Verbs: Basic Forms - English Grammar Today - Cambridge Dictionary

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Verbs: basic forms Grammar > Verbs > Verb forms > Verbs: basic forms from English Grammar Today

Verbs: the three basic forms

Main verbs have three basic forms: the base form, the past form and the -ed form (sometimes called the ‘-ed participle’):

base form: used as the infinitive form, with to or without to (Do you want to come with us? I can’t leave now.) and for the present simple (I always read before I go to sleep every night.) except third person singular, which uses the -s form (She works at the university.)

past form: used for the past simple (He opened the door and went out.)

-ed form: used after auxiliary have and be (I’ve always wanted a piano and I was given one last week.).

How dictionaries show the forms

The base form is normally the form used as a heading in a dictionary. Here is a typical dictionary entry for a verb. The base form is sing, the past form is sang and the -ed form is sung:

sing /sɪŋ/

verb (sang, sung) MAKE MUSIC 1. [I or T] to make musical sounds with the voice, usually a tune with words:

The children sang two songs by Schubert at the school concert.

[source: Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary]

Examples of the three basic forms

When you look up a verb in the dictionary, you will often find the three forms listed together, especially for irregular verbs. Here are some examples (regular verbs are printed in blue; irregular verbs are printed in black).

base form

past simple

-ed form

open

opened

opened

love

loved

loved

watch

watched

watched

swim

swam

swum

go

went

gone

make

made

made

put

put

put

Pronunciation and meaning

Warning:

Some verbs have a similar pronunciation but a different meaning:

We love to just lie on the beach.

Not: We love to just lay on the beach.

Lie/lay/lain is used without an object. Lay/laid/laid must have an object: e.g. I’ll lay the table then we can eat.

Other verbs like this are: affect/effect, bare/bear, fine/find, note/notice, raise/rise.

Warning:

Sometimes a verb is confused with another word which sounds similar but is from a different word class:

I don’t want to lose contact with my school friends.

Not: I don’t want to loose contact with my school friends.

(Lose is a verb. Loose is an adjective, e.g. These shoes are too loose; I need a smaller size.)

Other pairs like this are: advise (verb)/advice (noun), practise (verb)/practice (noun).

Regular verbs

Most verbs in English are regular. Regular verbs add -ing to the base form to make the -ing form, and -ed to the base form to make the past simple and the -ed form.

base form

-ing form

past simple

-ed form

look

looking

looked

looked

listen

listening

listened

listened

play

playing

played

played

work

working

worked

worked

Base forms which end in -e

If the base form already ends in -e (e.g. move, face, like), then -d is added to make the past form and the -ed form. The final -e is not used in the -ing form.

base form

-ing form

past simple

-ed form

move

moving

moved

moved

face

facing

faced

faced

Base forms which end in a consonant plus -y

If the base form ends in a consonant plus -y (e.g. carry, hurry, study, try, worry), then -y changes to -ied to make the past form and the -ed form. The -y ending does not change in the -ing form.

base form

-ing form

past simple

-ed form

study

studying

studied

studied

hurry

hurrying

hurried

hurried

Base forms which end in vowel + single consonant

If the base form ends in a vowel followed by a single consonant and if the last syllable is stressed (e.g. begin, drop, occur, refer, run, shop, stop, transfer), then the consonant is doubled. If the last syllable is not stressed (e.g. benefit, happen, open, order, profit), then the consonant is not doubled. (Stressed syllables are underlined in the table.)

base form

-ing form

past simple

-ed form

commit

committing

committed

committed

develop

developing

developed

developed

prefer

preferring

preferred

preferred

visit

visiting

visited

visited

Vowel + l

The consonant is doubled if the base form ends in a vowel + l, whether the last syllable is stressed or not.

base form

-ing form

past simple

-ed form

travel

travelling

travelled

travelled

control

controlling

controlled

controlled

See also:

  • Spelling

Person, number and tense

Regular verbs all use the same endings to indicate person (first, second or third), number (singular or plural) and tense (present simple or past simple).

Person (first/second/third)

Person relates to the type of subject. I and we indicate the first person, you (singular and plural) indicates the second person and he, she, it, they and noun subjects indicate the third person. Regular verbs have the same form for all persons, but third person singular present simple ends in -s:

I love Japanese food.

My sister lives with two other students.

They worked for a French company based in London.

She arrived at the office around nine o’clock most days.

Number (singular/plural)

Number indicates whether the subject is singular or plural. Regular verbs have the same form for singular and plural, but third person singular present simple ends in -s:

We love historical dramas on TV.

They lived in a huge house in the country somewhere.

He works terribly hard.

He always arrived late.

Tense (present/past)

Tense indicates whether the verb is present or past. The past simple of regular verbs ends in -ed for all persons and numbers:

They loved everything about Australia.

She lived in Spain for a couple of years.

I worked on Saturday so I stayed at home on Monday.

The police arrived within minutes.

Warning:

We always need an e in the -ed form (past simple and -ed form) of regular verbs:

I don’t know what happened at the last meeting.

Not: I don’t know what happend at the last meeting.

Other verbs which are often misspelt in this way are: bother, complain, consider, join, recover, remain.

The -es ending

If the verb ends in -ch, -s, -ss, -sh, -x or -z, then -es is added to make the third person singular present simple.

watch

watches

She watches the news every night at ten o’clock.

pass

passes

Luckily, the bus passes by my house.

wish

wishes

She wishes that she had gone to university.

fix

fixes

My friend, who’s a mechanic, fixes our car for us.

See also:

  • Present simple (I work)

  • Past simple (I worked)

  • Subject–verb agreement

Irregular verbs

Irregular verbs follow the same rules as regular verbs for the present simple but have different forms for the past simple and the -ed form.

Some irregular verbs have the same form for the base, the past simple and the -ed form, e.g. hit, hit, hit; let, let, let; put, put, put.

Some irregular verbs share a form for the past simple and -ed form which is different from the base form, e.g. bring, brought, brought; feel, felt, felt; have, had, had.

Some irregular verbs have a base form which ends in -d and a past simple and -ed form which end in -t, e.g. bend, bent, bent; build, built, built; send, sent, sent; spend, spent, spent.

Some irregular verbs have a different form for the base form, the past simple and the -ed form, e.g. drink, drank, drunk; go, went, gone; take, took, taken.

See also:

  • Irregular verbs

Be

The verb be has different forms for different persons in the present simple and past simple.

base form

present simple

past simple

-ed form

be

I

she, he, it

you, we, they

am

is

are

I, she, he, it

you, we, they

was

were

been

See also:

  • Be

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Word of the Day

reboot

UK /ˌriːˈbuːt/ US /ˌriːˈbuːt/

(of a computer) to switch off and then start again immediately, or to make a computer do this

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Choose your language English (UK) English (US) Español Português 中文 (简体) 正體中文 (繁體) Dansk Deutsch Français Italiano Nederlands Norsk Polski Русский Türkçe Tiếng Việt Svenska Українська 日本語 한국어 ગુજરાતી தமிழ் తెలుగు বাঙ্গালি मराठी हिंदी Contents Adjectives Adjectives: forms Adjectives: order Adjective phrases: functions Adjective phrases: position Adjectives and adjective phrases: typical errors Comparison: adjectives (bigger, biggest, more interesting) Comparison: clauses (bigger than we had imagined) Comparison: comparisons of equality (as tall as his father) As … as Adverbs Adverb phrases Adverbs and adverb phrases: position Adverbs and adverb phrases: typical errors Adverbs: forms Adverbs: functions Adverbs: types Comparison: adverbs (worse, more easily) Fairly Intensifiers (very, at all) Largely Much, a lot, lots, a good deal: adverbs Pretty Quite Rather Really Scarcely Very About Ago Already Always Early Ever Hardly ever, rarely, scarcely, seldom Next No longer, not any longer No more, not any more Now Often Once Soon Still Then Usually Eventually Adverbs as discourse markers (anyway, finally) Adverbs as short responses (definitely, certainly) Afraid Alike Hard Long Only Same, similar, identical Likely and unlikely As well (as) Even Hardly Hopefully Surely Too Ultimately Above or over? Across, over or through? Advice or advise? Affect or effect? All or every? All or whole? Allow, permit or let? Almost or nearly? Alone, lonely, or lonesome? Along or alongside? Already, still or yet? Also, as well or too? Alternate(ly), alternative(ly) Although or though? Altogether or all together? Amount of, number of or quantity of? Any more or anymore? Anyone, anybody or anything? Apart from or except for? Arise or rise? Around or round? Arouse or rouse? As or like? As, because or since? As, when or while? Been or gone? Begin or start? Beside or besides? Between or among? Born or borne? Bring, take and fetch Can, could or may? Classic or classical? Come or go? Consider or regard? Consist, comprise or compose? Content or contents? Different from, different to or different than? Do or make? Down, downwards or downward? During or for? Each or every? East or eastern; north or northern? Economic or economical? Efficient or effective? Elder, eldest or older, oldest? End or finish? Especially or specially? Except or except for? Expect, hope or wait? Experience or experiment? Fall or fall down? Far or a long way? Farther, farthest or further, furthest? Fast, quick or quickly? Fell or felt? Female or feminine; male or masculine? Finally, at last, lastly or in the end? First, firstly or at first? Fit or suit? Following or the following? For or since? Forget or leave? Full or filled? Fun or funny? Get or go? Grateful or thankful? Hear or listen (to)? High or tall? Historic or historical? House or home? How is …? or What is … like? If or when? If or whether? Ill or sick? Imply or infer? In the way or on the way? It’s or its? Late or lately? Lay or lie? Lend or borrow? Less or fewer? Look at, see or watch? Low or short? Man, mankind or people? Maybe or may be? Maybe or perhaps? Nearest or next? Never or not … ever? Nice or sympathetic? No doubt or without doubt? No or not? Nowadays, these days or today? Open or opened? Opportunity or possibility? Opposite or in front of? Other, others, the other or another? Out or out of? Permit or permission? Person, persons or people? Pick or pick up? Play or game? Politics, political, politician or policy? Price or prize? Principal or principle? Quiet or quite? Raise or rise? Remember or remind? Right or rightly? Rob or steal? Say or tell? So that or in order that? Sometimes or sometime? Sound or noise? Speak or talk? Such or so? There, their or they’re? Towards or toward? Wait or wait for? Wake, wake up or awaken? Worth or worthwhile? A/an and the Determiners (the, my, some, this) Determiners and types of noun Determiners: position and order Determiners: typical errors Determiners used as pronouns Every Possession (John’s car, a friend of mine) Such This, that, these, those Whole Nouns Nouns: form Nouns and prepositions Nouns: compound nouns Nouns: countable and uncountable Nouns: forming nouns from other words Nouns: singular and plural Accommodation Equipment Furniture Information Luck and lucky News Progress Weather Noun phrases: dependent words Noun phrases: order Noun phrases: uses Noun phrases: noun phrases and verbs Noun phrases: two noun phrases together Pronouns Each other, one another Everyone, everybody, everything, everywhere It Gender No one, nobody, nothing, nowhere One One and one’s Pronouns: personal (I, me, you, him, it, they, etc.) Pronouns: possessive (my, mine, your, yours, etc.) Pronouns: reflexive (myself, themselves, etc.) Pronouns: indefinite (-body, -one, -thing, -where) Pronouns: one, you, we, they Relative pronouns Questions: interrogative pronouns (what, who) Someone, somebody, something, somewhere That A bit All Any Both Either Enough Least, the least, at least Less Little, a little, few, a few Lots, a lot, plenty Many More Most, the most, mostly Much, many, a lot of, lots of: quantifiers No, none and none of Plenty Some Some and any How What When Where Which Who, whom Whose Why Piece words and group words Comparison: nouns (more money, the most points) Nouns and gender Reported speech: reporting nouns Age Half Holiday and holidays Mind Opinion Promise Reason Sort, type and kind Thing and stuff View Way Work (noun) Prepositions Prepositional phrases Above After, afterwards Against Among and amongst As At At, in and to (movement) At, on and in (place) At, on and in (time) Below Beneath Beyond By During For For + -ing From In front of In spite of and despite In, into Near and near to Of On, onto Over To Under Until With Within Without Collocation Commands and instructions Commentaries Invitations Offers Requests Greetings and farewells: hello, goodbye, Happy New Year Suggestions Telephoning Warnings Dates Measurements Number Time Geographical places Names and titles: addressing people Nationalities, languages, countries and regions Place names Abroad Away and away from Back Inside Nearby Outside Up Politeness Reported speech Reported speech: direct speech Reported speech: indirect speech Sexist language Pronunciation Intonation Politeness Interjections (ouch, hooray) Tags Chunks Ellipsis Headers and tails Hyperbole Vague expressions Downtoners Hedges (just) Substitution All right and alright Please and thank you Here and there Just Kind of and sort of Oh So and not with expect, hope, think, etc. So Yes Anyway Discourse markers (so, right, okay) In fact Okay, OK Well You know You see British and American English Dialect Double negatives and usage Formal and informal language Newspaper headlines Register Slang Standard and non-standard language Swearing and taboo expressions According to Actual and actually Approximations (around four o’clock) At all Else Hear that, see that However, whatever, whichever, whenever, wherever, whoever It’s time May as well and might as well More or less Of course Point of view Apostrophe (’) Apposition Contractions Contrasts Detached impersonal style Internet discourse and text messages It, this and that in paragraphs Paragraphs Punctuation Speech into writing Spelling Such as Past simple (I worked) Past continuous (I was working) Past continuous or past simple? Past simple or present perfect? Used to Past perfect simple (I had worked) Past perfect continuous (I had been working) Past perfect simple or past perfect continuous? Past perfect simple or past simple? Past verb forms referring to the present Past: typical errors Present continuous (I am working) Present perfect continuous (I have been working) Present perfect simple (I have worked) Present perfect simple or present perfect continuous? Present perfect: typical errors Present simple (I work) Present simple or present continuous? Present: typical errors Present verb forms referring to the past Future: will and shall Future: be going to (I am going to work) Future: other expressions to talk about the future Future continuous (I will be working) Future in the past Future perfect continuous (I will have been working here ten years) Future perfect simple (I will have worked eight hours) Future: present continuous to talk about the future (I’m working tomorrow) Future: present simple to talk about the future (I work tomorrow) Future: typical errors Going to Finite and non-finite verbs Imperative clauses (Be quiet!) Infinitives with and without to Infinitive: active or passive? Perfect infinitive with to (to have worked) Verbs: basic forms Verbs: formation Hate, like, love and prefer Hear, see, etc. + object + infinitive or -ing Help somebody (to) do Look forward to Stop + -ing form or to-infinitive Verb patterns: verb + infinitive or verb + -ing? Verb patterns: verb + that-clause Verb patterns: with and without objects Would like Would rather, would sooner Phrasal verbs and multi-word verbs Get passive Have something done Passive: forms Passives with and without an agent Passive: uses Passive: other forms Passive: typical errors Can Could Could, may and might Dare Had better May Might Modality: forms Modality: meanings and uses Modality: tense Modality: other verbs Modality: other modal words and expressions Must Need Ought to Shall Should Will Would Conditionals Conditionals: if Conditionals: other expressions (unless, should, as long as) Conditionals: typical errors If only In case (of) Suppose, supposing and what if Wish Verbs: types Verb phrases Verbs and verb phrases: typical errors Appear Ask and ask for Be Be expressions (be able to, be due to) Come Do Enable Enjoy Explain Get Go Happen Have Have got and have Hope Know Let, let’s Like Look Made from, made of, made out of, made with Make Marry and divorce Matter Mean Miss Prefer Put See Seem Suggest Take Think Want Table of irregular verbs Word classes and phrase classes Word formation Prefixes Suffixes Compounds Abbreviations, initials and acronyms -ish and -y Diminutives (-let, -y and mini-) Hyphens Word order and focus Word order: structures Cleft sentences (It was in June we got married.) Fronting Inversion No sooner Not only … but also And As if and as though As long as and so long as Because, because of and cos, cos of Before But Conjunctions Conjunctions: adding Conjunctions: causes, reasons, results and purpose Conjunctions: contrasting Conjunctions: time Either … or… If In order to Or Since Unless Whereas Whether While and whilst Yet Adjuncts Clauses Clauses: finite and non-finite Clause types Complements Dummy subjects Exclamations Heads Objects Sentences Subjects Subject complements Subject–verb agreement Relative clauses Relative clauses referring to a whole sentence Relative clauses: defining and non-defining Relative clauses: typical errors Neither, neither … nor and not … either Not Neither, neither … nor and not … either Not Forming negative statements, questions and imperatives Negation: two negatives Negative clauses with any, anybody, anyone, anything, anywhere Negation in non-finite clauses Negative prefixes and suffixes Negative adverbs: hardly, seldom, etc. Negation: emphasising Negation of think, believe, suppose, hope Questions: alternative questions (Is it black or grey?) 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