Glossary of English Grammar Terms

Active VoiceIn the active voice, the subject of the verb does the action (eg They killed the President). See also Passive Voice.

AdjectiveA word like big, red, easy, French etc. An adjective describes a noun or pronoun.

AdverbA word like slowly, quietly, well, often etc. An adverb modifies a verb.

ArticleThe "indefinite" articles are a and an. The "definite article" is the.

Auxiliary VerbA verb that is used with a main verb. Be, do and have are auxiliary verbs. Can, may, must etc are modal auxiliary verbs.

ClauseA group of words containing a subject and its verb (for example: It was late when he arrived).

ConjunctionA word used to connect words, phrases and clauses (for example: and, but, if).

InfinitiveThe basic form of a verb as in to work or work.

InterjectionAn exclamation inserted into an utterance without grammatical connection (for example: oh!, ah!, ouch!, well!).

Modal VerbAn auxiliary verb like can, may, must etc that modifies the main verb and expresses possibility, probability etc. It is also called "modal auxiliary verb".

NounA word like table, dog, teacher, America etc. A noun is the name of an object, concept, person or place. A "concrete noun" is something you can see or touch like a person or car. An "abstract noun" is something that you cannot see or touch like a decision or happiness. A "countable noun" is something that you can count (for example: bottle, song, dollar). An "uncountable noun" is something that you cannot count (for example: water, music, money).

ObjectIn the active voice, a noun or its equivalent that receives the action of the verb. In the passive voice, a noun or its equivalent that does the action of the verb.

ParticipleThe -ing and -ed forms of verbs. The -ing form is called the "present participle". The -ed form is called the "past participle" (for irregular verbs, this is column 3).

Part Of SpeechOne of the eight classes of word in English - noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, preposition, conjunction and interjection.

Passive VoiceIn the passive voice, the subject receives the action of the verb (eg The President was killed). See also Active Voice.

PhraseA group of words not containing a subject and its verb (eg on the table, the girl in a red dress).

PredicateEach sentence contains (or implies) two parts: a subject and a predicate. The predicate is what is said about the subject.

PrepositionA word like at, to, in, over etc. Prepositions usually come before a noun and give information about things like time, place and direction.

PronounA word like I, me, you, he, him, it etc. A pronoun replaces a noun.

SentenceA group of words that express a thought. A sentence conveys a statement, question, exclamation or command. A sentence contains or implies a subject and a predicate. In simple terms, a sentence must contain a verb and (usually) a subject. A sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop (.), question mark (?) or exclamation mark (!).

SubjectEvery sentence contains (or implies) two parts: a subject and a predicate. The subject is the main noun (or equivalent) in a sentence about which something is said.

TenseThe form of a verb that shows us when the action or state happens (past, present or future). Note that the name of a tense is not always a guide to when the action happens.

The "present continuous tense", for example, can be used to talk about the present or the future.

VerbA word like (to) work, (to) love, (to) begin. A verb describes an action or state.

English Parts of Speech

There are thousands of words in any language. But not all words have the same job. For example, some words express "action". Other words express a "thing". Other words "join" one word to another word. These are the "building blocks" of the language. Think of them like the parts of a house. When we want to build a house, we use concrete to make the foundations or base. We use bricks to make the walls. We use window frames to make the windows, and door frames to make the doorways. And we use cement to join them all together. Each part of the house has its own job. And when we want to build a sentence, we use the different types of word. Each type of word has its own job.

We can categorize English words into 8 basic types or classes. These classes are called "parts of speech".

It's quite important to recognize parts of speech. This helps you to analyze sentences and understand them. It also helps you to construct good sentences.

In this lesson, we have an overview of the eight parts of speech, followed by a quiz to check your understanding:

Parts of Speech Table

This is a summary of the 8 parts of speech*. You can find more detail if you click on each part of speech.

part of speech

function or "job" example words example sentences

Verb action or state (to) be, have, do, like, work, sing, can, must

EnglishClub.com is a web site. I like EnglishClub.com.

Noun thing or person pen, dog, work, music, town,

This is my dog. He lives in my house. We live in

Some grammar books categorize English into 9 or 10 parts of speech. At English Club, we use the traditional categorization of 8 parts of speech (see Table for more details).

London, teacher, John

London.

Adjective describes a noun a/an, the, 69, some, good, big, red, well, interesting

My dog is big. I like big dogs.

Adverb describes a verb, adjective or adverb

quickly, silently, well, badly, very, really

My dog eats quickly. When he is very hungry, he eats really quickly.

Pronoun replaces a noun I, you, he, she, some

Tara is Indian. She is beautiful.

Preposition links a noun to another word

to, at, after, on, but We went to school on Monday.

Conjunction joins clauses or sentences or words

and, but, when I like dogs and I like cats. I like cats and dogs. I like dogs but I don't like cats.

Interjection short exclamation, sometimes inserted into a sentence

oh!, ouch!, hi!, well

Ouch! That hurts! Hi! How are you? Well, I don't know.

* Some grammar sources categorize English into 9 or 10 parts of speech. At EnglishClub.com, we use the traditional categorization of 8 parts of speech. Examples of other categorizations are:

Verbs may be treated as two different parts of speech: o Lexical Verbs (work, like, run) o Auxiliary Verbs (be, have, must)

Determiners may be treated as a separate part of speech, instead of being categorized under Adjectives

Parts of Speech Examples »

Parts of Speech Examples

Here are some sentences made with different English parts of speech:

verb

Stop!       

noun verb

John works.       

noun verb verb

John is working.

pronoun verb noun

She loves animals.       

noun verb adjective noun

Animals like kind people.

noun verb noun adverb

Tara speaks English well.       

noun verb adjective noun

Tara speaks good English.

pronoun verb preposition adjective noun adverb

She ran to the station quickly.

pron. verb adj. noun conjunction pron. verb pron.

She likes big snakes but I hate them.

Here is a sentence that contains every part of speech:

interjection pron. conj. adj. noun verb prep. noun adverb

Well, she and young John walk to school slowly.

Words with More than One Job »

Words with More than One Job

Many words in English can have more than one job, or be more than one part of speech. For example, "work" can be a verb and a noun; "but" can be a conjunction and a preposition; "well" can be an adjective, an adverb and an interjection. In addition, many nouns can act as adjectives.

To analyze the part of speech, ask yourself: "What job is this word doing in this sentence?"

In the table below you can see a few examples. Of course, there are more, even for some of the words in the table. In fact, if you look in a good dictionary you will see that the word but has six jobs to do:

verb, noun, adverb, pronoun, preposition and conjuction!

word part of speech example

work noun My work is easy.

verb I work in London.

but conjunction John came but Mary didn't come.

preposition Everyone came but Mary.

well adjective Are you well?

adverb She speaks well.

interjection Well! That's expensive!

afternoon noun We ate in the afternoon.

noun acting as adjective We had afternoon tea.

What are Verbs?

The verb is king in English. The shortest sentence contains a verb. You can make a one-word sentence with a verb, for example: "Stop!" You cannot make a one-word sentence with any other type of word.

Verbs are sometimes described as "action words". This is partly true. Many verbs give the idea of action, of "doing" something. For example, words like run, fight, do and work all convey action.

But some verbs do not give the idea of action; they give the idea of existence, of state, of "being". For example, verbs like be, exist, seem and belong all convey state.

A verb always has a subject. (In the sentence "John speaks English", John is the subject and speaks is the verb.) In simple terms, therefore, we can say that verbs are words that tell us what a subject does or is; they describe:

action (Ram plays football.) state (Anthony seems kind.)

There is something very special about verbs in English. Most other words (adjectives, adverbs, prepositions etc) do not change in form (although nouns can have singular and plural forms). But almost all verbs change in form. For example, the verb to work has five forms:

to work, work, works, worked, working

Of course, this is still very few forms compared to some languages which may have thirty or more forms for a single verb.

In this lesson we look at the ways in which we classify verbs, followed by a quiz to test your understanding:

Verb Classification Helping Verbs Main Verbs

Verb Classification

We divide verbs into two broad classifications:

1. Helping Verbs

Imagine that a stranger walks into your room and says:

I can. People must. The Earth will.

Do you understand anything? Has this person communicated anything to you? Probably not! That's because these verbs are helping verbs and have no meaning on their own. They are necessary for the grammatical structure of the sentence, but they do not tell us very much alone. We usually use helping verbs with main verbs. They "help" the main verb. (The sentences in the above examples are therefore incomplete. They need at least a main verb to complete them.) There are only about 15 helping verbs.

2. Main Verbs

Now imagine that the same stranger walks into your room and says:

I teach. People eat. The Earth rotates.

Do you understand something? Has this person communicated something to you? Probably yes! Not a lot, but something. That's because these verbs are main verbs and

have meaning on their own. They tell us something. Of course, there are thousands of main verbs.

In the following table we see example sentences with helping verbs and main verbs. Notice that all of these sentences have a main verb. Only some of them have a helping verb.

  helping verb   main verb  

John     likes coffee.

You     lied to me.

They     are happy.

The children are   playing.  

We must   go now.

I do not want any.

Helping verbs and main verbs can be further sub-divided, as we shall see on the following pages.

Helping Verbs »

Helping Verbs

Helping verbs have no meaning on their own. They are necessary for the grammatical structure of a sentence, but they do not tell us very much alone. We usually use helping verbs with main verbs. They "help" the main verb (which has the real meaning). There are only about 15 helping verbs in English, and we divide them into two basic groups:

Primary helping verbs (3 verbs)

These are the verbs be, do, and have. Note that we can use these three verbs as helping verbs or as main verbs. On this page we talk about them as helping verbs. We use them in the following cases:

be o to make continuous tenses (He is watching TV.) o to make the passive (Small fish are eaten by big fish.)

Helping verbs are also called "auxiliary verbs".

have o to make perfect tenses (I have finished my homework.)

do o to make negatives (I do not like you.) o to ask questions (Do you want some coffee?) o to show emphasis (I do want you to pass your exam.) o to stand for a main verb in some constructions (He speaks faster than she

does.)

Modal helping verbs (10 verbs)

We use modal helping verbs to "modify" the meaning of the main verb in some way. A modal helping verb expresses necessity or possibility, and changes the main verb in that sense. These are the modal verbs:

can, could may, might will, would, shall, should must ought to

Here are examples using modal verbs:

I can't speak Chinese. John may arrive late. Would you like a cup of coffee? You should see a doctor. I really must go now.

Main Verbs »

Semi-modal verbs (3 verbs)The following verbs are often called "semi-modals" because they are partly like modal helping verbs and partly like main verbs:

need dare

used to

Main Verbs

Main verbs are also called "lexical verbs".

Main verbs have meaning on their own (unlike helping verbs). There are thousands of main verbs, and we can classify them in several ways:

Transitive and intransitive verbs

A transitive verb takes a direct object: Somebody killed the President. An intransitive verb does not have a direct object: He died. Many verbs, like speak, can be transitive or intransitive. Look at these examples:

transitive:

I saw an elephant. We are watching TV. He speaks English.

intransitive:

He has arrived. John goes to school. She speaks fast.

Linking verbs

A linking verb does not have much meaning in itself. It "links" the subject to what is said about the subject. Usually, a linking verb shows equality (=) or a change to a different state or place (>). Linking verbs are always intransitive (but not all intransitive verbs are linking verbs).

Mary is a teacher. (mary = teacher) Tara is beautiful. (tara = beautiful) That sounds interesting. (that = interesting) The sky became dark. (the sky > dark) The bread has gone bad. (bread > bad)

Dynamic and stative verbs

Some verbs describe action. They are called "dynamic", and can be used with continuous tenses. Other verbs describe state (non-action, a situation). They are called "stative", and cannot normally be used with continuous tenses (though some of them can be used with continuous tenses with a change in meaning).

dynamic verbs (examples):

hit, explode, fight, run, go

stative verbs (examples):

be like, love, prefer, wish impress, please, surprise hear, see, sound belong to, consist of, contain, include, need appear, resemble, seem

Regular and irregular verbs

This is more a question of vocabulary than of grammar. The only real difference between regular and irregular verbs is that they have different endings for their past tense and past participle forms. For regular verbs, the past tense ending and past participle ending is always the same: -ed. For irregular verbs, the past tense ending and the past participle ending is variable, so it is necessary to learn them by heart.

regular verbs: base, past tense, past participle

look, looked, looked work, worked, worked

irregular verbs: base, past tense, past participle

buy, bought, bought cut, cut, cut do, did, done

Here are lists of regular verbs and irregular verbs.

One way to think of regular and irregular verbs is like this: all verbs are irregular and the so-called regular verbs are simply one very large group of irregular verbs.

Often the above divisions can be mixed. For example, one verb could be irregular, transitive and dynamic; another verb could be regular, transitive and stative.

Verb Forms

English verbs come in several forms. For example, the verb to sing can be: to sing, sing, sang, sung, singing or sings. This is a total of 6 forms. Not many, considering that some languages (French, for example) have more than 30 forms for an individual verb. English tenses may be quite complicated, but the forms that we use to make the tenses are actually very simple! With the exception of the verb to be, English main verbs have only 4, 5 or 6 forms. To be has 9 forms. Do not confuse verb forms with tenses. We use the different verb forms to make the tenses, but they are not the same thing.

In this lesson we look at the forms of main verbs and helping (auxiliary) verbs, followed by a quiz to check your understanding:

Forms of Main Verbs Forms of Helping Verbs

Forms of Main Verbs

Main verbs (except the verb "be") have only 4, 5 or 6 forms. "Be" has 9 forms.

    V1 V2 V3    

  infinitive base past simple

past participle

present participle

present simple, 3rd person singular

regular (to) work work worked worked working works

irregular

(to) sing(to) make(to) cut

singmakecut

sangmadecut

sungmadecut

singingmakingcutting

singsmakescuts

(to) do*(to) have*

dohave

didhad

donehad

doinghaving

doeshas

infinitive basepast simple

past participle

present participle

present simple

(to) be* bewas, were

been being am, are, is

In the above examples:

to cut has 4 forms: to cut, cut, cutting, cuts to work has 5 forms: to work, work, worked, working, works to sing has 6 forms: to sing, sing, sang, sung, singing, sings

Main verbs are also called "lexical verbs".

to be has 9 forms: to be, be, was, were, been, being, am, is, are

The infinitive can be with or without to. For example, to sing and sing are both infinitives. We often call the infinitive without to the "bare infinitive".

At school, students usually learn by heart the base, past simple and past participle (sometimes called V1, V2, V3, meaning Verb 1, Verb 2, Verb 3) for the irregular verbs. They may spend many hours chanting: sing, sang, sung; go, went, gone; have, had, had; etc. They do not learn these for the regular verbs because the past simple and past participle are always the same: they are formed by adding "-ed" to the base. They do not learn the present participle and 3rd person singular present simple by heart—for another very simple reason: they never change. The present participle is always made by adding "-ing" to the base, and the 3rd person singular present simple is always made by adding "s" to the base (though there are some variations in spelling).

* Note that "do", "have" and "be" also function as helping or auxiliary verbs, with exactly the same forms (except that as helping verbs they are never in infinitive form).

Example Sentences

These example sentences use main verbs in different forms.

Infinitive I want to work He has to sing. This exercise is easy to do. Let him have one. To be, or not to be, that is the question:

Base - Imperative Work well! Make this. Have a nice day. Be quiet!

Base - Present simple(except 3rd person singular)

I work in London. You sing well. They have a lot of money.

Base - After modal auxiliary verbs I can work tomorrow. You must sing louder. They might do it. You could be right.

Past simple I worked yesterday. She cut his hair last week. They had a good time. They were surprised, but I was not.

Past participle I have worked here for five years. He needs a folder made of plastic. It is done like this. I have never been so happy.

Present participle I am working. Singing well is not easy. Having finished, he went home. You are being silly!

3rd person singular, present simple He works in London. She sings well. She has a lot of money. It is Vietnamese.

Forms of Helping Verbs »

Forms of Helping Verbs

All helping verbs are used with a main verb (either expressed or understood*). There are 2 groups of helping verbs:

Primary helping verbs, used mainly to change the tense or voice of the main verb, and in making questions and negatives.

Modal helping verbs, used to change the "mood" of the main verb.

Helping verbs are also called "auxiliary verbs".

Study the table below. It shows the prinicipal forms and uses of helping verbs, and explains the differences between primary and modal helping verbs.

* Sometimes we make a sentence that has a helping verb and seems to have no main verb. In fact, the main verb is "understood". Look at the following examples:

Question: Can you speak English? (The main verb speak is "expressed".) Answer: Yes, I can. (The main verb speak is not expressed. It is "understood"

from the context. We understand: Yes, I can speak English.

But if somebody walked into the room and said "Hello. I can", we would understand nothing!

Helping Verbs

Primary Modal

do(to make simple tenses, and questions and negatives)

can could

be(to make continuous tenses, and the passive voice)

may might

have (to make perfect tenses) will would

 

shall should

must 

ought (to)

"Do", "be" and "have" as helping verbs have exactly the same forms as when they are main verbs (except that as helping verbs they are never used in infinitive forms).

Modal helping verbs are invariable. They always have the same form.

Primary helping verbs are followed by the main verb in a particular form:

do + V1 (base verb) be + -ing (present participle)

have + V3 (past participle)

"Ought" is followed by the main verb in infinitive form. Other modal helping verbs are followed by the main verb in its base form (V1).

ought + to... (infinitive)

other modals + V1 (base verb)

"Do", "be" and "have" can also function as main Modal helping verbs cannot function as

verbs. main verbs

What is Tense?

tense (noun): a form of a verb used to indicate the time, and sometimes the continuation or completeness, of an action in relation to the time of speaking. (From Latin tempus = time).

Tense is a method that we use in English to refer to time—past, present and future. Many languages use tenses to talk about time. Other languages have no tenses, but of course they can still talk about time, using different methods.

So, we talk about time in English with tenses. But, and this is a very big but:

we can also talk about time without using tenses (for example, going to is a special construction to talk about the future, it is not a tense)

one tense does not always talk about one time (see Tense & Time for more about this)

Here are some of the terms used in discussing verbs and tenses.

Mood

indicative mood expresses a simple statement of fact, which can be positive (affirmative) or negative

I like coffee. I do not like coffee.

interrogative mood expresses a question

Why do you like coffee?

imperative mood expresses a command

Sit down!

subjunctive mood expresses what is imagined or wished or possible

The President ordered that he attend the meeting.

Voice

Voice shows the relationship of the subject to the action. In the active voice, the subject does the action (cats eat mice). In the passive voice, the subject receives the action (mice are eaten by cats). Among other things, we can use voice to help us change the focus of attention.

Aspect

Aspect expresses a feature of the action related to time, such as completion or duration. Present simple and past simple tenses have no aspect, but if we wish we can stress with other tenses that:

the action or state referred to by the verb is completed (and often still relevant), for example:   I have emailed the report to Jane. (so now she has the report)(This is called perfective aspect, using perfect tenses.)

the action or state referred to by the verb is in progress or continuing (that is, uncompleted), for example:   We are eating.(This is called progressive aspect, using progressive [continuous] tenses.)

Tense & Time »

Tense & Time

It is important not to confuse the name of a verb tense with the way we use it to talk about time.

For example, a present tense does not always refer to present time:

I hope it rains tomorrow."rains" is present simple, but it refers here to future time (tomorrow)

Or a past tense does not always refer to past time:

If I had some money now, I could buy it."had" is past simple but it refers here to present time (now)

The following examples show how different tenses can be used to talk about different times.

TENSE TIME

past present future

Present Simple  I want a coffee. I leave tomorrow.

She likes coffee.

Present Continuous  I am having dinner.

I am taking my exam next month.

They are living in London.

Present Perfect Simple

I have seen ET. I have finished.  

Present Perfect Continuous

I have been playing tennis.

   

We have been working for four hours.  

Past SimpleI finished one hour

ago.

If she loved you now, she would

marry you.

If you came tomorrow, you would see her.

Past ContinuousI was working at 2am this morning.

   

Past Perfect SimpleI had not eaten for

24 hours.   

Past Perfect Continuous

We had been working for 3

hours.

If I had been working now, I

would have missed you.

If I had been working tomorrow,

I could not have agreed.

Future Simple  Hold on. I'll do it

now.I'll see you tomorrow.

Future Continuous    I will be working at

9pm tonight.

Future Perfect Simple

   I will have finished

by 9pm tonight.

We will have been married for ten years next month.

Future Perfect Continuous

   

They may be tired when you arrive because they will

have been working.

In 30 minutes, we will have been working for four hours.

Basic Tenses

For past and present, there are 2 simple tenses + 6 complex tenses (using auxiliary verbs). To these, we can add 4 "modal tenses" for the future (using modal auxiliary verbs will/shall). This makes a total of 12 tenses in the active voice. Another 12 tenses are available in the passive voice. So now we have 24 tenses.

24 Tenses past present future*

ACTIVE

simple tenses past present future

complex tensesformed withauxiliary verbs

past perfect present perfect future perfect

past continuouspresent continuous

future continuous

past perfect continuous

present perfect continuous

future perfect continuous

PASSIVE

past present future

past perfect present perfect future perfect

past continuouspresent continuous

future continuous

past perfect continuous

present perfect continuous

future perfect continuous

 

Some grammar books use the word progressive instead of continuous. They are exactly the same.

The use of tenses in English may be quite complicated, but the structure of English tenses is actually very simple. The basic structure for a positive sentence is:

subject + auxiliary verb + main verb

An auxiliary verb is used in all tenses. (In the simple present and simple past tenses, the auxiliary verb is usually suppressed for the affirmative, but it does exist for intensification.) The following table shows the 12 tenses for the verb to work in the active voice.

 structure

past present future*auxiliary main verb

simplenormal     I worked I work I will work

intensive do base I did work I do work  

perfect havepast participle

I had worked

I have worked

I will have worked

continuous bepresent participle -ing

I was working

I am working

I will be working

continuous perfect

have been

present participle -ing

I had been working

I have been working

I will have been working

* Technically, there are no future tenses in English. The word will is a modal auxiliary verb and future tenses are sometimes called "modal tenses". The examples are included here for convenience and comparison.

Basic Tenses: Regular Verb

Regular verbs list

This page shows the basic tenses with the regular verb work. It includes the affirmative or positive form (+), the negative form (-) and the interrogative or question form (?).

The basic structure is:

positive: +     subject + auxiliary verb + main verbnegative: - subject + auxiliary verb + not + main verbquestion: ? auxiliary verb + subject + main verb

These are the forms of the main verb that we use to construct the tenses:

base verb past past participle present participle -ing

work worked worked working

 

  past present future

SIMPLEdo + base verb(except future:will + base verb)

+ I did workI worked

I do workI work

I will work

- I did not work I do not work I will not work

? Did I work? Do I work? Will I work?

SIMPLE PERFECThave + past participle

+ I had worked I have worked I will have worked

- I had not worked

I have not worked

I will not have worked

? Had I worked? Have I worked?Will I have worked?

CONTINUOUSbe + ing

+ I was working I am working I will be working

- I was not working

I am not working

I will not be working

? Was I working? Am I working? Will I be working?

CONTINUOUS PERFECThave been + ing

+ I had been working

I have been working

I will have been working

- I had not been working

I have not been working

I will not have been working

? Had I been working?

Have I been working?

Will I have been working?

Regular Verbs List

There are thousands of regular verbs in English. This is a list of 600 of the more common regular verbs. Note that there are some spelling variations in American English (for example, "practise" becomes "practice" in American English).

accept add admire admit advise afford agree

alert

allow amuse analyse announce annoy answer apologise

appear

applaud appreciate approve argue arrange arrest arrive

ask

attach attack attempt attend attract

avoid

back bake balance ban bang bare bat bathe battle

beam

beg behave belong bleach bless blind blink blot blush

boast

boil bolt bomb book bore borrow bounce bow box

brake

brake branch breathe bruise brush bubble bump burn bury

buzz calculate call camp care carry carve cause challenge change charge chase cheat check cheer

chew

choke chop claim clap clean clear clip close coach coil collect colour comb command

communicate

compare compete complain complete concentrate concern confess confuse connect consider consist contain continue copy

correct

cough count cover crack crash crawl cross crush cry cure curl curve

cycle

dam damage dance dare decay deceive decide decorate delay

deliver depend describe desert deserve destroy detect develop disagree

disapprove disarm discover dislike divide double doubt drag drain

dress drip drop drown drum dry

dust

delight disappear dream earn educate embarrass employ empty

encourage

end enjoy enter entertain escape

examine

excite excuse exercise exist expand

expect

explain explode

extend

face fade fail fancy fasten fax fear

fence

fetch file fill film fire fit fix

flap

flash float flood flow flower fold follow

fool

force form found frame frighten

fry

gather gaze glow

glue

grab grate grease

greet

grin grip groan

guarantee

guard guess

guide

hammer hand handle hang happen

harass

harm hate haunt head heal

heap

heat help hook hop hope

hover

hug hum hunt

hurry

identify ignore imagine impress improve

include

increase influence inform inject injure

instruct

intend interest interfere interrupt introduce

invent

invite irritate

itch

jail

jam

jog

join

joke

judge

juggle

jump kick

kill

kiss

kneel

knit

knock

knot

label land last

learn level license

lighten like list

load lock long

laugh

launch

lick

lie

listen

live

look

love man manage march mark marry match

mate

matter measure meddle melt memorise mend

mess up

milk mine miss mix moan moor

mourn

move muddle mug multiply

murder

nail

name

need

nest

nod

note

notice

number obey object

observe

obtain occur

offend

offer open

order

overflow owe

own pack paddle paint park part pass paste pat pause peck pedal peel peep

perform

permit phone pick pinch pine place plan plant play please plug point poke

polish

pop possess post pour practise pray preach precede prefer prepare present preserve press

pretend

prevent prick print produce program promise protect provide pull pump punch puncture punish

push question queue race radiate rain raise reach realise receive recognise record reduce

reflect

refuse regret reign reject rejoice relax release rely remain remember

remind

remove repair repeat replace reply report reproduce request rescue retire

return

rhyme rinse risk rob rock roll rot rub ruin rule

rush

sack sail satisfy save saw scare scatter scold scorch scrape scratch scream screw scribble scrub seal search separate serve settle shade share shave

shelter

shiver shock shop shrug sigh sign signal sin sip ski skip slap slip slow smash smell smile smoke snatch sneeze sniff snore snow

soak

soothe sound spare spark sparkle spell spill spoil spot spray sprout squash squeak squeal squeeze stain stamp stare start stay steer step stir

stitch

stop store strap strengthen stretch strip stroke stuff subtract succeed suck suffer suggest suit supply support suppose surprise surround suspect suspend

switch

talk tame tap taste tease telephone tempt terrify test

thank

thaw tick tickle tie time tip tire touch tour

tow

trace trade train transport trap travel treat tremble trick

trip

trot trouble trust try tug tumble turn twist

type

undress

unfasten

unite

unlock

unpack

untidy

use

vanish visit wail wait walk wander want warm

waste watch water wave weigh welcome

whirl whisper whistle wink wipe wish

work worry wrap wreck wrestle

warn

wash

whine

whip

wobble

wonder

wriggle

x-ray yawn yell zip zoom

Basic Tenses: Irregular Verb

This page shows the basic tenses with the irregular verb sing. It includes the affirmative or positive form (+), the negative form (-) and the interrogative or question form (?).

The basic structure is:

positive: +     subject + auxiliary verb + main verbnegative: - subject + auxiliary verb + not + main verbquestion: ? auxiliary verb + subject + main verb

These are the forms of the main verb that we use to construct the tenses:

base verb past past participle present participle -ing

sing sang sung singing

 

  past present future

SIMPLEdo + base verb(except future:will + base verb)

+ I did singI sang

I do singI sing

I will sing

- I did not sing I do not sing I will not sing

? Did I sing? Do I sing? Will I sing?

SIMPLE PERFECThave + past participle

+ I had sung I have sung I will have sung

- I had not sung I have not sungI will not have sung

? Had I sung? Have I sung? Will I have sung?

CONTINUOUS + I was singing I am singing I will be singing

be + -ing - I was not singing

I am not singingI will not be singing

? Was I singing? Am I singing? Will I be singing?

CONTINUOUS PERFECThave been + -ing

+ I had been singing

I have been singing

I will have been singing

- I had not been singing

I have not been singing

I will not have been singing

? Had I been singing?

Have I been singing?

Will I have been singing?

 

The basic structure of tenses for regular verbs and irregular verbs is exactly the same (except to be). The only difference is that with regular verbs the past and past participle are always the same (worked, worked), while with irregular verbs the past and past participle are not always the same (sang, sung). But the structure is the same! It will help you a great deal to really understand that.

Irregular Verbs List

This is a list of some irregular verbs in English. Of course, there are many others, but these are the more common irregular verbs.

Base Form Past Simple Past Participle

awake awoke awoken

be was, were been

beat beat beaten

become became become

begin began begun

bend bent bent

bet bet bet

bid bid bid

bite bit bitten

blow blew blown

break broke broken

bring brought brought

broadcast broadcast broadcast

build built built

burn burned/burnt burned/burnt

buy bought bought

catch caught caught

choose chose chosen

come came come

cost cost cost

cut cut cut

dig dug dug

do did done

draw drew drawn

dream dreamed/dreamt dreamed/dreamt

drive drove driven

drink drank drunk

eat ate eaten

fall fell fallen

feel felt felt

fight fought fought

find found found

fly flew flown

forget forgot forgotten

forgive forgave forgiven

freeze froze frozen

get got gotten

give gave given

go went gone

grow grew grown

hang hung hung

have had had

hear heard heard

hide hid hidden

hit hit hit

hold held held

hurt hurt hurt

keep kept kept

know knew known

lay laid laid

lead led led

learn learned/learnt learned/learnt

leave left left

lend lent lent

let let let

lie lay lain

lose lost lost

make made made

mean meant meant

meet met met

pay paid paid

put put put

read read read

ride rode ridden

ring rang rung

rise rose risen

run ran run

say said said

see saw seen

sell sold sold

send sent sent

show showed showed/shown

shut shut shut

sing sang sung

sit sat sat

sleep slept slept

speak spoke spoken

spend spent spent

stand stood stood

swim swam swum

take took taken

teach taught taught

tear tore torn

tell told told

think thought thought

throw threw thrown

understand understood understood

wake woke woken

wear wore worn

win won won

write wrote written

Basic Tenses: Be

This page shows the basic tenses with the verb be. It includes the affirmative or positive form (+), the negative form (-) and the interrogative or question form (?).

The basic structure is:

positive: +     subject + auxiliary verb + main verb

negative: - subject + auxiliary verb + not + main verbquestion: ? auxiliary verb + subject + main verb

But for  simple past  and  simple present  tenses, the structure is not the same. In fact, it's even easier. There is no auxiliary verb. Here is the structure:

positive: +     subject + main verbnegative: - subject + main verb + notquestion: ? main verb + subject

These are the forms of the main verb be that we use to construct the tenses:

base past simple past participle present participle present simple

be was, were been being am, are, is

 

  past present future

SIMPLEpresent simple or past simple(except future: will + be)

+  I was   I am  I will be

-  I was not   I am not  I will not be

?  Was I?   Am I?  Will I be?

SIMPLE PERFECThave + been

+ I had been I have been I will have been

- I had not been I have not beenI will not have been

? Had I been? Have I been? Will I have been?

CONTINUOUSbe + being

+ I was being I am being I will be being

- I was not being I am not being I will not be being

? Was I being? Am I being? Will I be being?

CONTINUOUS PERFECT

+ I had been being

I have been being

I will have been being

have been + being - I had not been being

I have not been being

I will not have been being

? Had I been being?

Have I been being?

Will I have been being?

 

In the following table, we see be conjugated for 12 basic tenses.

SIMPLE past present future

singular

I was am will be

you were are will be

he/she/it was is will be

plural

we were are will be

you were are will be

they were are will be

PERFECT past present future

singular

I had been have been will have been

you had been have been will have been

he/she/it had been has been will have been

plural

we had been have been will have been

you had been have been will have been

they had been have been will have been

CONTINUOUS past present future

singular

I was being am being will be being

you were being are being will be being

he/she/it was being is being will be being

plural

we were being are being will be being

you were being are being will be being

they were being are being will be being

CONTINUOUS PERFECT past present future

singular

I had been being have been being will have been being

you had been being have been being will have been being

he/she/it had been being has been being will have been being

plural

we had been being have been being will have been being

you had been being have been being will have been being

they had been being have been being will have been being