| Part of a series on |
| English grammar |
|---|
.svg) |
Verbs constitute one of the mainparts of speech (word classes) in theEnglish language. Like other types of words in the language,English verbs are not heavilyinflected. Most combinations oftense,aspect,mood andvoice are expressedperiphrastically, using constructions withauxiliary verbs.
Generally, the only inflected forms of an English verb are a third person singularpresent tense form ending in-s, apast tense (also calledpreterite), apast participle (which may be the same as the past tense), and a form ending in-ing that serves as apresent participle andgerund. Most verbs inflect in a simpleregular fashion, although there are about 200irregular verbs; the irregularity in nearly all cases concerns the past tense and past participle forms. Thecopula verbbe has a larger number of different inflected forms, and is highly irregular.
Although many of the most commonly used verbs in English (and almost all the irregular verbs) come fromOld English, many others are taken from Latin or French. Nouns or adjectives can become verbs (seeConversion (word formation)). Adjectives like "separate" and "direct" thus became verbs, starting in the 16th century, and eventually it became standard practice to form verbs from Latin passive participles, even if the adjective didn't exist. Sometimes verbs were formed from Latin roots that were not verbs by adding "-ate" (such as "capacitate"), or from French words (such as "isolate" from French "isoler").[1][2]
For details of the uses of particular verb tenses and other forms, see the articleUses of English verb forms.
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| First | I have | We have |
| Second | You have | You have |
| Third | It has | They have |
Aregular English verb has only oneprincipal part, from which all the forms of the verb can be derived. This is the base form ordictionary form. For example, from the base formexist, all the inflected forms of the verb (exist,exists,existed,existing) can be predictably derived. The base form is also called the bareinfinitive; that is, the infinitivewithout theto.
Mostirregular verbs have three principal parts, since thesimple past andpast participle are unpredictable. For example, the verbwrite has the principal partswrite (base form),wrote (past), andwritten (past participle); the remaining inflected forms (writes,writing) are derived regularly from the base form. Some irregular verbs have identical past tense and past participle forms (as the regular verbs do), as withsend–sent–sent.
The infinitive, simple past and past participle are sometimes referred to as First (V1), Second (V2) and Third (V3) form of a verb, respectively. This naming convention has all but disappeared from American and British usage, but still can be found in textbooks and teaching materials used in other countries.[3][4][5][6]
Some speakers have only two forms, collapsing the distinction between V2 and V3, though this is considered non-standard. For most verbs the forms are V1 and V2 (have they went yet?, with 'gone' never being used, ora corporate-ran company rather thancorporate-run), but for a few verbs they are V1 and V3 (I seen it, he done it, with 'saw' and 'did' not being used).
The verbsdo,say andhave additionally have irregular third person singular present tense forms (seebelow). Thecopular verbbe is highly irregular, with the formsbe,am,is,are,was,were,been andbeing. On the other hand,modal verbs (such ascan andmust) aredefective verbs, being used only in a limited number of forms. For details on the forms of verbs of these types, see§ Copular, auxiliary and defective verbs below.
The base form orplain form of an English verb is not marked by any inflectional ending.
Certain derivationalsuffixes are frequently used to form verbs, such as-en (sharpen),-ate (formulate),-fy (electrify), and-ise/ize (realise/realize), but verbs with those suffixes are nonetheless considered to be base-form verbs. Also, many base-form verbs containprefixes, suchun- (unmask),out- (outlast),over- (overtake), andunder- (undervalue).[7] Some verbs are formed from nouns andadjectives byconversion, as with the verbssnare,nose,dry, andcalm.
The base form is used in the following ways:
For the verbbe, which uses different forms for the simple present, and modal verbs, which are not used in the infinitive, imperative or subjunctive, see§ Copular, auxiliary and defective verbs below.
Almost all verbs have a third person singular present indicative form with thesuffix-[e]s. In terms ofspelling, it is formed in most cases by adding-s to the verb's base form:run →runs. However if the base form ends in one of thesibilant sounds (/s/,/z/,/ʃ/,/ʒ/,/tʃ/,/dʒ/) and its spelling does not end in asilente, then-es is added:buzz →buzzes;catch →catches. Verbs ending in a consonant pluso also typically add-es:veto →vetoes. Verbs ending in a consonant plusy add-es after changing they to ani:cry →cries.
In terms ofpronunciation, the ending is pronounced as/ɪz/ aftersibilants (as inlurches), as/s/ aftervoiceless consonants other than sibilants (as inmakes), and as/z/ otherwise (as inadds). These are the same rules that apply to the pronunciation of the regular nounplural suffix-[e]s and thepossessive-'s. The spelling rules given above are also very similar to those for the plural of nouns.
The third person singular present ofhave is irregular:has/hæz/ (with theweak form/həz/ when used as an auxiliary, alsocontractable to-'s). The verbsdo andsay also have irregular forms,does/dʌz/ andsays/sɛz/, which however look like regular forms in writing.
For the verbbe, modal verbs and other auxiliaries, see§ Copular, auxiliary and defective verbs below.
The form described in this section is used with third person singular subjects as thesimple present tense (in theindicative mood):Hewrites novels all the time. (This tense has other uses besides referring to present time; for example, inI'll be glad if he writes, it refers to future time.)
The past tense, orpreterite, may be formed regularly or irregularly.
With regular verbs, the past tense is formed (in terms of spelling) by adding-ed to the base form (play →played). Normal rules for adding suffixes beginning with a vowel apply: If the base form ends ine then onlyd is added (like →liked); if the base form ends in a consonant followed byy then they is changed toi before adding the ending (try →tried; an exception is the verbsky (a ball), which can formskied orskyed). Three words ending in-ay (lay,pay andsay) changey toi and add-d (laid,paid,said).
Various rules apply fordoubling final consonants. If the base form ends in a single vowel followed by a single consonant (excepth, silentt,[citation needed]w,x ory), then unless the final syllable is completelyunstressed the consonant is doubled before adding the-ed (ship →shipped, butfathom →fathomed). In general this is considered something to keep the vowel before the final consonant short (i.e. if the word were spelledshiped it would have a long i.) However, there are 2 words,control andpatrol, which follow this rule even though the vowel before the final consonant is long. For most base forms ending inc, the doubled form used isck, used regardless of stress (panic →panicked; exceptions includezinc →zincked orzinced,arc → usuallyarced,spec →specced orspec'ed,sync → sometimessynched). InBritish English, the doubling ofl occurs regardless of stress (travel →travelled; butparalleled is an exception), and when two separately pronounced vowels precede thel (dial →dialled,fuel →fuelled). If the final syllable has some partial stress, especially for compound words, the consonant is usually doubled:backflip →backflipped,hobnob →hobnobbed,kidnap →kidnapped etc. In some cases both alternatives are acceptable, e.g.dialog† →dialogued ordialogged†,hiccup →hiccupped orhiccuped,program →programed† orprogrammed. Howevercatalog† →cataloged†,pyramid →pyramided,format →formatted (butcombat →combat(t)ed). Other variations not entirely consistent with these rules includebus →bused† orbussed,bias →biased orbiassed† andfocus →focused orfocussed. (The forms marked † are not used in British English, and the doubled consonant is not used for many words of non-Anglo-Saxon origin.)
The pronunciation of the past tense ending follows similar rules to those for the third person present tense ending described above: if the base form ends in/t/ or/d/ then a new syllable/ɪd/ or/əd/ is added (as indrifted,exceeded); if the base form ends in anunvoiced consonant sound other than/t/ then the ending is pronounced/t/ (as incapped,passed); otherwise the ending is pronounced/d/ (as inbuzzed,tangoed). Consequently, in the 17th and 18th centuries, the latter two pronunciations were routinely spelled-'d, but-ed was later restored.
For the past tense of irregular verbs, seeEnglish irregular verbs. Many of these can be classed asGermanic strong verbs, such assing (pastsang), while others are weak verbs with irregularly pronounced or irregularly spelt past forms, such assay (past tensesaid/sɛd/).
The verbbe has two past tense forms:was (first and third person singular) andwere (plural and second person).
The past tense (preterite) form is used in what is called thesimple past, in sentences such asWelit the fire andHeliked to dance. One of the uses of this tense is to refer not to a past situation, but to a hypothetical (present or future) situation in adependent clause:If Iknew that, I wouldn't have to ask. This is sometimes called the "past subjunctive", particularly in the case ofwere, which can replacewas in such sentences; seeEnglish subjunctive.
Thepast participle of regular verbs is identical to the preterite (past tense) form, described in the previous section.
For irregular verbs, seeEnglish irregular verbs. Some of these have different past tense and past participle forms (likesing–sang–sung); others have the same form for both (likemake–made–made). In some cases the past tense is regular but the past participle is not, as withshow–showed–shown.
For uses of the past participle, see§ Non-finite forms below.
Thepresent participle form, which is also used for thegerund, is formed by adding the suffix-ing to the base form:go →going. A finalsilente is dropped (believe →believing); finalie changes toy (lie →lying), and consonant doubling applies as for the past tense (seeabove):run →running,panic →panicking.
Exceptions include forms such assingeing,dyeing,ageing,rueing,cacheing andwhingeing, where thee may be retained to avoid confusion with otherwise identical words (e.g.singing), to clarify pronunciation (for example to show that a word has a softg orch), or for aesthetic reasons.
In standard English the ending is pronounced/ɪŋ/, although in many regional dialects the final consonant sound is pronounced/n/, sometimes represented ineye dialect by spellings such ashuntin' (seeg-dropping).
For uses of the present participle and gerund, see§ Non-finite forms below.
Thecopular verbbe has multiple irregular forms in the present tense:am for first person singular (which together with the subject pronoun is oftencontracted toI'm),is for third person singular (often contracted to 's), andare for plural and second person (often contracted to 're chiefly after the pronounsyou,we,they). It also has two past tense forms:was for first and third person singular, andwere for plural and second person (also used as a past subjunctive with all persons; seeEnglish subjunctive). It has the following negative forms: third person singular presentisn't, other presentaren't (including first person for the questionaren't I), first and third person singular pastwasn't, and other pastweren't.[8] The past participle isbeen, and the present participle and gerund is the regularbeing. The base formbe is used regularly as an infinitive, imperative and (present) subjunctive. For archaic forms, see the next section.
English has a number ofmodal auxiliary verbs which are defective. These verbs mostly have only positive and negative present and past tense formscan/can't/cannot andcould/couldn't,may andmight/mightn't,shall/shan't andshould/shouldn't,will/won't andwould/wouldn't, as well asneed/needn't.Ought andmust are also defective and have only a positive and negative form. In some dialects,dare also has a negative form.[9]
Other verbs used asauxiliaries includehave, chiefly in perfect constructions (the formshas/həz/,have andhad can contract to 's, 've and 'd);do (does,did) in emphatic, inverted and negated constructions (seedo-support).
For more detail of the above, including contractions of negated forms (isn't,won't, etc.), seeEnglish auxiliaries and contractions.
Another example of adefective verb isbeware, which is used only in those forms in whichbe remains unchanged, namely the infinitive, subjunctive and imperative.
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| First | I have | We have |
| Second | Thou hast | Ye have |
| Third | It hath | They have |
Formerly, particularly in theOld English period, the English language had a far greater degree of verb inflection than it does now (some otherGermanic languages retain a greater variety of inflected forms than English does). Some of the forms used inEarly Modern English have now fallen out of use, but are still encountered in old writers and texts (e.g.Shakespeare, theKing James Bible) and inarchaisms.
One such form was the third person singular form with the suffix-eth[əθ], pronounced as a full syllable. This was used in some dialects rather than the modern-s, e.g.he maketh ("he makes"),he runneth ("he runs"),he goeth ("he goes"). In some verbs, a shortened form-th appears:he hath ("he has"),he doth ("he does"; pronounced as if writtenduth),he saith orhe sayeth ("he says"). The formshath anddoth are found in some proverbs ("Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned", "The lady doth protest too much").
Another set of forms are associated with the archaic second person singular pronounthou, which often have the ending-est, pronounced as a full syllable, e.g.thou makest ("you make"),thou leadest ("you lead"). In some verbs, a shortened form-st appears:thou hast ("you have"),thou dost ("you do"; rhymes withmust). In the case of the verbbe, such forms includedart (present tense),wast (past),wert (past subjunctive) andbeest (present subjunctive; pronounced as two syllables). In all other verbs, the past tense is formed by the base past tense form of the word (e.g.had,did,listened) plus-'st, not pronounced as a full syllable, e.g.thou had'st ("you had"),thou did'st ("you did"),thou listened'st ("you listened"). Modal verbs exceptmust also have-t or-st added to their form, e.g.thou canst ("you can"),thou wilt ("you will"),thou wouldst ("you would"),thou mightst ("you might"), exceptmay, which isthou mayest ("you may").
For example, several such forms (as well as other archaic forms such asyea for "yes",thy for "your", andmine enemies for "my enemies") appear inPsalm 23 from theKing James Bible:
For more information seeOld English verbs,English subjunctive, andIndo-European copula (for the history of the verbbe).
Besides the synthetic (inflected) forms described above, there are a number ofperiphrastic (multi-word) constructions with verb forms that serve to express tensed, aspectual or modal meanings; these constructions are commonly described as representing certain verb tenses or aspects (inEnglish language teaching they are often simply called tenses). For the usage of these forms, see§ Use of verb forms below. More detail can be found in the articleUses of English verb forms.
Theprogressive (or continuous) aspect is expressed with a form ofbe together with the present participle of the verb. Thuspresent progressive (present continuous) constructions take forms likeam writing,is writing,are writing, while thepast progressive (past continuous, also calledimperfect) forms arewas writing,were writing. There is a progressive infinitive(to) be writing and a progressivesubjunctivebe writing. Other progressive forms, made with compound forms ofbe, are described below.
Theperfect aspect is expressed with a form of the auxiliaryhave together with the past participle of the verb. Thus thepresent perfect ishave written orhas written, and thepast perfect (pluperfect) ishad written. The perfect can combine with the progressive aspect (see above) to produce thepresent perfect progressive (continuous)have/has been writing and thepast perfect progressive (continuous)had been writing. There is a perfect infinitive(to) have written and a perfect progressive infinitive(to) have been writing, and corresponding present participle/gerund formshaving written andhaving been writing. A perfectsubjunctive (have written) is also sometimes used. Future and conditional perfect forms are given below.
What is often called thefuture tense of English is formed using the auxiliarywill. The simple future iswill write, the future progressive (continuous) iswill be writing, thefuture perfect iswill have written, and the future perfect progressive (continuous) iswill have been writing. Traditionally (though now usually in formal English only)shall is used rather thanwill in the first person singular and plural; seeshall andwill.
Theconditional, or "future-in-the-past", forms are made analogously to these future forms, usingwould (andshould) in place ofwill (andshall).
In the second person, theimperative mood is normally expressed with the base form of the verb but without a subject:Take this outside! Be good! It is possible to add the second person pronounyou for emphasis:You be good! The first person plural is normally expressed with the contractionlet's (let us) and the base form.
More details can be found in the articleimperative mood.
Thepassive voice in English is normally expressed with a form of the copula verbbe (or sometimesget) together with the past participle of the main verb. In this contextbe is not a stative verb, so it may occur in progressive forms. Examples:
For details, seeEnglish passive voice.
Questions are formed bysubject–auxiliary inversion (unless the interrogative word is part of the subject). If there is otherwise no auxiliary, the verbdo (does,did) is used as an auxiliary, enabling the inversion. This also applies to negation: the negating wordnot must follow an auxiliary, sodo is used if there is no other auxiliary.
Inversion is also required in certain other types of sentences, mainly after negative adverbial phrases; here toodo is used if there is no other auxiliary.
The construction withdo as auxiliary is also used to enable emphasis to be added to a sentence.
For details of the above constructions, seedo-support.
This section describes how the verb forms introduced in the preceding sections are used. More detail can be found in the articleUses of English verb forms and in the articles on the individual tenses and aspects.
In referring to an action taking place regularly (and not limited to the future or to the past), thesimple present is used:He brushes his teeth every morning. For an action taking place at the present time, thepresent progressive construction is used:He is brushing his teeth now. With some verbs expressing a presentstate, particularly the copulabe and verbs expressing a mental state, the present simple is generally used:They are here;I know that. However other state verbs use the present progressive or present simple depending on whether the state is considered temporary or permanent:The pen is lying on the table;Paris lies on the Seine.
For past actions or states, thesimple past is generally used:He went out an hour ago;Columbus knew the shape of the world. However, for completed actions for which no past time frame is implied or expressed, thepresent perfect is normally used:I have made the dinner (i.e. the dinner is now ready). For an action in the course of taking place, or a temporary state existing, at the past time being referred to (compare uses of the present progressive above), thepast progressive is used:We were sitting on the beach when... For an action that was completed before the past time being referred to, thepast perfect is used:We had sat down on the blanket when...
For actions or events expected to take place in the future, the construction withwill can be used:The president will arrive tomorrow. Future events are also often expressed using thebe going to construction:She is going to arrive tomorrow. Planned events can also be referred to using the present progressive (She is arriving tomorrow) or, if precisely scheduled, the simple present (She arrives tomorrow). The future progressive and future perfect can be used analogously to the past equivalents:We will be sitting on the beach this afternoon;We will have left the house by 4 o'clock. However, in subordinate clauses expressing a condition or a time reference, present forms are used rather than the forms withwill:If/When you get (notwill get)there...
When expressing actions or events lasting up to a specified time, the appropriate perfect construction is used (with the progressive if expressing a temporary state that would generally be expressed with a progressive form):We have been having some problems lately;I have lived here for six years;We had been working since the previous evening;We will have been working for twelve hours by the time you arrive.
The use of tense and aspectual forms in condition and conditional clauses follows special patterns; seeconditional mood. For use of tenses inindirect speech, seesequence of tenses. For the use of subjunctive forms, seeEnglish subjunctive.
The bareinfinitive, identical to the base form of the verb, is used as a complement of most modal verbs and certain other verbs (I canwrite;They made himwrite;I saw youwrite), including in negated and inverted sentences formed usingdo-support (He doesn'twrite;Did youwrite?).
Preceded byto, it forms theto-infinitive, which has a variety of uses, including as anoun phrase (To write isto learn) and as the complement of many verbs (I wantto write), as well as with certain adjectives and nouns (easyto ride;his decisionto leave), and in expressions of purpose (You did itto spite me).
The past participle has the following uses:
The present participle has the following uses:
The same form used as a gerund has the following uses:
The logical subject of a phrase formed with a gerund can be expressed by apossessive, as inI do not likeyour/Jim'sdrinking wine, although a non-possessive noun or pronoun is often used instead, especially in informal English:I do not likeyou/Jimdrinking wine. The latter usage, though common, is sometimes considered ungrammatical or stylistically poor; it is given names likefused participle[10] andgeriple[11] since it is seen to confuse a participle with a gerund. For more information seefused participle.
Gerund forms are often used as plainverbal nouns, which function grammatically like common nouns (in particular, by being qualified by adjectives rather than adverbs):He did some excellent writing (compare the gerund:He is known for writing excellently). Such verbal nouns can function, for instance, asnoun adjuncts, as ina writing desk.
Verbs are used in certain patterns which require the presence of specificarguments in the form ofobjects and othercomplements of particular types. (A given verb may be usable in one or more of these patterns.)
A verb with a direct object is called atransitive verb. Some transitive verbs have an indirect object in addition to the direct object. Verbs used without objects are calledintransitive. Both transitive and intransitive verbs may also have additional complements that are not considered objects.
A single (direct) object generally follows the verb:I loveyou. If there is an indirect object, it precedes the direct object (I gavehim the book), although an indirect object can also be expressed with aprepositional phrase following the direct object (and this method is usual when the direct object is a personal pronoun):I gave the bookto John;I bought themfor you.
Other complements may include prepositional phrases,non-finite clauses andcontent clauses, depending on the applicable verb pattern. These complements normally follow any objects. For example:
More examples can be found atVerb patterns with the gerund.
English has a number ofergative verbs: verbs which can be used either intransitively or transitively, where in the intransitive use it is the subject that is receiving the action, and in the transitive use the direct object is receiving the action while the subject is causing it. An example issink:The shipsank (intransitive use);The explosionsank the ship (transitive use). Other common examples includeopen, sink, wake, melt, boil, collapse, explode, freeze, start, sell.
For more details on how verbs are built up into clauses, seeEnglish clause syntax.
Many English verbs are used in particular combinations with adverbial modifiers such ason,away,out, etc. Often these combinations take on independent meanings. They are referred to asphrasal verbs. (This term may also include verbs used with a complement introduced by a particular preposition that gives it a special meaning, as intake to (someone).)
The adverbial particle in a phrasal verb generally appears close after the verb, though it may follow the object, particularly when the object is a pronoun:Hand over the money orHand the money over, butHand it over.
