs is usually identical to the past tense, while the past participle of irregular verbs is often different:

• walked
• painted
• accompanied
• dropped
• thought
• grown (past form: grew)
• sung (past form: sang)

Irregular verbs

The past participle and the past tense of irregular verbs are not generally formed by adding (e)d or t. For example, the past tense of the verb break is broke and the past participle is broken.

The following verbs form their past tenses (past and past participle) irregularly:

Verb	Past tense	Past participle
arise	arose	arisen
awake	awoke (or awaked)	awaked (or awoken)
awaken	awakened	awakened
bear (to carry)	bore	borne
bear (to give birth)	bore	born
beat	beat	beaten (or beat)
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
bet	bet	bet
bid (to offer)	bid	bid
bid (to order, invite)	bade	bidden
bind	bound	bound
bite	bit	bitten
bleed	bled	bled
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
breed	bred	bred
bring	brought	brought
burst	burst	burst
buy	bought	bought
cast	cast	cast
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
cling	clung	clung
come	came	come
creep	crept	crept
cut	cut	cut
deal	dealt	dealt
dig	dug	dug
dive	dived (or dove)	dived
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
dream	dreamed (or dreamt)	dreamed (or dreamt)
drink	drank	drunk
drive	drove	driven
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feed	fed	fed
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
flee	fled	fled
fly	flew	flown
forbid	forbade	forbidden
forget	forgot	forgotten
forgive	forgave	forgiven
forsake	forsook	forsaken
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	got (or gotten)
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grind	ground	ground
grow	grew	grown
hang (to suspend)	hung	hung
hang (to execute)	hanged	hanged
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
keep	kept	kept
kneel	knelt (or kneeled)	knelt (or kneeled)
knit	knitted (or knit)	knitted (or knit)
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
leap	leaped (or leapt)	leaped (or leapt)
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
lie	lay	lain
light	lighted (or lit)	lighted (or lit)
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
mistake	mistook	mistaken
overcome	overcame	overcome
pay	paid	paid
prove	proved	proved (or proven)
put	put	put
quit	quit	quit
read	read	read
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
seek	sought	sought
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
set	set	set
shake	shook	shaken
shed	shed	shed
shoot	shot	shot
shrink	shrank (or shrunk)	shrunk
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sink	sank	sunk
sit	sat	sat
slay	slew	slain
sleep	slept	slept
slide	slid	slide
sling	slung	slung
slink	slunk	slunk
speak	spoke	spoken
speed	sped (or speeded)	sped (or speeded)
spend	spent	spent
spin	spun	spun
spit	spit (or spat)	spit (or spat)
split	split	split
spread	spread	spread
spring	sprang (or sprung)	sprung
stand	stood	stood
steal	stole	stolen
stick	stuck	stuck
stink	stank (or stunk)	stunk
strew	strewed	strewn
stride	strode	stridden
strike	struck	struck
string	strung	strung
strive	strove (or strived)	striven (or strived)
swear	swore	sworn
sweep	swept	swept
swell	swelled	swelled (or swollen)
swim	swam	swum
swing	swung	swung
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
thrive	throve (or thrived)	throve (or thriven)
throw	threw	thrown
thrust	thrust	thrust
wake	woke (or waked)	waked (or woken)
weep	wept	wept
win	won	won
wind	wound	wound
wring	wring	wrung
write	wrote	written

Previous Page Next Page