main verb forms
Main Verb Forms
Verbs have different conjugations (forms).
Here we will talk about three of them: the base form or the infinitive without to, the past simple and the past participle.
For convenience we can call them “verb-1”, “verb-2” and “verb-3” respectively.
Regular Verb Forms
With regular verbs, the past simple (verb-2) and the past participle (verb-3) are formed by “attaching” the suffix -d, -ed or -ied to end of the base form.
|
Past Simple = (Base Form)-d/-ed/-ied Verb-2 = (Verb-1)-d/-ed/-ied |
Examples of Regular Verb forms
1. When the base form of a verb ends in -e, add –d to make its past simples and past participles:
| Base Form (Verb-1) |
Past Simple (Verb-2) |
Past Participle (Verb-3) |
| live | lived | lived |
| like | liked | liked |
| bake | baked | baked |
2. When a base form verb ends in a consonant, add -ed:
| Base Form (Verb-1) |
Past Simple (Verb-2) |
Past Participle (Verb-3) |
| play | played | played |
| watch | watched | watched |
| talk | talked | talked |
3. For base form verbs with one syllable, one vowel and ending in a consonant, double the last letter and add -ed.
| Verb-1 | Verb-2 | Verb-3 |
| mop | mopped | mopped |
| slip | slipped | slipped |
| ban | banned | banned |
4. For base verbs that end in -y following a consonant, remove the -y, and add -ied.
| Verb-1 | Verb-2 | Verb-3 |
| cry | cried | cried |
| dry | dried | dried |
| bury | buried | buried |
Irregular Verbs
Irregular verbs, on the other hand, are…irregular; they must be learned by rote.
| Verb-1 | Verb-2 | Verb-3 |
| eat | ate | eaten |
| swim | swam | swum |
| sleep | slept | slept |
| fly | flew | flown |
| cut | cut | cut |
| read (ri:d) | read (red) | read (red) |
