The verb is considered the most important part of speech in English. When forming a sentence in English, the verb must be put in one of its forms, while there are many nuances that must be taken into account.

Verb forms

Forms of verbs in English help to form one or another tense of the language. The use of a verb in one of the existing forms, as well as auxiliary verbs, is one of the most important indicators of tenses.

There are three main forms of verbs in English, as well as two main groups:

Infinitive

Understanding how verbs are formed is essential for anyone studying English. Three forms of the verb begin with the infinitive. The infinitive is the primary form of the verb. Almost all verbs presented in the dictionary (regardless of whether they are correct or not) are always indicated in the infinitive form with the particle to. This form is the simplest, most often it is used without a particle. to in present simple sentences, facts, habits, etc. However, in present simple tense it has certain exceptions. Also, when setting an auxiliary verb from the infinitive, you can form the future indefinite tense.

For instance:

• I live in Paris - I live in Paris (the verb is in the infinitive, present tense).
• I will live in Paris in the next year - I will live in Paris next year (the verb is in the infinitive, the auxiliary verb forms the future tense).

Past Indefinite

This form of the verb is used exclusively for the formation of the past indefinite (simple) tense, but it has its own characteristics. The fact is that all verbs within this form are divided into two groups: regular (Regular) and irregular (Irregular). Therefore, the formation of the past simple tense is different for each specific group.

The algorithm for forming the second form for regular verbs is quite simple: you need to add the ending to the infinitive - ed if the last letter is a consonant.

For verbs that end in a vowel -e, you need to add only the letter - d. For example, the verb live the second form is written as lived.

Verbs that end in -y have a different rule. If the letter -y is preceded by a consonant, -y changes to - i and the ending is added to the word - ed(For example, cry-cry). If there is a vowel before -u, you just need to add the ending to the word - ed(For example, play-played).

Verbs consisting of one word and ending in a consonant also have their own peculiarity. In this case, adding the ending - ed, the last letter will be doubled ( stop - stopped).

Table of forms of English verbs

If Regular Verbs can be easily formed from the infinitive, then the forms of irregular English verbs can only be seen in a special table. It is called the table of irregular verbs, and it contains three columns. In the first column, the verb is in the form of the infinitive, in the second - in the form of the past indefinite (or Past Simple), and in the third - the past participle.

In order to find out how the necessary irregular verb is written in the Past Indefinite form, you need to look at the second column of the table. The table of English verb forms is usually the only place where you can peep the form of an irregular verb. Usually, only the infinitive is indicated in dictionaries, and there is no rule explaining the formation of the 2nd form. That is why this form must be known by heart, or peeped in the table in order to avoid mistakes in word formation.

For instance:

Past Participle (third form)

The past participle is also included in verb forms in English. It helps to form perfect tense forms of verbs with the help of an auxiliary verb to have, as well as passive voice verbs in different tenses thanks to the auxiliary verb to be.

Verbs in this third form are formed depending on whether they are correct or incorrect. So, for example, verbs from the correct group will be absolutely identical with the verbs of the second group. The ending is simply added to them - ed(except for the exceptions mentioned earlier). But irregular verbs can only be seen in the table (in the third column). These irregular verbs are often completely different from either the infinitive or the past form. Such verbs should also be learned by heart.

For instance:

• I have lived in England for 2 years - I have been living in England for 2 years (the regular verb is live in the third form, the auxiliary verb forms the present perfect tense).
• I have gone in England three times - I went to England three times (irregular verb go in the third form, the auxiliary verb forms the present perfect tense)
• I had lived in England for 2 years - I lived in England for 2 years (the regular verb is live in the third form, the auxiliary verb forms the past perfect tense).
• The door was opened- The door was open (the correct verb is open in the third form, the auxiliary verb forms a passive voice).

English: 3 verb forms or 4

Recently, linguists have begun to distinguish not 3, but 4 forms of verbs in English. The fourth form is considered to be the present participle. It is formed by the end -ing, which must be attached to the infinitive of the verb ( go - going). Some scholars rank this form among the main ones, some do not, but it occupies a very important place in the education of the times of the English language. This form is used to form continuous sentences.

There are also some nuances in the formation of the fourth form. For example, verbs ending in the letter -e lose it and the ending is added to them - ing (write - writing).

For verbs ending in the letter combination -ie, you need to change it to -y and add the ending - ing (die - dying).

The final letter l will always be doubled to form the fourth form ( travel-traveling).

In a stressed last syllable, the consonant will be doubled if it is preceded by a single vowel ( win-winning).

For instance:

• I am doing my exercise right now - I am doing my exercises right now (irregular do in the fourth form, the auxiliary verb forms the present continuous tense)

• I am playing the piano at the moment - At the moment I am playing the piano (the correct verb is play in the fourth form, the auxiliary verb forms the present continuous tense).

Learning English is impossible without covering this topic.

Verb- this is an independent part of speech that answers the questions what to do ?, what to do? (be, learn, dream, go…)

According to the method of formation of the forms of the past tense (V2) and the past participle (V3), all English verbs are divided into 2 groups: regular (Regular Verbs) and irregular verbs (Irregular verbs).

The English verb has three forms. The verb forms are denoted by Roman numerals I, II, III.

I form(or an infinitive without to), for example: to make (to do) - make - the first, or main form that answers the question what to do ?, what to do? With the help of the first form of the verb, the Present Simple Tense is formed. When forming Present Simple Tense, the ending is added to the I form of the verb in the 3rd person singular (he, she, it - he, she, it) -s or -es(he jumpes, she jumpes, it jumpes, he cries, she cries, it cries, he does, she does, it does) . With the rest of the pronouns (I, we, you, you, they - I, we, you, you, they), the I form of the verb is used unchanged.

II form serves to form the simple past tense (Past Simple Tense). When forming the simple past tense, both regular and irregular verbs are used. Regular verbs form II and III forms by adding the suffix form I to the stem –ed(jump - jumped - jump - jumped) . If the verb is not regular, then its past tense form corresponds to the second column in the table of irregular verbs (be - was / were, do - did, make - made).

III form- Participle II (Participle II) - a special form of the verb that denotes a sign of an object by action and answers the questions of an adjective (lost, baked, done). For regular verbs III, the form coincides with II: jump (I) - jumped (II) - jumped (III) (jump - jumped - jumped). II and III forms of irregular verbs can be formed in various ways, indicated below.

Regular verbs

Regular verbs form II and III forms by adding the suffix form I to the stem – ed (- d), which is pronounced like:

• [ d] after vowels and voiced consonants: to clean (clean) - cleaned (cleaned); to play (play) - played (played);
• [ t] after the deaf: to work (work) - worked (worked), to look (watch) - looked (looked);
• after [d] and [t]: to want (want) - wanted (wanted), to mend (repair) - mended (repaired).

When forming II and III forms of verbs, pay attention to the following spelling rules:

• If the I form is a short root syllable and ends with one consonant, then when adding the ending –ed the last vowel of the root is doubled: to stop (stop) - sto pped(has stopped).
• -y, preceded by a consonant, the letter y changes to i: to carry (carry) - carried (carried), to study (learn) - studied (studied). But if the stem of the verb ends in -y, which is preceded by a vowel, then the stem of the verb is simply added - ed: to play (play) - played (played), to stay (stay) - stayed (stayed).
• If the stem of the verb ends in -e, which is not pronounced, then the II and III forms of the verb are formed by adding the ending - d: to arrive (arrive) - arrived (arrived).

Irregular Verbs

Irregular Verbs- these are verbs that have special, fixed forms of the past tense and participles, their forms do not have a clear education algorithm and are learned by memorizing: to make (to do) - made (done) - made (done). Most English irregular verbs are native English, derived from verbs that existed in Old English. Most irregular verbs exist as remnants of historical systems of conjugation (changing the verb by person - I'm coming, you're coming, he's coming...).

Irregular verbs are used to form the past simple (Past Simple), the present perfect (Present Simple), the past perfect tense (Past Perfect), in the passive voice (Passive voice), when converting direct speech into indirect (Reported speech), in conditional sentences ( conditional sentences).

table of irregular verbs

How to remember forms of irregular verbs?

Regular and irregular verbs

The use of irregular and regular verbs in English

The verb (Verb) is one of the main parts of speech in the English language, which names an action and a state. In connection with the formation of Past Simple (simple past tense) and Participle II (participle II), historically it was necessary to create a typology of verbs in which one could divide them into two types, denoting verbs that form the past tense with and without the ending -ed . There are many verbs in the English language, most of them are verbs that do not form the past tense according to the rules.

Let's look at the difference between regular and irregular verbs.

Using the correct verbs

So, regular (regular verbs) are verbs, to the stems of which the ending -ed is added to form the past tense and participle II of the English language:

walk - walked - walk
pass - passed - pass
sail - sailed - swim

A few points should be clarified:

When a word ends in -e, you just need to add the letter d, not -ed:

love - loved - to love
dance - danced - dance

When a word ends with a dull or hissing sound, then -ed is pronounced like [t]:

watch - watched - watch
finish - finished - finish
help - helped - help

Deaf and hissing sounds in a one-syllable word will be doubled:

beg - begged - ask
crap - crapped - spoil

But when the word ends in a voiced or vowel, then -ed will sound like [d]:

live - lived - live
clean - cleaned - clean

If a word ends in -y preceded by a consonant, then y will change to i:

copy - copied - copy

When y is preceded by a vowel, no change occurs:

play - played - play
stay - stayed - stay

In the event that the word ends with the letters t or d, then -ed is pronounced like:

dent - dented - press in

So, the use of regular verbs does not cause difficulties, since the rules are not complicated and understandable to everyone.

Use of irregular verbs

All irregular verbs (Irregular Verbs) do not obey the rule of formation of Past Simple and Participle II with the ending -ed, each of them needs to be memorized. A significant part of the verbs of the English language are irregular, but they are the most common and used. There is a whole list of these verbs, which can be found in any dictionary or educational book. But all these verbs must be learned by heart. Here are some forms of irregular English verbs:

shake-shake-shaken
put - put - put
understand - understood - understood

Knowledge of such verbs is mandatory, because they are very often used.

What is the difference between life and live in English?

Here you can find out what is the difference between the English words life and live.

The words life and live are the same root and are associated with "life". Despite not external similarity, they are used in different ways and refer to different parts of speech. The word life is the noun "life" and live is the verb "to live". Let's look at a few examples:

Is there life on other planets? - Is there life on other planets?
Her life was filled with joy. Her life was filled with joy.
Have you ever lived in that flat? - Have you ever lived in that apartment?
Tom wants to live on the isolated island. Tom wants to live on a distant island.

The difference between the words life is especially clearly visible. and live, as different parts of speech, in the following examples:

The movie stars live a life of luxury. - Movie stars live in luxury.
Living a life of peace and harmony - that's what he wanted. - To live in peace and harmony - that's all he wanted.

Unlike the word life, live can sometimes be an adjective meaning "live, real, live, live." For instance:

We watched the live coverage of the Formula 1. - We watched live broadcast Formulas 1.
They saw a live rattlesnake in the mountains. - They saw live (real) rattlesnake in the mountains.

Not the last role in the difference between the words life and live plays the pronunciation. The verb live is pronounced like , and the noun life like .

The word live is found in many English proverbs. For instance:

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. - Do not judge people, but notice yourself.
Live not to eat, but eat to live. - There is a lot - not a great honor.

English is the language of exceptions, where when studying a new grammatical rule, students are faced with a dozen buts in which this rule does not work. One of these rules is the use of irregular verbs in the past tense. For many English learners, this topic is a nightmare. But without them it is impossible, because these are the realities of English! However, there is good news - modern English is gradually getting rid of irregular verbs, replacing them with regular ones. Why and how - we will consider in the article.

Why are English verbs irregular?

The difficulty in using irregular verbs is experienced not only by foreigners, but also by the speakers themselves. Nevertheless, for English philologists, the non-standard nature of this part of speech is not a drawback, but a reason for pride. They believe that irregular verbs are a cultural monument that perpetuates the history of the English language. The explanation for this fact is the Germanic roots of the origin of irregular verbs, which makes British English a traditional variant of the language. For comparison, the Americans are trying with might and main to get rid of the wrong form, converting it into the correct one. Therefore, the list of non-standard verbs increases for those who learn both variants of the language. Thus, the incorrect version is ancient, which is reflected in prose and poetry.

How many forms does a verb have in English?

Speaking about verbs in English, it should be noted that they have 3 forms:

• infinitive, aka ;
• I, or Participle I, - this form is used in the simple past tense (Past Simple) and the 2nd and 3rd cases of the conditional mood (Conditional of the 2-d and of the 3-d case);
• Past Participle II, or Participle II, for Past Perfect, Passive Voice and Conditional of the 3-d case.

The table "Three in English" is presented later in the article.

What are regular and irregular verbs? Education rules

Regular verbs are those in which the past form (Past Simple) and the form Participle II (Participle II) are formed by adding the ending -ed to the initial form. The table "Three forms of the verb in English. Regular verbs" will help you better understand this rule.

When forming the forms Participle I and Participle II, there are some features:

• if the verb ends with the letter -e, then adding -ed does not double it;
• the consonant in monosyllabic verbs is duplicated when added. Example: stop - stopped (stop - stopped);
• if the verb ends in -y followed by a consonant, then y is changed to i before adding -ed.

Irregular verbs are those that do not obey the general rule when forming temporary forms. In English, these include the simple past tense verb forms (Past Simple) and Participle II (Participle II).

Irregular verbs are formed with:

ablaut, in which the root is changed. Example: swim - swam - swum (swim - swam - swam);

the use of suffixes that are different from those accepted in the grammar of the language. Example: do - did - done (do - did - did);

the same or unchanged form. Example: cut - cut - cut (cut - cut - cut).

Due to the fact that each irregular verb has its own form of change, they should be learned by heart.

In total, there are 218 irregular verbs in English, of which approximately 195 are in active use.

Recent studies in the field of language show that rare verbs are gradually disappearing from the language due to the replacement of the 2nd and 3rd forms with regular verb forms, that is, the addition of the ending - ed. This fact is confirmed by the table "Three forms of the verb in English" - the table represents a number of verbs that have both regular and irregular forms.

table of irregular verbs

The table "Three forms of irregular verbs in English" includes the most frequently used verbs. The table shows 3 forms and a translation.

Irregular verbs came into modern English from Old English, which was spoken by the Angles and Saxons - British tribes.

Irregular verbs originated from the so-called strong verbs, each of which had its own type of conjugation.

Harvard researchers found that most of the verbs used are irregular, and they will remain so, as they are used more often than others.

In the history of the English language there is such a phenomenon when the correct verb became irregular. For example, sneak, which has 2 forms - sneaked and snuck.

Not only English learners have problems with verbs, but also native speakers, as even they get into awkward situations when it comes to this difficult part of speech.

One of them is Jennifer Garner, who has been sure all her life that the verb sneak is correct.

She was corrected by the host of one of the programs in which the actress took part. Dictionary in hand, he pointed out to Jennifer her mistake.

Therefore, do not be upset if you make mistakes when using irregular verbs. The main thing is that they do not become systematic.

Regular verbs

The table "Three forms of regular verbs in English with transcription and translation" is compiled on the basis of the most commonly used verbs.

Examples of the use of 3 forms of verbs with translation

Above we looked at 3 forms of verbs in English. A table with examples of usage and translation will help reinforce the topic.

Here, for each grammatical construction, two examples are given - one with regular, the other with irregular verbs.

Exercises

For better memorization of irregular verbs, you need not only to learn them by heart and repeat, but also to perform various exercises.

Exercise 1. Before you is a table "Three forms of the verb in English. Irregular verbs." Fill in one of the three missing forms.

Exercise 2. Before you is a table "Three forms of the verb in English. Regular verbs." Insert forms Participle I and II.

Exercise 3. Using the tables, translate the following sentences into English.

1. I was reading a book.
2. We saw them yesterday.
3. The Smiths lived in London until 2000. Then they moved to Manchester.
4. Alice was a university student in 2014.
5. They worked for the same company two years ago.
6. He just finished training.
7. When we were children, my mother often took us to this park.
8. I drove a toy car as a child.

Answers to the exercises

Exercise 1.

Exercise 2.

asked, borrowed, closed, decided, explained, helped, started, travelled, used, worked.

Exercise 3

1. I read a book.
2. We saw them yesterday.
3. The Smiths lived in London till 2000. Then they moved to Manchester.
4. Alice was a student of Univercity in 2014.
5. They worked in the same company two years ago.
6. He has just finished training.
7. When we were children we were taken for a walk to this park.
8. I drove a toy car in my childhood.

Get in the habit of periodically repeating the basic forms of the English verb. A table with irregular verbs, exercises and periodic repetition will help you quickly cope with the difficulties of the English language.