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Verbs in the English language

Verbs constitute one of the main parts of speech (word classes) in the English language. Like other types of words in the language, English verbs are not heavily inflected. Most combinations of tense, aspect, mood and voice are expressed periphrastically, using constructions with auxiliary verbs. Generally, the only inflected forms of an English verb are a third person singular present tense form ending in s, a past tense (also called preterite), a past participle (which may be the same as the past tense), and a form ending in ing that serves as a present participle and gerund. Most verbs inflect in a simple regular fashion, although there are about 200 irregular verbs; the irregularity in nearly all cases concerns the past tense and past participle forms. The copula verb be has a larger number of different inflected forms, and is highly irregular. For details of the uses of particular verb tenses and other forms, see the article Uses of English verb forms. For certain other specific topics, see the articles listed in the adjacent box.

A regular English verb has only one principal part, from which all the forms of the verb can be derived. This is the base form or dictionary form. For example, from the base form exist, all the inflected forms of the verb (exist, exists, existed, existing) can be predictably derived. The base form is also called the bare infinitive; that is, the infinitive without the to. Most irregular verbs have three principal parts, since the simple past and past participle are unpredictable. For example, the verb write has the principal parts write (base form), wrote (past), and written (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 with send–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. 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, or a corporate ran company rather than corporate 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 verbs do, say and have additionally have irregular third person singular present tense forms (see below). The copular verb be is highly irregular, with the forms be, am, is, are, was, were, been and being. On the other hand, modal verbs (such as can and must) are defective verbs, being used only in a limited number of forms. For details on the forms of verbs of these types, see below.

Almost all verbs have a third person singular present indicative form with the suffix [e]s. In terms of spelling, 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 the sibilant sounds (, , , , , ) and its spelling does not end in a silent e, then es is added: buzz → buzzes; catch → catches. Verbs ending in a consonant plus o also typically add es: veto → vetoes. Verbs ending in a consonant plus y add es after changing the y to an i: cry → cries. In terms of pronunciation, the ending is pronounced as /ᵻ//z/ after sibilants (as in lurches), as /s/ after voiceless consonants other than sibilants (as in makes), and as /z/ otherwise (as in adds). These are the same rules that apply to the pronunciation of the regular noun plural suffix [e]s and the possessive 's. The spelling rules given above are also very similar to those for the plural of nouns. The third person singular present of have is irregular: has (with the weak form when used as an auxiliary, also contractable to 's). The verbs do and say also have irregular forms, does and says , which however look like regular forms in writing. For the verb be, modal verbs and other auxiliaries, see below. The form described in this section is used with third person singular subjects as the simple present tense (in the indicative mood): He writes novels all the time. (This tense has other uses besides referring to present time; for example, in I'll be glad if he writes, it refers to future time.)

The past tense, or preterite, 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 in e then only d is added (like → liked); if the base form ends in a consonant followed by y then the y is changed to i before adding the ending (try → tried; an exception is the verb sky (a ball), which can form skied or skyed). Three words ending in ay (lay, pay and say) change y to i and add d (laid, paid, said). Various rules apply for doubling final consonants. If the base form ends in a single vowel followed by a single consonant (except h, silent t, w, x or y), then unless the final syllable is completely unstressed the consonant is doubled before adding the ed (ship → shipped, but fathom → fathomed). In general this is considered something to keep the vowel before the final consonant short (i. e. if the word were spelled shiped it would have a long i.) However, there are 2 words, control and patrol, which follow this rule even though the vowel before the final consonant is long. For most base forms ending in c, the doubled form used is ck, used regardless of stress (panic → panicked; exceptions include zinc → zincked or zinced, arc → usually arced, spec → specced or spec'ed, sync → sometimes synched). In British English, the doubling of l occurs regardless of stress (travel → travelled; but paralleled is an exception), and when two separately pronounced vowels precede the l (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 or dialogged†, hiccup → hiccupped or hiccuped, program → programed† or programmed. However catalog† → cataloged†, pyramid → pyramided, format → formatted (but combat → combat(t)ed). Other variations not entirely consistent with these rules include bus → bused† or bussed, bias → biased or biassed† and focus → focused or focussed. (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 or then a new syllable or is added (as in drifted, exceeded); if the base form ends in an unvoiced consonant sound other than then the ending is pronounced (as in capped, passed); otherwise the ending is pronounced (as in buzzed, 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, see English irregular verbs. Many of these can be classed as Germanic strong verbs, such as sing (past sang), while others are weak verbs with irregularly pronounced or irregularly spelt past forms, such as say (past tense said ). The verb be has two past tense forms: was (first and third person singular) and were (plural and second person). The past tense (preterite) form is used in what is called the simple past, in sentences such as We lit the fire and He liked 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 a dependent clause: If I knew that, I wouldn't have to ask. This is sometimes called the "past subjunctive", particularly in the case of were, which can replace was in such sentences; see English subjunctive.

The past participle of regular verbs is identical to the preterite (past tense) form, described in the previous section. For irregular verbs, see English irregular verbs. Some of these have different past tense and past participle forms (like sing–sang–sung); others have the same form for both (like make–made–made). In some cases the past tense is regular but the past participle is not, as with show–showed–shown. For uses of the past participle, see below.

Many English verbs are used in particular combinations with adverbial modifiers such as on, away, out, etc. Often these combinations take on independent meanings. They are referred to as phrasal verbs. (This term may also include verbs used with a complement introduced by a particular preposition that gives it a special meaning, as in take 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 or Hand the money over, but Hand it over.